PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times
By Kathleen E. Carey, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 09/20/16
PHILADELPHIA >> Surrounded by those integral to the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston, advocates of statute of limitation reform here in Pennsylvania pleaded their cause Tuesday during a press conference
“The statute of limitations hurts no one but victims and it helps no one but perpetrators,” said Jeff Dion, director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association, during the press conference at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel.
He stood next to state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-126, of Berks County, Massachusetts victims Phil Saviano and Joe Crowley, and attorney Roderick “Eric” MacLeish as he voiced his support for the expansion of the statute of limitations, or the time a victim can bring a claim against a defendant, here in Pennsylvania. The saga of the scandal in the Boston Archdiocese formed the backdrop for the movie “Spotlight,” which won this year’s Best Picture at the Academy Awards detailing the work of the Boston Globe investigative unit that blew the lid off years af abuse and a cover-up by the church hierarchy.
As the General Assembly begins its fall session, one of the things that may be considered is HB 1947, a state law repealing the statute of criminal limitations for childhood sex abuse. It also contained a controversial provision sponsored by Rozzi to extend the civil statute of limitations by 20 years – and also make it retroactive, in effect allowing victims from decades ago to be able to bring suit against their abusers now. The measure was overwhelmingly approved in the Pa House earlier this year, before stalling in the Senate.
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