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	Child Victims Bill Deserves Passage Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel November 25, 2011 http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/child-victims-bill-deserves-passage-sj365fh-134470093.html For the third time in recent years, advocates for victims of child sexual abuse in Wisconsin are pushing legislation that would widen the doors of justice for those victims. We hope this time the full Legislature grasps the importance of this measure and widens those doors. On Tuesday, state Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) and Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) announced they will introduce a Child Victims Act that will remove the civil statute of limitations in sex assault and rape cases involving children. It also opens a two-year window to file civil suits in cases in which victims were previously barred by the statute of limitations. Current law bars victims from filing suit after they turn 35. Pasch told us this week it takes many victims years to come to terms with the abuse and to feel safe in reporting it. "Thirty-five is inadequate," she said. "We're not doing enough for the victims." She also pointed out some chilling facts: 70% of reported sexual assaults in Wisconsin were perpetrated against children; nationally, one in five children fall victim to abuse; estimates place the number of reported cases at only 10% of the actual total; several leading mental health experts say that most children who have been abused are so traumatized that they can't speak about the attack until well into adulthood, if ever. "There is a silent tragic epidemic in this country," Pasch said. She also pointed to the recent example of the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State as an example of that epidemic. And she's right: Sexual abuse is widespread, and hardly limited to any particular institution. Giving victims more time to file their claims, more time to come to terms with the terrible things that happened to them as children is simple justice. Past efforts to pass a child victims bill ran into opposition from religious leaders in Wisconsin and their insurers. Concerns that small churches, in particular, might have to go bankrupt and close their doors because of financial claims from past victims have some merit and deserve consideration. But Pasch argued that closing doors has not been the experience in other states where such laws have been passed, California and Delaware. The Lassa-Pasch bill is modeled on those laws, and there is no reason to expect a different outcome here. And in the case of the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese, that boat has sailed. The archdiocese is already in a bankruptcy proceeding as a result of claims from victims of clergy abuse but has assured parishioners that church doors won't be closed as a result. The partisan divide in Madison is deep and bitter, but the Child Victims Act is not a partisan measure. It's a measure aimed at helping past and future victims of abuse. Even though it is being introduced by two Democrats, all legislators should see beyond the divide and support this bill.
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