Study: Much child abuse is unreported

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Laws that could punish adults who keep silent when they suspect a child has been abused go largely unenforced in the United States, research shows.

A USA Today investigation into police and court records from across the country found that irregular enforcement and small penalties mean adults face little repercussions for concealing abuse.

The investigation determined that in cases of adults who knowingly concealed child abuse that ended in convictions the penalty was usually less than $1,000.

"If you're not going to make the moral choice, at least you have to have a law with some teeth that makes somebody do it for the legal reason that you're afraid you're going to be charged," said Sean McCormack, the chief child abuse prosecutor in Harrisburg, Pa.

Child welfare agencies estimate that at least 695,000 children were abused or neglected in the past year -- but there is much abuse that is not reported.

Of the 222 cases USA Today reviewed, only 102 people were convicted and only 14 served jail time. Most often, people who knew of abuse and didn't report it were given probation or a fine if they weren't acquitted.

A 2008 study published in the journal Pediatrics found that many doctors chose not to report physical injuries they suspected were "likely" or "very likely" caused by abuse.

"That really surprised us," said Emalee Flaherty, a pediatrician at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, one of the study's authors. "The doctors told us that they didn't report because they weren't certain. The laws are written so that they don't have to be certain to report it. But they don't want to be wrong."