The White-Collar Police Force: 'Duty to Report
Date
2002
Authors
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Publisher
William and Mary Bill of Rights
Abstract
Description
At both the federal and state levels, numerous criminal laws require individuals to report suspicions of criminal conduct, such as child and elder abuse, violent crimes including domestic violence, environmental crimes, and financial offenses. Reporting duties are imposed on people in many different types of professions, depending on the type of offense being reported, and increasingly may be imposed on all persons without regard to profession. The laws have made the failure to report criminally punishable and, in some instances, all for civil liability as well. This Article examines several types of reporting duties to highlight the trend to turn numerous types of professionals into a white-collar police force. The Article aims to raise awareness of the gradual transformation of our legal culture brought about by the increasing numbers of laws requirement professionals to report suspicions of criminality. It places reporting laws in their proper context in criminal law theory, somewhere between 'Good Samaritan' laws that impose a duty to rescue and public welfare offenses that regulate certain industries on a strict liability basis. The Article proposes that the evidentiary trigger for reporting duties should be increased to 'clear and unequivocal evidence' in order to properly balance the benefits of reporting against the harm of possible over-reporting and the damage done to many professional relationships by the abrogation of privileges and confidentiality of reporting requirements.
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Keywords
Mandated reporting, Child abuse, Child welfare, Reporting