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	WI Supreme Court Rules Clergy Offenders Who Left State Can Be Prosecuted But If They Stay in Wisconsin, Most Likely Never to Be Charged By Peter Isely Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests June 27, 2008 http://snap-greatplains.org/Wisconsin/My_Homepage_Files/Page2.html The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled today that child sex offenders can be prosecuted for assaulting children, even if the crime occurred decades ago, but only if the offender left the state of Wisconsin before the criminal statute on the offense expired. The court was ruling in a criminal case brought by Juneau County officials against Fr. Bruce McArther. McArther raped children at parishes in Milwaukee and as a hospital chaplain in Beaver Damn in the late 1960's and early 1970's. He was transferred out of Wisconsin to new assignments in several states where he continued to sexually assault children. He now lives in a priest's residence in Missouri. The ruling also means that some 15 criminal cases brought against clergy who fled Wisconsin, including three current ones awaiting trial, have been upheld. That includes the conviction of Green Bay's notorious Fr. John Patrick Feeney, who is currently serving time for raping children in that diocese in the 1970's and 1980's. Feeney was arrested in California and prosecuted in Wisconsin in 2003. Feeney, according to church records released in a recent civil case was not prosecuted in the 1970's by then Outagamie County District Attorney David Prosser. Prosser, who is a current justice on the Wisconsin court, did not rule on today's decision. Concurring, but voicing concern about the decision was Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who points out that most citizens of Wisconsin who are victims of child sex crimes will never see those who harmed them brought to justice in our criminal courts because the criminal statue for many years was a paltry six years. In other words, if a child was raped at age 5 and didn't report the case for prosecution by age 11, the rapist can not be prosecuted. How can we prevent and stop child sex abuse in Wisconsin, especially by repeat offenders and career pedophiles, with such predator friendly laws? Since most victims do not report their crimes until adulthood, if at all, the only recourse left is civil court. At least in civil court, potentially, a majority of the state's offenders, unknown to the public, will be identified through a court process and restitution and compensation can be ordered for their victims. That is why the Child Victims Act, a bipartisan bill introduced and sponsored by over thirty Wisconsin legislators last spring must be passed this fall. The bill would allow the majority of Wisconsin's child abuse victims their last and best hope for justice.
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