People who are required by law to report child abuse and fail to do so may face felony charges under one of several new state laws set to take effect on Tuesday. Teachers and other “mandated reporters” who fail to report suspected child abuse now face fines between $500 and $2,500, but the new penalty will be much tougher — up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. “One of the things that has always bothered me was when you have individuals in an organization who know about child abuse, they sometimes shuffle people around instead of reporting it to authorities,” state Rep. Gerald M. Fox III, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the legislative Judiciary Committee said. “With the new law, if you know about it and do not report it, you’re liable for a Class D felony for intentional interference.” The law, a couple years in the making, is aimed at stopping incidents like the pedophile scandals at Penn State University, or among Catholic priests and bishops. The new law, one of dozens that take effect on Tuesday, October 1, 2013, would cover incidents going forward from that date. As reported in CT Post by Ken Dixon
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