State must extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases
The Connecticut legislature needs to change the statute of limitations to help victims of child sexual abuse.
Here’s why.
A man walked into my office and told me that he was raped by a priest when he was 11 years old. I was the first person he had ever told and only did so on that particular day because his mother had just died and he vowed never to tell a soul until she passed for fear she would blame herself for allowing it to happen.
That man turned 48 two days before our meeting. What he did not realize was that his ability to file a civil lawsuit against the church that he believed permitted the abuse to occur expired on his 48th birthday. He cried in my office as I explained that he was too late and would not be permitted to seek justice in court under Connecticut’s statute of limitations.
I have counseled dozens of men and women with the same story — men and women who have struggled for years to disclose what they have endured but have been denied the ability to pursue redress because of an arbitrary deadline imposed by Connecticut law.
The disclosure of childhood sexual abuse is a process that takes most survivors decades.
Psychological barriers, including shame and fear, and family dynamics are some of the many reasons why survivors are unable to come forward until it is too late. Child USA, a non-profit think tank, analyzed data gathered from victims who had been members of the Boy Scouts of America and determined that more than half of them first disclosed the abuse when they were between the ages of 50 and 69. Another 14% first disclosed between ages 70 and 90.
Connecticut’s statute of limitations for suing predators or institutions that enabled childhood sexual abuse is arbitrary and draconian. The current statute of limitations expires when the survivor reaches the age of 48. While the law was updated in 2019, extending the cut-off age to 51, that change only applies prospectively — meaning that, if the abuse occured after 2019, the survivor will have an additional three years to file suit. For survivors who were abused before 2019, the deadline remains at age 48. Studies have shown that the average age of first disclosure is 52.
The time has come for the Connecticut Legislature to allow all survivors of childhood sexual abuse to seek justice, regardless of when they choose to — and are able to — do so.
The decision to disclose is a deeply personal one and the timing of that disclosure should not be dictated by a deadline imposed without consideration of what research has proven about the lifelong effects of trauma. Why should the man who first finds the fortitude to disclose his abuse one day before his 48th birthday be permitted a chance at justice but the man who cannot find the strength to do until two days later be denied the same treatment under the law?