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Mary E. Grant
State Representative
6th Essex District - Beverly
February 7, 2006
Chairman Robert S. Creedon, Jr.
Chairman Eugene O’Flaherty
Joint Committee on The Judiciary
State House, Room 136
Boston, MA 02133
Re: House Bill #3555, An Act Amending the Criminal
Statute of Limitations
Dear Chairmen Creedon and O’Flaherty and Members of
the Committee,
I testify in support of H.3555 because of my
extensive professional experience for the past 30
years delivering mental health services to the
children, families and adults who have been victims
of sexual assault or abuse over time. In the past,
I have worked with the Essex County District
Attorney’s Office in implementing new protocols for
processing the child cases, worked with area police
departments, the social service systems and with
hundreds, if not thousands of people who have been
physically and psychologically traumatized by this
type of assault. Also, I have received extensive
clinical training in this area by some of the top
experts in the world in the field of abuse during my
professional career.
I have come to see this crime as a major public
health issue in our society, and in regard to this
legislation, there are two major reasons I believe
it must be considered:
1)
The serious and complex nature of the
psychological trauma as a result of an assault
or abuse in many cases does not allow for
retrieval of the memory often for long periods
in a person’s life.
2)
Offenders have a serious problem that
causes them to repeat this crime throughout
their life often many times over to many
different victims and research has shown that
the only effective intervention in stopping this
behavior is the involvement of the criminal
justice system.
Although I am quite willing to have a more
extensive conversation about the clinical aspects of
the psychological damage as well as the resulting
alteration of a person’s biological alarm system
toward danger, I will simply state that there is a
psychological “freezing” and dissociation that often
occurs when a person is sexually abused, that
separates the horror and deep shame of the memory
from a person’s conscious life often for years as a
method of self-preservation. Research has shown
years ago that a victim’s belief during a rape is
that they will die and their alarm system responds
at that level. The body and mind will do what it
must to preserve its life regardless of the
alteration in thinking that is necessary. If
assaults are repeated over time, especially if there
are fear factors or threats introduced, this
dissociation becomes a defense mechanism employed at
the sign of any fear so victims lose their judgment
in assessing danger as life goes on, rendering
themselves vulnerable to repeated abuse.
In the case of a child having been seduced, the path
to the memory loss is different, but no less
destructive. Children and adolescents are
developmentally extremely vulnerable to being lured
by being considered special by an adult or entering
into a special relationship and wanting to meet
their approval, this vulnerability is preyed upon by
seduction. In addition the offender is often an
adult trusted by the primary caretakers of the child
or adolescent, so when the behavior slowly begins to
get sexual the children are caught in deep internal
confusion, while at the same time continuing to be
externally laden with special comments, events,
gifts, privileges, etc. If not directly told so by
the offender, the child often believes no one would
believe him or to disclose would be unbearably deep
shame which often makes children deeply depressed
and suicidal.
In the case of adolescents, they believe they are
too old to be seduced so the relationship becomes a
deeply shameful secret that cannot be tolerated by
the psyche, so in both cases once again the memory
is walled off from consciousness, often not
disturbed until triggered by a later life event. In
the meantime however, there are many
self-destructive behaviors that the victim acquires
because of the major disruption in their internal
life. The psychological damage is so deep because
the crime is a penetration inside the physical body,
which allows for no place to protect one’s
integrity. In all cases, the offending adult knows
what they are doing, their pathology often has an
insatiable appetite and if the relationship gets too
hot, they move on to another, leaving a wake of
destroyed lives.
In order to retrieve these memories, victims must be
in a safe environment from abuse, which they can
eventually sense, but it is often years before they
are free from the abuser and in control of their
destiny. Very often the abuser is a person within a
household upon which they are physically or
financially dependent or if outside the household
have some other control or authority position, e.g.
bosses, coaches, babysitters. Many murders of women
include sexual assault. The crime is full of rage.
Victims often have many very serious mental and
physical health problems throughout the course of
their life including but not limited too, serious
substance abuse problems, serious depressions often
with suicidal ideas or attempts, multiple medical
treatments and surgeries for physical pain that is
often in the area where abuse occurred but often the
connection goes unmade, serious psychiatric
disorders mislabeled and therefore incorrectly
treated because of the lack of information
available, inability to concentrate normally to
learn or hold jobs securely and many other social
and emotional handicaps.
In the meantime, perpetrators continue to abuse
others throughout their life while these memories
are tucked away.
The offender knows very well upon whom to prey;
there is a very deep and quick assessment of that
vulnerability. Their pathology is such that they
continue to identify and find victims. They know
about the system and they cannot stop themselves
from this terribly destructive behavior as deep rage
or perversion, often well disguised, dictates the
behavior. In public we often only ever see the tip
of the iceberg of a history of offenses.
The effect of psychological trauma on the human
psyche and its resulting biology I have studied. I
believe we have a great responsibility to protect
our society from those who prey, as the damage is so
great it often renders victims dysfunctional for
many years if not throughout their life.
Research has also shown that the prognosis for
recovery for victims depends greatly on two main
factors:
The degree of trauma and duration of the abuse
The response of those to whom the victim
discloses (this includes the courts)
In regard to the second, it is important to
understand that the judicial system’s response not
only has the power to contain the criminal, but the
power to allow a victim to recover.
Given what we have learned professionally over the
last thirty years regarding the prevalence and the
damage of sexual assault and abuse, I do not believe
the current statute of limitations protects our
society from perpetrators of this crime. If a
victim can recover a memory and details at any
point, I think it is quite important to be holding
that offender accountable, particularly because
chances are it did not stop with one.
I ask that you seriously consider a favorable
report, which I realize would be a major shift in
our current system.
Sincerely,
Mary E. Grant
State Representative
6th Essex District - Beverly
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