BishopAccountability.org
	Lawmakers Consider 'Window' for Victims of Child Sex Abuse By Jaime Malarkey The Examiner February 7, 2008 http://www.examiner.com/a-1206220~Lawmakers_consider__window__for_victims_of_child_sex_abuse.html BALTIMORE - Victims of child sex abuse — no matter how long ago — may get to pursue legal action against their molesters during a yearlong window in which some lawmakers hope to suspend Maryland's statute of limitations. The proposal introduced this week before the state's General Assembly would eliminate the statute of limitations -- the maximum period of time that legal proceedings can wait after the incident -- for child sex abuse victims in 2009. Thereafter the statute would be extended from the victim's 25th birthday, to his or her 50th. While similar legislation has failed during other sessions, bill sponsor Del. Eric Bromwell, a Baltimore County Democrat, said the bill will help victims who are suffering the lifelong effects of abuse, many who are not ready to file civil suits until decades later. "I think we should be about integrity and doing what is the right thing to do," Bromwell said. The state's Catholic conference lobbied heavily against similar proposals last year and appear poised to fight Bromwell's legislation as well. Brother Benedict Oliver, president of the Calvert Hall high school in Towson, the source of several sex abuse charges against a former chaplain and teacher, sent hundreds of letters to graduates including Bromwell urging opposition. The letter says the two abused at least 14 students, and the bill's passage could mean raising tuition and cutting extracurricular programs to finance lawsuits. "Such measures would result in a severe, perhaps fatal, decline in enrollment," wrote Oliver, who did not return a call for comment. Child sex abuse victims such as Bob Russell cheered the proposal. Russell said he was a 15-year-old student at Calvert Hall when he was twice molested by the school's chaplain. More than 30 years later, Russell said he finally came to terms with his abuse, but can't file a suit because the statute of limitations has long expired. "You kind of store it away and lock it up in the back of your mind and are in denial," Russell said. "For some reasons, us humans are kind of wired that way." If passed, Maryland would join Delaware and California in providing a window for civil cases for child sex abuse victims. Lawmakers in Wisconsin are also considering one. Contact: jmalarkey@baltimoreexaminer.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.