Reilly joins rally to extend sex abuse law
State legislators, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, and advocates for victims of sexual abuse rallied on Beacon Hill yesterday, urging lawmakers to advance a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations on sexual crimes against children.
The bill's backers, worried that lawmakers won't act before their session ends July 31, complained that defense attorneys on Beacon Hill have ``stonewalled" the legislation. Many defense lawyers have opposed such measures, saying that the crimes become much harder to defend as time passes.
``Vote before vacation, that's our message," said Jetta Bernier , executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children. ``We want Massachusetts to be a zero tolerance state when it comes to the sexual abuse of children."
Reilly's participation was criticized by Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey's campaign, which pointed out that Reilly once expressed concerns about the bill. ``Today, Attorney General Tom Reilly again reminded voters of his election-year habit of changing his positions on key issues," Healey's campaign said in a statement.
The proposal gained momentum following the clergy sexual abuse scandal, in which hundreds of victims came forward in civil lawsuits. It has generated support in both branches and is awaiting a vote in the Legislature's Joint Committee on the Judiciary, along with nearly 800 other proposals.
Senator Robert Creedon , the committee's Senate chairman, expressed confidence the bill would make it out of committee.
Advocates have argued that because of shame and intimidation, victims often take many years before reporting sexual crimes. Under current law, sexual crimes cannot be prosecuted if six, 10, or 15 years have elapsed, depending on the severity of the crime.
Supporters rallied in front of the State House yesterday, with some residents holding black-and-white photographs of children who had been abused. Reilly, a Democratic candidate for governor, said abusers should not be protected by time limits of the law.
``The clock should never stop the truth from coming out about what happened to a child," he said.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
End urged for state statute of limitations on pedophiles
By Kimberly Atkins
Boston Herald Reporter
Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - Updated: 12:43 AM EST
As advocates for child sex-abuse victims and state officials rallied on Beacon Hill to push lawmakers to eliminate the statute of limitations on sex crimes against children, the chair of the committee vetting bills said he plans to recommend extending, but not doing away with, the time limit.
Yesterday a number of advocates, including Robert Curley, whose son Jeffrey was brutally raped and murdered by two neighbors in 1997, took to the State House steps to urge lawmakers to move the proposed laws, which have lingered in the Judiciary Committee for months, before legislators recess for the summer.
“I just don’t understand why it’s so difficult to get things done here when it involves the protection of children” Curley said.
Attorney General Tom Reilly said the time limit for prosecuting accused predators lets criminals escape responsibility while tying victims’ and prosecutors’ hands.
“There is no amount of years that should protect someone who has abused a child,” Reilly said. “The clock should never stop.”
But House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty said committee members have spent the last few months scrutinizing language of the bills to ensure they pass statutory and constitutional muster since some could conflict with laws already on the books.
He said he hoped to finish redrafts by the June 30 deadline, but that he will likely recommend extending the statute of limitations to give abuse victims more time to bring claims, not eliminating it altogether. In Massachusetts, only murder has no statute of limitations.
“I am getting ready very shortly (to) recommend something incremental in nature,” O’Flaherty said. “I anticipate that committee members will agree with me.”
He also denied the defense attorneys have held up the bill by lobbying against it. “I don’t think I have heard from a single defense attorney,” O’Flaherty said.
Time is running out
By Boston Herald editorial staff
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Only weeks remain in the 2005-2006 legislative session but it seems there will be enough time to debate the merits of self-extinguishing cigarettes. Phew!
Surely that means our full-time Legislature can find a few minutes for a bill that would give child rape victims the opportunity to seek justice?
Despite a slew of co-sponsors, legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations in cases of child rape, and the shorter limits for indecent assault and other crimes, has been held up before the Judiciary Committee for over a year. The Coalition to Reform Sexual Abuse Laws in Massachusetts will rally at the State House today to try and get it moving.
We all know there is no time limit for murder. But when a child’s innocence is brutally snatched away by a sexual predator, they have, at most, 15 years after they turn 16 to prove it (unless their attacker makes like Paul Shanley and leaves the state). Given that many if not most child victims take years to disclose it, that kind of arbitrary limit is wrong and should be eliminated.
Defense lawyers and even some prosecutors oppose stopping the clock, concerned a fair trial is impossible because memories and evidence indeed fade with time.
But we have great faith in the criminal justice system. The accuser must still present a credible case. The prosecutor must have the evidence to prove it. And most important, a jury must be convinced of the suspect’s guilt.
If they can’t find time for this one, then what on earth are they doing up there?