Petition Launched to Lift Statute of Limitation on Sex Abuse

By Janela Carrera
Pacific News Center
May 10, 2016

http://www.pacificnewscenter.com/local/9258

The petition was put together by the group called Silent No More!

Guam - First an ad calling on victims of sexual abuse to come forward and now a petition drive for the legislature to lift the statute of limitations on past sexual abuse. While the goals may be similar, the two initiatives are separate.

Joe Santos is a George Washington High School teacher, but he’s taken time off so he could push a petition to collect signatures.

"Our goal is to achieve 100,000 signatures because everyone on this island should be against child sexual abuse," says Santos.

Santos held a press conference today to announce his effort to get the entire island behind this initiative. After collecting the signatures, Santos will present the collected signatures to the Legislature to urge them to introduce legislation that will lift the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases.

Santos says a law was passed in 2011 that lifted the statute of limitations for reporting sex abuse crimes, but at the time it only allowed for a two year window for victims to come forward.

"But that law has since expired and if you read the law, it’s somewhat handicaps people from pursuing civil actions. In the little research that I’ve been able to do ... I’d like the law that gets passed out of this petition, to be one that’s more favorable to the victims as opposed to one that shields the perpetrator."

Santos says just as there is no statute of limitations on murder, the same should be true for child sexual abuse.