NEW YORK
Failed Messiah
The Jewish Week has a new article by Hella Winston in which the office of Brooklyn’s D.A. Charles Hynes says that Agudah rabbis who insist on vetting child sexual abuse allegations and determining whether or not they can be reported to police, the D.A. or the Administration of Child Services could be prosecuted for obstruction of justice.
Here are a few quotes from the article:
Hynes’ spokesperson Jerry Schmetterer: “DA Hynes told Dovid Zwiebel [Agudah’s executive vice president] that it was a mistake to advise someone with information about child abuse to first speak with a rabbi. Zwiebel … risks having the rabbi prosecuted for obstructing a law enforcement investigation.”
The Jewish Week asked Schmetterer to clarify what someone should do if he or she had information about allegations about abuse. Schmetterer responded that the person should “report [the allegations] to authorities for investigation.”
James A. Cohen, associate professor of law and the director of the Trial Advocacy Program & External Affairs at Fordham University School of Law: “Encouraging delay in reporting a crime, particularly a crime against a child, is obstructing justice.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.