[Avodah] Child abuse - socializing with an alleged abuser

[Daniel Eidensohn]

While it seems fairly obvious that a child abuser should be ostracized -
aside from reporting him to police - the problem is what to do with an
alleged abuser? The general approach is to take whatever measures that
are necessary to protect children - if the allegations are true - while
minimizing the damage to the accused that is not related to protecting
children. This follows the view that a sofek rodef is treated as a
rodef. What if the accusations are 10 to 20 years old? One can assume
that if a person was a molester 10 to 20 years ago - he still is a
danger to children. In fact it has been found that sometimes after jail
sometimes there can be inactivity for over 30 years before the person
resumes abusing children. What about activities that are not directly
related to the danger to children. For example if your neighbor was
accused of abusing children - should you continue socializing with him?
Should a person who has been publicly accused of abuse be honored with
an aliya in Shul? There are sources which advise firing a teacher based
entirely on persistent rumors or on clear circumstantial evidence. . In
other words - the mere existence of rumors makes it inappropriate for
a person to remain in certain positions - or even be given corporal
punishment. However these are difficult questions for which there probably
is not a definitive answer.