Pain, anger over state's inaction on sex crimes

By John Finnerty
Daily Item
April 4, 2017

http://www.dailyitem.com/news/state/pain-anger-over-state-s-inaction-on-sex-crimes/article_e2c9ace6-0879-5ea4-b3a0-53f62496fa5f.html

HARRISBURG — Adults who were victimized by sexual predators as children and advocates for crime victims took to the steps of the state Capitol on Monday to share horrific tales of abuse and express anger that lawmakers have been unwilling to open a window to allow civil lawsuits in cases where the statute of limitations has expired.

The rally came a day ahead of a Tuesday committee vote on whether the state House will seek to change the law moving forward without including a clause to include victims who didn’t seek justice before the statute of limitations ran out.

“We can compromise on pension reform, on liquor and on the budget,” said state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County, who has been leading the fight at the Capitol to get the law changed. “We should never compromise on protecting our children.”

Rozzi said the right to sue in old child sex cases “is not about the money.”

Rather, the right to sue would allow victims to protect other potential victims and “it’s about exposing predators.”

Judy Deaven spoke in memory of her son Joey Behe. Monday was the second anniversary of his death at the age of 45, she said. “Pain medication and anguish took his life,” Deaven said.

Her son had back problems she blamed on the abuse he suffered from a priest in the Allentown Catholic Diocese, Deaven said. It took her son 20 years after the abuse ended to disclose what had happened to him, she said.

Church resistance

The move to allow victims of old child sex crimes to sue has been stymied by resistance from the insurance industry and the Catholic Church. That angers victims who feel lawmakers are being cowed by lobbyists.

“I don’t have deep pockets. I have empty pockets,” said Shaun Dougherty, who has come forward as a victim abused by a priest in Johnstown. “But I have a voice.”

He started an online petition on Change.org seeking support for changing the law. The petition now has 75,044 names on it from people across the country. More than 4,000 signatures are from Pennsylvanians.

In a statement released late last week, Amy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference said the church lobby questions whether legislation that changes the statute of limitations after it’s expired is legal. In a letter to Rozzi in February, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said he believes the legislation would not violate the Constitution if it allowed survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file retroactive civil claims.

Hundred call hotline

After the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese scandal came to light the Attorney General’s office set up a hotline for sex abuse survivors.

“Hundreds of calls have come into the hotline since its inception, and calls continue to come in,” said Joe Grace, a spokesman for the attorney general.

Officials in the Harrisburg and Altoona-Johnstown Catholic dioceses said the bishops in those regions echoed the opinion of the Catholic Conference.

Advocates say they’ve been lobbying to get the statute of limitations rules changed for 13 years. The issue reignited last year after a grand jury report revealed that the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese covered up decades of abuse by priests.

“The matter is in the hands of lawmakers in Harrisburg, and regardless of the steps legislators take, the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown will continue to offer counseling and support to survivors of sexual abuse,” said Tony DeGol, a spokesman for the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese. “Our commitment to protecting children and assisting survivors remains strong, as evidenced by the unprecedented reforms the Bishop recently announced. “

Diocese takes steps

Those steps include an independent oversight board to oversee policies, procedures and practices in the diocese, he said. The diocese also hired an outside expert to create a child abuse prevention program, he said. Joseph Aponick, spokesman for the Harrisburg Catholic Diocese also pointed to steps taken by the church in the region to beef up child protection.

“We have many safeguards and policies in place and an extensive program committed to helping abuse survivors find healing and recovery,” he said. “We will support their healing no matter how long ago the abuse took place.”

The concerns have also been shared by business groups, particularly in the insurance industry.

Sam Marshall, president of the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, said his group hopes the House approves the legislation without inserting the clause to allow lawsuits in cases that are now past their statute of limitations.

Under existing law, victims were children when they were molested, have until the age of 50 to seek criminal prosecution and until they age of 30 to sue in civil court. The Senate bill would give victims until the age of 50 to sue in civil court and eliminate the statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions, only moving forward.

“While the Senate bill does not have a reviver provision, it does have among the nation’s strongest protections against child abuse going forward,” Marshall said.

In some ways, the church’s position at the center of this controversy is misleading, said Katherine Houser, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape. Only a small fraction of child sexual abuse victims are preyed upon by members of the clergy, she said.

However, the church also put itself in the middle of the controversy by engaging in the campaign of covering up for predatory priests all across the country, she said. Also, the church has taken a leading role in fighting the reforms, she said. “They do use a lot of time and shoe leather” lobbying against the reforms. While most victims of sex abuse are harmed by people who aren’t clergy, the Catholic church’s lobbying “is blocking access to justice for everyone” regardless of who the abuser was, she said.