PENNSYLVANIA
Star-Beacon
The Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse case launched an outcry for changes to Pennsylvania’s law to remove the statute of limitations for victims to come forward.
The state’s laws remain unchanged. And this week’s news from our eastern neighbor was a good reminder why that momentum has, and needs, to return across the country.
Tuesday, in releasing a gut-wrenching report of abuse across the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown reported on extensively by our sister paper the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane revived the call for a change in the law.
We urge lawmakers not just in Pennsylvania but in Ohio and across the nation to seize the moment and eliminate any statute of limitations on sexual assault and abuse — particularly when it involves a minor. In Ohio, that statute of limitations is just 25 years for all sexual assault cases, whether the victim is a minor or adult.
In Pennsylvania, victims of sexual assault who are younger than 18 and were born before Aug. 27, 2002, have 12 years after their 18th birthdays to file charges. Victims younger than 18 and born after that date have 32 years after their 18th birthdays to file against their abusers.
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