Expanded statute of limitations brings new sex abuse allegations

Many of the 95 criminal and civil cases found in Hearst Connecticut Media’s investigation of child sex abuse involving Boys & Girls Clubs of America affiliates are concentrated in four states in which laws afford victims more time to come forward.

Nearly 20 percent were brought in California and in other states where there was a higher number of cases, statute of limitations laws for civil or criminal actions, or both have been expanded.

Statutes of limitations, or legislation that sets the maximum time after a crime for victims to file civil claims and law enforcement officials to prosecute, vary from state to state. While some states have recently passed laws giving more time for victims to come forward, others have failed to expand proposed reporting windows.

In June, Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law Connecticut’s Act Combating Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment, which will extend the statute of limitations on civil claims and criminal prosecution of child sex abuse. Going forward after October, there will be no limitation to when a person can be prosecuted for felony sexual abuse. The bill will also expand the existing law to allow victims of child sex abuse to file

civil suits up to 30 years from the date they turn 21.

After decades of attempts to pass landmark legislation, New York passed the Child Victims Act in January. Because of the new law, a oneyear window for filing child sex abuse civil claims opened Aug. 14 and legal experts expect a wave of lawsuits against many institutions in the state to follow. The state doesn’t limit when child sex abuse can be criminally prosecuted, except for certain lesser charges.

For victims in New York, the new law has given them an opportunity to find closure, said Jennifer Freeman, an attorney representing alleged victims of child sex abuse at a Boys’ Club dating back to the 1940s.

“It’s valuable and significant for them to be able to have a voice,” said Jennifer Freedman, an attorney representing victims of alleged sexual abuse at a club affiliate, of the New York law. “They’ve been shut down for decades. No one listened or cared. This is giving them hope now.”

There are no limitations for criminal prosecution of child sex abuse in Massachusetts. For civil claims against alleged perpetrators, victims must file within 35 years of the abuse or within seven years of the time the victim “discovered … that an emotional or psychological injury or condition” was caused by the abuse.

The California legislature recently abolished aplicable statutes of limitation for criminal prosecution of child sex abuse. The state also passed a bill that extended the civil statute of limitations for sexual assault in October 2018.

Phillip Russell, a Connecticut attorney representing a group of men who say they were sexually abused as children at the thenGreenwich Boys’ Club says the new legislation in his state won’t do enough to enable all child abuse survivors to sue their attackers. Of the 12 men Russell said have come forward in Greenwich, six will not be able to seek legal recourse for their alleged abuse, even with the statute of limitations expansion.

Despite legislative shortfalls in recent years preventing victims from coming forward, providing them with little to no opportunity to seek justice or recourse for the crimes committed against them, advocates say, the past two years have been banner years for proposed statute of limitations legislation.

More than 38 states have proposed such legislation since 2018, Executive Director of CHILD USAdvocacy Kathryn Robb said. Of those, 20 states have passed

the legislation and 18 are are still pending votes.

Most of the new laws focus on civil statutes of limitations, said Robb, because the U.S. Constitution prohibits measures that retroactively limit the statute of limitations on previous alleged crimes.

“That’s why it’s important that civil statutes afford victims justice and name predators, so kids can now be safe,” she said. “Kids are never protected by secrecy and the more secrecy there is, the less safe kids are. We need to give them an opportunity to name their abusers and have their day in court.”

The laws need to reflect the reality that the average age of a victim of child sex abuse coming forward is 52, Robb said, citing data from studies on trauma.

“Based on my own experience as a survivor of child sex abuse, I know it takes many, many years to come forward,” said Robb.

Obstacles victims face in reporting their abuse include depression, shame, embarrassment and fear. They are often manipulated and threatened by their abusers, Robb said, which further hinders their ability to report.

Going through court proceedings can also be retraumatizing, the advocate said. The tasks of sitting through hourslong depositions, undergoing medical examinations and having every detail of a victim’s life picked apart publicly by defense attorneys are daunting, she added.

“Survivors’ trust in people in positions of power is damaged,” Robb said, explaining why it is difficult for many to report abuse to authorities.

Entities that fear being found financially responsible in child sex abuse lawsuits have lobbied against expanding windows to file claims.

The Catholic Church has spent millions of dollars in recent years doing just that, according to a report released in June by Seeger Weiss, a law firm that says it represents 300 clergy sex abuse victims.

“We started looking at what was behind some of the failures of statute of limitations legislation in states like Pennsylvania,” said Michelle Simpson Tuegel, an attorney with the firm. “We started to notice a pattern of spending (on lobbying by the church) where there was pending legislation and a revival window was taken out.”

Insurance companies, which pay out settlements when organizations are found negligent ni civil cases, also lobby against statutes of limitations expansions, Robb said. Boys Scouts of America and various religious institutions also lobby against the proposed laws, she added.

“The bottom line is they’re putting their image and purses before the safety of children and justice, quite frankly,” she said of the organizations. “The purpose of reforming statute of limitations is to allow those survivors to identify hidden predators and educate the public.”