Mandatory reporting in Victoria, Australia

[OurLadyofSorrows]

Mandatory reporting laws for religious institutions come into effect

Laws requiring clergy to report child abuse to authorities — even if it’s heard in the confession box — will come into effect on Monday, ending the “special treatment” for Victoria’s religious institutions.
The seal has now been lifted for the suspected sexual abuse of children, with spiritual and religious leaders required to report the abuse or face up to three years in prison.

 

[Mtatum1958]

Unfortunate. However, the “seal” is not lifted, especially not by any secular authority.

 

[Gripper]

This isn’t fair on victims at all. Imagine someone abusing a child and decades later becomes Catholic or returns to the church and mentions it in the confessional. In the mean time the victim who has moved on with their lives or may have been too young at the time to really have knowledge of it now has the police banging on their door dredging it all up. It should be for the victim to decide not the police.