PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive
By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com
By an overwhelming margin, the Pennsylvania’s House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning gave its support to a bill that would reform the state’s sex crime law.
House Bill 1947, sponsored by Majority Chairman Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin), would abolish the criminal statute of limitations for future criminal prosecutions.
Under the proposed legislation no one accused of a sexual crime will ever be free from criminal prosecution because of a lapsed statute of limitations. The bill would also raise the civil statute-of-limitations age to age 50.
The bill does not include retroactive components. Victims advocates have long pushed for reforms to the retroactive parameters in the law to allow victims who have “timed out” of the legal system to seek legal recourse.
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