Identifying child sexual abuse within school contexts : policy problems and solutions, and a landmark case


Autoria(s): Mathews, Benjamin P.; ,
Data(s)

2010

Resumo

As a strategy to identify child sexual abuse, most Australian States and Territories have enacted legislation requiring teachers to report suspected cases. Some Australian State and non-State educational authorities have also created policy-based obligations to report suspected child sexual abuse. Significantly, these can be wider than non-existent or limited legislative duties, and therefore are a crucial element of the effort to identify sexual abuse. Yet, no research has explored the existence and nature of these policy-based duties. The first purpose of this paper is to report the results of a three-State study into policy-based reporting duties in State and non-State schools in Australia. In an extraordinary coincidence, while conducting the study, a case of failure to comply with reporting policy occurred with tragic consequences. This led to a rare example in Australia (and one of only a few worldwide) of a professional being prosecuted for failure to comply with a legislative duty. It also led to disciplinary proceedings against school staff. The second purpose of this paper is to describe this case and connect it with findings from our policy analysis.

Formato

application/vnd.ms-powerpoint

Identificador

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/38010/

Relação

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/38010/3/ISPCAN_presentation_200910%282%29.pptx

Mathews, Benjamin P. & , (2010) Identifying child sexual abuse within school contexts : policy problems and solutions, and a landmark case. In International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Conference, 26-29 September 2010, Honolulu. (Unpublished)

Direitos

Copyright 2010 the author.

Fonte

Faculty of Law; Australian Centre for Health Law Research; Law and Justice Research Centre; School of Law

Palavras-Chave #180126 Tort Law #189999 Law and Legal Studies not elsewhere classified #Mandatory reporting laws #Child sexual abuse #Teachers #School-based reporting policies #Breach of reporting duty
Tipo

Conference Item