Bill to change statute of limitations on sexual assault

By Kelsey Gibbs
Illinois Homepage
May 25, 2016

http://www.illinoishomepage.net/news/capitol-news/bill-to-change-statute-of-limitations-on-sexual-assault

ILLINOIS -- Currently, if a child is sexually assaulted, he or she has until the age of 38 to come forward and seek justice. Victims say, sometimes it takes longer than that to speak out. One survivor want to change the law.

"To let my family in the schools know that a gentleman has sexually assaulted me."

Doug Goff told a story to a roomful of lawmakers he has never openly shared before.

"17- or 18-years old, this happened at Danville High School. This happened during school hours and it happened on the school grounds."

The year 1988 forever changed the life of a teenaged Doug Goff.

"I was embarrassed. When a male has done that to me, I was just not in the position to come forward. I don't want to be bullied anymore in high school."

Goff says he was a quiet kid, so coming forward was something he couldn't stomach at the time.

"There is a shame that comes with this. You're embarrassed that you weren't strong enough to come forward and you don't want people to know."

Fast forward nearly 30 years. Goff is now speaking out.

"All the emotions I remembered in high school came forward. I cried like I never cried before for hours."

He says his first stop was the school to find out why this happened to him, but left with no good answers.

"So, they're well aware that this is brewing and something is going on. They have yet to reach out and offer anything to me."

So Goff is doing something he couldn't do 27 years ago. That's telling his story to the world. A new proposal would help victims, like Goff, by lifting the statute of limitations of any child victim of sexual abuse, no matter the circumstances.

"It lifts the statute of limitations on involuntary sexual servitude of a minor, involuntary servitude trafficking, indecent solicitation of a child."

So, if the crime occurred decades ago, a victim still has time to come forward.

"Four or five years after the assault, or 55 years after the assault, there is not a statute of limitations, so finally, we can hold the perpetrators, all of them accountable."

The bill passed the full House Wednesday. The attorney general's office is also pushing to eliminate the statute of limitations.

In 2013, Illinois removed the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits concerning child sex crimes. The next year, state lawmakers waived the statute for those criminal cases in which there is physical evidence or no report was filed at the time of the abuse.

The current legislation says, even without corroborating evidence, a victim has the right to have criminal charges filed.