Are Catholics unfairly targeted?
Are there too many child molesters locked up in a confession booth?
CNA
I don't know any of those priests.
If people want to confess sins, they shouldn't hesitate, to anyone reasonably trustworthy on such matters. Are defense attorneys as well as priests required to report suspected child abuse?
Is this religious confession wiretapped or recorded and introduced in court as evidence? Or are the reports of suspected abuse accepted in court as hearsay?
There is no good legal avenue for any sort of religious confession (private or even open) to make its way into court as evidence for prosecution. It doesn't pass the legal bar and it's not something anybody should be concerned about going to church in sane times.
The Protestant approach of avoiding excessive formality of making confession is probably better for a number of practical as well as religious reasons: to freely admit guilt in any or all sins generally or in particular and not be prosecuted for them.
These are apparently not sane times where this is generally possible however. The moral of the story is some of those churches are sanctuaries for illegal immigrants, some of those people are getting really touchy with their kids, and consequently anything you say in their church around their kids — especially if you didn't grow up with them since your own childhood — can and will be twisted around, misconstrued and used against you as hearsay in court because of nonexistent legal bar standards. Certainly Catholics but Mormons, Baptists as well.