PENNSYLVANIA
Wall Street Journal
By KRIS MAHER
March 10, 2016
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania are trying to join other states in rewriting laws to facilitate prosecutions for sexual abuse, spurred by a grand jury report last week that found a Catholic diocese there hid child sex abuse by priests for four decades.
Statutes of limitations in Pennsylvania often bar victims of abuse and prosecutors from pursuing legal action against perpetrators. One bill in the state would remove criminal statutes of limitations for new incidents. Another bill would create a two-year window waiving statutes of limitations for civil cases, so victims could file lawsuits against abusers who committed crimes many years earlier. A number of states have already put such temporary waivers in place.
Similar bills in Pennsylvania stalled in recent years, but they are now gaining traction in light of the grand jury report, which said the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown hid abuse by more than 50 priests dating back to the 1950s. Many of the priests named in the report have since died, and the alleged incidents are too old for prosecutors or victims to pursue against living priests or the diocese.
“The current statutes are still not enough. Victims take a long time to come forward,” said state Rep. Mark Rozzi, one backer of the bills. Rep. Rozzi, a 44-year-old Democrat, said he was abused by a priest when he was 13. Two friends he said were abused by the same priest have since committed suicide, he said.
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