My job is as a student worker on a college campus. For my job, I am a mandated reporter for certain things. My roommate, who has the same job and is also a mandated reporter, told me in confidence about a year ago that her ex-boyfriend had attempted to sexually assault her. I encouraged her to seek help and reach out to the campus services offered, and she told me that honestly, she felt like she was doing okay, she had a support system that looked after her, etc. It didn't even occur to me to write the report because unfortunately she's not the only person who I know who's gone through something like this, so it was more like a conversation between friends. Recently she's had to file a report against her ex for lying about her to other people in a way that could cause her to lose her student job. She let it slip that he's mentioned before that she 'accused him of rape' (which never happened, she always said attempted) because of what he did, and the person she filed the report with included that she was a victim of attempted sexual assault. I backed what she told them because I've witnessed him slandering her and I don't want him to have that power over her after everything he's already done. As such, I'm going to lose my job because they'll fire me for not reporting it, which I kind of understand. What I'm worried about is this: can I go to jail for not writing the report? Like, is this a criminal offense? Thank you guys for reading this. I'm kind of panicking so I'm not sure what to do.
