PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive
By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com
Legislation aimed at tipping the scale of justice in favor of future victims of child sex abuse is back on the table and won approval of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday by a 22-5 vote.
Missing from the Senate-passed bill, however, is a provision that would afford past child sex abuse victims the same opportunity to seek justice as future ones. A similar measure the House passed last year but it died in the Senate.
The current bill would give child victims until age 50 to file a civil lawsuit against abusers and employers who were allegedly negligent in failing to stop them. Currently, that window to sue closes at age 30. It also eliminates a legal time limit on when child abusers can be criminally prosecuted for future crimes.
The committee amended the bill to remove the limit on damages that can be awarded in civil cases involving governmental entities.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.