California Supreme Court Allows Therapists To Challenge Law On Child Porn Reporting
LAPPL News Watch
December 27, 2019
Psychotherapists have spent years fighting a 2014 California law requiring them to report patients who confided having looked at child pornography, complaining that it deters people with sexual compulsions from seeking treatment and forces therapists to call the police on patients they do not believe pose a risk.
But they knew they faced a steep hurdle in getting the law overturned, citing what one scholar called “the ick and disgust factor” at the mere thought of the subject.
A sharply divided California Supreme Court grappled with the case Thursday, deciding the state must show the law actually helps children by presenting evidence at a trial. In the 4-3 decision, the state’s highest court overturned rulings that threw out a lawsuit brought by therapists who treat sexual compulsions, addictions and disorders.
The court did not give therapists everything they wanted — a clear ruling that the law was unconstitutional — but revived their lawsuit so the effects of the reporting requirement can be closely examined.
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