According to KGTV, California lawmakers want to force faith leaders to report people who confess to child abuse. State Senate Bill 360 is aimed towards ending the silence that has followed abuse. It would require priests who hear about sexual abuses of children through confession to report it to law enforcement.
“The victims are told to be quiet, abusers are let go,” said sexual abuse survivor Kameron Torres, “and the cycle repeats and repeats.”
Clergy say this bill would force them to break their promise to God.
Currently, clergy are exempt from reporting crimes they hear about during confession, but California lawmakers want to change that.
“The church has done nothing of note to help victims. They’ve merely made statements. It’s time for states to step up to protect these children from predator priests,” said nationally recognized sex abuse attorney Jeff Herman.
With the recent passing of the New York Child Victims Act, Herman Law is already representing several victims whose cases had been precluded by the statute of limitations in New York. “I look forward to bringing justice to these brave survivors,” Jeff said.
