Mary Young: Law Must Aid Abused Children

Reading Eagle
November 2, 2013

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=517932

There should be no law limiting the length of time that adults who were victims of sexual abuse as children can file civil suits against their abusers or the institutions that employed them.

Spring Township attorney Jay Abramowitch is emphatic about that. Maybe even fanatical. He has handled numerous cases filed against priests and their dioceses.

If legislators won't change the law to eliminate the statute of limitations, which currently requires victims to file suits before they reach age 30, then a proposal championed by state Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Muhlenberg Township Democrat, is the next best thing, Abramowitch said.

The proposal, as outlined in last week's column, would raise the age to 50 and open a two-year window for victims to refile cases previously thrown out of court because the statute of limitations had expired.

Change is needed because most victims don't come forward until later in life, said Rozzi, who alleges he was abused by a priest when he was 13.

The proposal has been hung up in the House Judiciary Committee since it was introduced in January. Chairman Ron Marisco, a Dauphin County Republican, has said he won't allow a vote because the proposed legislation is unconstitutional. Abramowitch doesn't buy that.

"The Pennsylvania Constitution says the courts will always be open," he said. "This idea of a statute of limitations is archaic."

Abramowitch said if the law does anything at all it should protect children, even when those children become adults struggling with the effects of their abuse.

"You have to try to visualize a 3-year-old or 5-year-old child being victimized in the most unspeakable way, and the person who did it simply lies, or the parents discipline the child for saying what happened," he said. "It's akin to murder, which has no statute of limitations."

It's not about victims getting money, but about sharing their stories, Abramowitch said.

They're victimized twice, first by their abusers and then by a legal system that prevents them from having those stories validated in a court of law, he said.

"It's very heartbreaking," Abramowitch said. "So many of them feel insecure and inferior. We need to give the victims a chance to come forward and have their day in court."

Contact Mary Young: 610-478-6292 or myoung@readingeagle.com