[Avodah] child abuse and moser

[Daniel Israel]

On Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:27:58 -0700 Liron Kopinsky 
<liron.kopinsky at gmail.com> wrote:
>I guess the question needs to be: Even if it's moser to report 
this to a
>non-halachik court system (which I doubt), why don't we have a 
proper way to
>deal with this using our own batei din?

In chu"l I would say that no Beit Din could have the authority to 
handle such a case in the way it needs to be handled.  Even if we 
forgo punishing the offender, and even if the BD could do 
everything necessary to protect the victim (which would be 
unusual), and even if it could enforce its ruling in other Jewish 
communities, to protect other Jewish children- is it authorized to 
take for itself the authority to determine if everything necessary 
has been done to protect non-Jewish children?

I don't know if a BD in EY could have the authority and expertise 
necessary to handle such a case.

--
Daniel M. Israel
dmi1 at cornell.edu