Legislator says child sex abuse reporting law needs to be strengthened

The scandal at Penn State is now having an impact here in our state.

In Maryland, if an educator knows about child sex abuse , it's illegal not to report it. State Senator Nancy Jacobs, a Republican from Harford County, says there have been cases in Maryland involving adults who are supposed to be responsible for protecting children.

“I would like to think that the majority of the people report it, but there are cases when they don't,” she said.

Right now, if an educator in Maryland has reason to believe a child has been abused, he or she must notify the police. But if they don't, there is only a civil fine; Sen. Jacobs says that's not enough. “We are looking at criminal penalties, especially in the instance of an educator,” she said.

The law is even weaker in Pennsylvania -- authorities there say Penn State football coach Joe Paterno didn't do anything illegal, when he failed to report to police what a graduate assistant told him.

The assistant, Mike McQueary, says he saw defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sodomize a 10-year-old boy in a shower.

Jacobs says she hopes the scandal, and the strengthening of Maryland's law, will bring more attention to the fact that if an educator knows something they have more than just a moral obligation to report it.

“If you're going to have a law you need to have a penalty if you break the law,” she said, adding that she's just begun developing that legislation so she's not ready to say just how much of a penalty she's hoping to have included.  She plans to introduce the legislation during the 2012 session.

People who do report sex abuse in Maryland are not liable to be prosecuted criminally if they happen to be wrong.