If You See Something, You Have to Report It
Video Transcribed: Life imprisonment for failing to report child abuse or neglect in the state of Oklahoma. I’m Tulsa attorney James Wirth, and that’s the topic that we had in the prior video. We talked about the mandatory reporting requirements that say if you suspect child abuse or neglect, under Oklahoma law that was expanded a few years back, everyone in the state of Oklahoma has a duty to report that. And if you don’t report it, then it’s a misdemeanor up to a year in jail. Also, if it’s an ongoing pattern of abuse or neglect that you know about for six months or more, failing to report that is a felony where you can go to jail.
What I didn’t cover in the last video is there are circumstances where you can get life in prison for failing to report child abuse or neglect. Even though you had nothing to do with the abuse or neglect, the failure to report or to stop it can be a charge that results in up to life in prison.
Okay, so how does that work? Well, it has to do with the expanded definition of what abuse is, and what child abuse is in the state of Oklahoma, and I covered that a little bit as well in the prior video. A few different ways that it has expanded. One is that under the statute, abuse means the threat of abuse. So abuse by itself doesn’t require actual harm, only the threat of harm. And then two, it is expanded by saying that the harm doesn’t have to be physical, the harm can be mental harm. So a threat of mental harm can be child abuse in the state of Oklahoma just reading the statute. That’s one way that it is expanded, and I talked about that in the prior video. Okay. Another way is that it doesn’t actually require that… if you’re to be charged with child abuse, you don’t have to be the one abusing, and this is what the statute requires. I’m actually going to go through the jury instructions.
So this only is applicable if you are a person responsible for the child’s health, welfare, and safety. If you are not, then you’re looking at solely the other statute for failure to report where it could be a misdemeanor. Or if it’s ongoing for six months or more that you know about, it can be a felony. But if you are a person responsible for the child’s health, safety, and welfare, that could mean that you are a parent, that you have legal custody, it could also mean that you just happen to reside in the same household as that person, there are other ways that you could be a person responsible for the health and safety, but if you are and you willfully fail to protect from harm or threat and harm for a child under the age of 18, that is child abuse itself.
So the definition of child abuse includes a failure to report or to protect from harm. So if someone else is abusing your child and you fail to report it or protect from that harm, not only is that person guilty of child abuse, you too are guilty of child abuse if you’re responsible for the child’s health, safety, and welfare. So you could be charged with child abuse, the same charge the other person’s getting with the potential up to life imprisonment, even though you are not involved in any of the acts.
If you’ve got a question about child abuse laws in Oklahoma, failing to report, or any other legal question in the State of Oklahoma, you’re going to want to talk to a child neglect lawyer in Oklahoma about that privately and confidentially. To get that scheduled with somebody at my office, you can go online to makelaweasy.com.
