Judge Holds Hearing over State's Claims That Jehovah's Witnesses Didn't Report Child Sex Abuse

Daily Journal
November 9, 2015

http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/52dc58db424b470692ef7b95a843d319/DE--Child-Abuse-Reporting-Lawsuit

WILMINGTON, Delaware — A Delaware judge is set to hear arguments in a civil lawsuit by the attorney general's claiming that elders of a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation failed to report an unlawful sexual relationship between a woman and a 14-year-old boy, both of whom were congregation members.

State law requires any person, agency, organization or entity who knows or in good faith suspects that a child is being abused or neglected to call a 24-hour hotline. The law specifically states that the reporting requirements apply to health care workers and organizations, school employees, social workers, psychologists and law enforcement officials.

But a lawyer for the Sussex County congregation is arguing that the elders are protected from the reporting requirements by clergy privilege, similar to the confidentiality of a church confessional.