PENNSYLVANIA
Sharon Herald
By JOHN FINNERTY CNHI Harrisburg Correspondent
HARRISBURG – Amid outrage over hundreds of cases of child sex abuse committed by priests, lawmakers are now divided over how much time victims should have to seek justice.
A proposal to lift the time limit for prosecution of sex-abuse crimes, in current form, only looks to the future but does nothing for victims of long-ago crimes.
Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County, calls it a “slap in the face.”
Rozzi, himself a survivor of sex abuse by a priest, has led efforts to eliminate statutes of limitations. He plans a proposal to allow victims of old crimes to sue their abusers, he said, which will bring forward victims “from every corner of the state.”
Debate is unfolding in the aftermath of a grand jury’s finding that priests in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese abused hundreds of children, over four decades – actions that were covered up by church leaders.
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