MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

March 20, 2012|Kevin Cullen, Globe Columnist

If timing is everything, Kathy Picard’s was lousy.

She was 32 years old when she accused a relative of sexually abusing her when she was a girl. Police in Western Massachusetts told her the 15-year statute of limitations that kicked in when she turned 16 had expired the year before.

Picard threw herself into the campaign to remove the statute of limitations. In 2006, after prosecutors complained that they couldn’t make cases against Catholic priests who had abused minors years before, the Massachusetts Legislature voted to extend the statute of limitations to 27 years after a victim turns 16. It was a compromise, but an improvement.

When the new law kicked in, Picard was 44, again one year too late to seek charges.

“It’s arbitrary and wrong,’’ she says. “When it comes to abusing kids, there shouldn’t be any statute…