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SALT LAKE CITY — A bill to give legal protection to members of the clergy who voluntarily report ongoing child abuse or neglect passed through a Utah legislative committee on Friday.
The issue of clergy-penitent privilege has traditionally been a sticky one, as several faiths prohibit or discourage members of the clergy from reporting instances of abuse or neglect they learn of through confession.
State Rep. Anthony Loubet, R-Kearns, introduced HB432 late last month, which he called a "middle ground" approach to the issue of penitent privilege. The bill gives faith leaders the option of reporting abuse or neglect if they believe it is ongoing — even if a clergy member learns of the abuse during confession or a similar religious practice — and provides legal protection if they voluntarily report.
"This safeguard aims to encourage reporting, while acknowledging the potential conflicts that may arise within religious institutions," Loubet told the House Judiciary Committee on Friday. "This bill represents a step forward in achieving that balance, ensuring that our laws reflect our commitment to the well-being of our children, while representing the diverse beliefs that make our communities strong."
Utah faith groups in the state are not opposed to the bill, as they have been toward proposals in previous years that would have created a mandate for clergy members to report.
Rabbi Avremi Zippel, program director at Chabad Lubavitch of Utah and chairman of the Utah Crime Victims Council, said the bill would allow faith leaders the option of reporting abuse to an "objective outsider" to determine what steps need to be made to protect the child.
"To kick those situations to an objective outsider is a gift that so many of our clergy across the state approve of," he said.
Loubet was joined in presenting the bill by Rob Scott, a Unified Police sergeant who oversees the special victims unit. Scott told the committee that the bill wouldn't require a member of the clergy to testify in an eventual trial, and that learning of ongoing abuse would help detectives respond more quickly.
"When we're talking about child abuse crimes, when it comes to child abuse or neglect, obviously time is of the essence. We want to begin investigating these cases and looking into these cases as soon as we can," he said. "And as we've also seen in many of our cases, our subjects do not just abuse one individual ... and our suspects do not just stop, they continue until they're actually stopped or caught or an investigation begins."
State law requires "any person who has reason to believe that a child has been subjected to abuse, neglect or dependency" to report that abuse to the Division of Child and Family Services, a peace officer or law enforcement. Clergy members are exempted from reporting abuse they learn of through confession, as some faiths prohibit sharing confessions.
The bill advanced through the committee with unanimous support from lawmakers, though a couple of defense attorneys expressed concerns that because most adults are mandatory reporters, faith leaders are some of the only people abusers can turn to in order to seek help.
"If they go to their best friend, if they go to their wife, if they go to a doctor, if they go to a therapist or a psychiatrist — all of those people are mandatory reporters," said Mark Moffat, a defense attorney. "The one place that they can go and that they have traditionally gone is they've gone to their ecclesiastical leaders to attempt to get some help, to attempt to ... start the process of reconciliation to start the process of forgiveness."
"And now, through this bill, we are taking away from them a means to get the help they need," he added.
Most of the members of the public who spoke were in favor of the bill, and said they believe it will help children who are being abused.
"Without this protection, this clear path for clergy, there will be abused children who are not going to receive justice," said Will Carlson, chief policy adviser for the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.
Lawmakers have tried to tackle the issue in previous years, spurred in part by an Associated Press report about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' handling of child sexual abuse cases in Arizona and West Virginia. The church — which is the prevailing faith in Utah — has called the reporting "oversimplified and incomplete," saying its helpline for bishops was "seriously mischaracterized."
Bills proposed during last year's legislative session never received committee hearings after leaders expressed concern about potential violations of religious freedom protections.
"I don't think I want to put clergy in a spot where they have to be excommunicated or thrown in jail," Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said at the time.
