Pennsylvania § 6319 - Penalties.

§ 6319. Penalties.

(a) Failure to report or refer.--

(1) A person or official required by this chapter to report a case of suspected child abuse or to make a referral to the appropriate authorities commits an offense if the person or official willfully fails to do so.

(2) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree if:

(i) the person or official willfully fails to report;

(ii) the child abuse constitutes a felony of the first degree or higher; and

(iii) the person or official has direct knowledge of the nature of the abuse.

(3) An offense not otherwise specified in paragraph (2) is a misdemeanor of the second degree.

(4) A report of suspected child abuse to law enforcement or the appropriate county agency by a mandated reporter, made in lieu of a report to the department, shall not constitute an offense under this subsection, provided that the report was made in a good faith effort to comply with the requirements of this chapter.

(b) Continuing course of action.--If a person's willful failure under this section to report an individual suspected of child abuse continues while the person knows or has reasonable cause to suspect a child is being subjected to child abuse by the same individual, or while the person knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that the same individual continues to have direct contact with children through the individual's employment, program, activity or service, the person commits a felony of the third degree, except that if the child abuse constitutes a felony of the first degree or higher, the person commits a felony of the second degree.

(c) Multiple offenses.--A person who, at the time of sentencing for an offense under this section, has been convicted of a prior offense under this section commits a felony of the third degree, except that if the child abuse constitutes a felony of the first degree or higher, the penalty for the second or subsequent offenses is a felony of the second degree.

(d) Statute of limitations.--The statute of limitations for an offense under this section shall be either the statute of limitations for the crime committed against the minor child or five years, whichever is greater.

(Nov. 29, 2006, P.L.1581, No.179, eff. 180 days; Apr. 15, 2014, P.L.414, No.32, eff. 60 days; Nov. 26, 2019, P.L.648, No.88, eff. 60 days)

2019 Amendment. Act 88 amended subsecs. (b), (c) and (d).

Effective Date. Section 17 of Act 45 of 2014 provided that, notwithstanding section 4 of Act 32 of 2014, the amendment of section 6319 shall take effect December 31, 2014.

Cross References. Section 6319 is referred to in sections 6320, 6335 of this title.