By now, most people who keep up with either current events or sports have heard about the disturbing allegations against Penn State's former coach Jerry Sandusky. In case you have not, the allegations appear to be that the former coach had had sexually assaulted children. Not only is Mr. Sandusky facing criminal prosecution, but a number of Penn State employees are either facing criminal prosecution and/or disciplinary action. One of the vexing questions that people have asked is how did the actions of this coach go unreported for so long? This is especially troubling because supposedly, the graduate assistant/coach Mike McQueary had allegedly observed inappropriate conduct on the part of Mr. Sandusky and reported the observations to Head Coach Joe Paterno on March 2, 2002. On March 3, 2002, Mr. Paterno reports the incident to Penn State University officials. They have a meeting and nothing appears to have happened as a result of the meeting. Interestingly, no official police report is apparently made at the time of the allegations. Further, no report is made to any child protection officials. Fast forward to today and it is only after the alleged victims gain enough courage to make the allegations public does the case gain any traction.
Would this have been the same situation had this occurred at one of Florida's fine college football programs? Florida law provides guidance on this issue.
Florida Statute provides for mandatory reporting:
39.201. Mandatory reports of child abuse, abandonment, or neglect; mandatory reports of death; central abuse hotline
(1) (a) Any person who knows, or has reasonable cause to suspect, that a child is abused, abandoned, or neglected by a parent, legal custodian, caregiver, or other person responsible for the child's welfare, as defined in this chapter, or that a child is in need of supervision and care and has no parent, legal custodian, or responsible adult relative immediately known and available to provide supervision and care shall report such knowledge or suspicion to the department in the manner prescribed in subsection (2).
(b) Reporters in the following occupation categories are required to provide their names to the hotline staff:
1. Physician, osteopathic physician, medical examiner, chiropractic physician, nurse, or hospital personnel engaged in the admission, examination, care, or treatment of persons;
2. Health or mental health professional other than one listed in subparagraph 1.;
3. Practitioner who relies solely on spiritual means for healing;
4. School teacher or other school official or personnel;
5. Social worker, day care center worker, or other professional child care, foster care, residential, or institutional worker;
6. Law enforcement officer; or
7. Judge.
The names of reporters shall be entered into the record of the report, but shall be held confidential and exempt as provided in s. 39.202.
Under Florida law, any school official or personnel has a legal duty to report any observations that give rise to reasonable cause to suspect that a child has suffered from abuse. This would cover janitors, assistant coaches and officials within the university. The failure to report suspected abuse is a crime in Florida.
Florida law provides broad protection for people who in good faith make a report of suspected child abuse. In most instances their names are kept confidential. The bottom line, if you suspect that a child is being abused, please call the abuse hotline for your state. In Florida the telephone number is 1-800-962-2873.
If you are suspected of committing child abuse, it is very important that you contact an attorney immediately. The failure to contact an attorney can result in you being falsely accused of a very serious crime. If you are in that position do not hesitate to contact attorney Adam Pollack, an expert in representing criminal defendants. You owe it to yourself to have an expert on your side, after all the government uses experts, why should you not have one on your side? Call 407-834-5297 and get an expert to protect your legal rights.