Jonathan Morris, U.S. Army Ranger Ret. and Rowan County Sheep Baron, “End Senseless Bike Lane Deaths Now!”
♦ I read an article on James Barringer, III this morning, and am appalled that TWO local churches, as well as Boy Scouts of America’s regional council had received reports of his alleged improper touching of children in the past, and did nothing except force him to receive counseling and quietly leave.
The link here is a House Bill designed to heighten punishments for failure to report suspected child abuse. But those reforms apply to parents, care takers, and child care facilities. http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/House/PDF/H149v5.pdf
Physicians also have a requirement to report suspected child abuse under NCGS §7B-301.
NCGS §7B-301(b) reads, “Any person or institution who knowingly or wantonly fails to report the case of a juvenile as required by subsection (a) of this section, or who knowingly or wantonly prevents another person from making a report as required by subsection (a) of this section, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.”
A class 1 misdemeanor? No prison time is at risk for a first-time offender who is convicted of a class 1 misdemeanor. And with only a two-year statute of limitations for it, it is not possible for any prosecution to take place against the church and scouting officials who swept these allegations under the rug more than two years ago.
Why aren’t church officials held to a higher standard? Is it sacrosanct to criminally punish ministers who know of child sexual abuse allegations, and merely send the alleged perpetrators on their way, to continue their actions somewhere else? It is my opinion that Church officials who turn a blind eye to sexual abuse of children should face felony charges with a minimum term in PRISON, also.
With no criminal prosecution available against the ministers in the Barringer cases, it is my hope that more details will come out, and that community scorn against the “protectors” of alleged child abusers in our local churches will cause those neglectful ministers to be driven out from their positions of trust—no matter who they are, how long they’ve served, or how loved they are by their fawning congregations. Their failure to take decisive action is inexcusable and must be severely punished. Those who enable the perpetration of child abuse crimes need to face significant jail time with the creeps they protect.
