Penalties for Failure to Report and False Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect - New York

Failure to Report

Citation: Soc. Serv. Law § 420

Any mandatory reporter who willfully fails to report as required shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

Any mandatory reporter who knowingly and willfully fails to report as required shall be civilly liable for the damages proximately caused by such failure.

False Reporting

Citation: Penal Law § 240.50(4)

A person is guilty of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree when, knowing the information reported, conveyed, or circulated to be false or baseless, he or she reports, by word or action, an alleged occurrence or condition of child abuse or maltreatment that did not in fact occur or exist to the following:

• The statewide central register of child abuse and maltreatment
• Any person required to report cases of suspected child abuse or maltreatment, knowing that the person is required to report such cases, and with the intent that such an alleged occurrence be reported to the statewide central register

Falsely reporting an incident in the third degree is a class A misdemeanor.