US Sen. Bob Casey calls for strengthening child abuse reporting law, in wake of Pennsylvania grand jury report

By Bob Mayo
Acti4 News
August 24, 2018

https://bit.ly/2Ng80dz

PHILADELPHIA —

In the wake of the findings by a Pennsylvania grand jury, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is calling for strengthening laws to better protect children from sexual abuse.

"The grand jury report was a chronicle of pure evil. Pure evil. There's no other way to say it," Casey, D-Pa., said at a news conference in Philadelphia on Friday.

Casey, a Catholic, feels the issue is larger than the six dioceses the grand jury examined.

"We should all be angry," Casey said. "You don't have to be a Catholic. You don't even have to be an American. Just as a human being, we should be angry."

Casey is proposing federal action to press for tougher and more uniform standards across Pennsylvania and all states. His bill would seek to require that suspected child abuse be reported directly to law enforcement or state authorities.

It would cover medical professionals, school employees, law enforcement officers, clergy, child care operators and employees, people who work at agencies with contact with kids, camp and after-school staff and others.

"It would no longer be permissible to say, 'I told my boss,' 'I told my head coach,' 'I told my bishop.' That's not enough," Casey said.

"One of the issues with these types of offenses is these are not people who are going to offend once," said state Executive Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Selber, who joined Casey at the news conference. "So if a supervisor or a person in a position of power overlooks it, chances are that there are going to be other victims."

On Wednesday, Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik said the diocese was reviewing claims of abuse that it had received since the release of the state grand jury report, and that it would report them to the appropriate district attorney.

"I think that one of the things that's important, that in order for it to go to the district attorney's office, you have to know exactly what the allegation is," Zubik said.

Casey first proposed this bill seven years ago, following the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State University.