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Key Points to Make to
Legislators:
Why Massachusetts Needs Further Reform of Its Child Sex Abuse Laws
Eliminating all
statutes of limitations will reduce the number of sexual offenders at
large in Massachusetts.
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Eliminating
all statutes of limitations on sexual crimes against children is a simple but powerful legislative
reform. It opens the courthouse doors and lets victims expose
perpetrators through peaceful, legal means.
Yesterday’s predator
is today’s predator.
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Psychological
studies have shown that there is no "statute of limitations" for
a molester’s attraction to children. Molesters usually continue
victimizing children until they are caught and imprisoned or
they die.
Statutes of
limitations protect pedophiles.
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In the
Catholic child abuse crisis, only 2% of the abusers were ever
jailed. Many of these confirmed abusers are now living in our
communities, unidentified. They almost certainly are preying on
more Massachusetts children. They constitute the largest
group of unregistered sex offenders in the state.
There is no "statute
of limitations" on the suffering of victims -- for many, the pain is pervasive
and on-going, even after years of therapy.
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Often,
molesters have threatened to hurt the victims or their families
if they reveal the abuse. When these victims are finally able to
come forward, it should not be the state’s role to protect a
pedophile or to shield institutions that facilitated abuse.
Survey: People
sexually assaulted as children took more than 30 years to tell.
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Boston
attorney Carmen Durso surveyed 39 clients who survived being
sexually abused as minors. On average, their abuse began when
they were 12.9 years old – but they didn’t tell anyone until
they were 44.7 years old. Average length of time it took
this group to disclose: 32.3 years.
It took Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton of Detroit 60 years to report his abuse as a teenager.
Other states have already taken the steps we propose.
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At least 15
states have no criminal statutes of limitations for serious sex
crimes.
The current statutes
in Massachusetts protect predators, not children.
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The civil
statute of limitations in MA now dictates that a victim must
take civil action within three years from the act, 3 years from
age 18, or 3 years from the time the victim discovered or
reasonably should have discovered that an emotional or
psychological injury or condition was caused by the act.
If the statutes are
eliminated, only substantive charges will be prosecuted.
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Defenders of
statutes of limitations worry that eliminating them could expose
people publicly to false charges. But district attorneys and
plaintiff attorneys know that the burden of proof is on them.
They will not pursue old, unwinnable cases involving no
witnesses and no evidence.
If the statutes are
eliminated, sexual offenders will get the treatment they need.
When history books are
written …
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Five or ten
years from now, a crisis of child sexual abuse may be exposed in
yet another institution in Massachusetts. State lawmakers
should be able to look themselves in the mirror and realize
that, in 2007, their wisdom and courage made it possible for
victims to get their day in court and for molesters to be
stopped.
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