UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JUNE 03, 2013
Usually, when Catholic officials try to deny child sex abuse victims their day in court, I moan or cry or shake my head in dismay. But a sentence in a new National Catholic Register article on statute of limitations reform had the opposite effect on me. It made me laugh out loud.
Here’s the background: Gradually, more lawmakers are proposing civil “window” laws that temporarily suspend the civil statute on child sex crimes.
The laws enable child sex abuse victims to protect kids, stop predators, expose wrongdoing, and deter cover ups by seeking justice in court.
But Catholic officials claim these laws are unfair because they sometimes exempt public institutions.
So here’s the line that made me snort with laughter. Dennis Poust of the New York State Catholic Conference says window laws are “fundamentally flawed and unjust” because they “effectively discriminate against victims based solely on where the abuse occurs.”
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