PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
Kate Giammarise
Of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)
PITTSBURGH — A 147-page grand jury report that outlines decades of child sexual abuse in excruciating detail in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has revived calls for Pennsylvania to eliminate its statute of limitations for that crime.
A statewide grand jury report made public this week by the attorney general’s office detailed how hundreds of children were sexually abused over a period of at least 40 years by priests or other religious leaders in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. No one was charged because some of the perpetrators have died, and because the statute of limitations has run out on the crimes, some of which dated to the 1940s.
Statutes of limitations are laws that set a time limit on how long after a crime it can be prosecuted. The main rationale for such laws is that the longer it takes to prosecute alleged wrongdoing, the more stale the evidence gets and the less reliable it is. Witnesses may have forgotten the events or have died, and it may be impossible to get physical evidence. Another reason for time limits is that plaintiffs have a responsibility to pursue their claims in a timely manner, and that it is unfair for them to hold out the possibility of prosecution for an extended period.
Advocates say the grand jury’s report — coupled with the fact that victims of child abuse often take decades to report it — highlights why the law needs to change.
“We know that delayed disclosure is the norm in cases of sexual violence, so we need to have laws that provide safety, healing and path to justice when victims do come forward,” said Jennifer Storm, victim advocate for the commonwealth.
“Child sex crimes are just different than other crimes,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). “Most kids don’t have the words to report the crime nor the emotional ability to report the crime,” she said.
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