NEW YORK
Gothamist
Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes is desperately trying to extricate himself from a political scandal sparked by his refusal to release the names of ultra-Orthodox Jews suspected of child molestation, as well as letting powerful rabbis decide whether child abuse allegations should be reported to the police. Hynes’s cooperation with the ultra-Orthodox community has been absolutely crucial to his reelection campaigns; he’s won landslide victories in neighborhoods with large Jewish populations. Now, in the wake of a damning New York Times article about his handling of sex abuse cases in these communities, Hynes is… proposing legislation.
In an interview with the Times yesterday, Hynes said he “would push for state legislation to add rabbis and other religious leaders to the list of professionals required to report allegations of sexual abuse to law enforcement authorities.” This is a 180-degree reversal—multiple sources told the Times that Hynes “did not object when Agudath Israel of America… told him last summer that it was instructing adherent Jews to get permission from a rabbi before reporting allegations of sexual abuse to the authorities.”
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