Penalties for Failure to Report and False Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect - Virgin Islands

Failure to Report

Citation: Ann. Code Tit. 5, § 2539

Any person, official, or institution required by this subchapter to report a case of alleged child abuse, sexual abuse, or neglect or to perform any other act, who knowingly fails to do so, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined no more than $500 or imprisoned for no more than 1 year, or both.

False Reporting

Citation: Ann. Code Tit. 14, §§ 2146(c); 2144(a)

A person is guilty of falsely reporting an incident in the second degree when, knowing the information reported, conveyed, or circulated to be false or baseless, he or she reports, by word or action, to the Department of Human Services or Department of Health an alleged occurrence of child abuse or maltreatment that did not, in fact, occur or exist. A person who is found guilty of reporting an incident in the second degree shall be fined $5,000 and be imprisoned for no less than 5 years.