MASSACHUSETTS
WBUR
[with audio]
By Sacha Pfeiffer
Mar 20, 2012
BOSTON — Here’s a disturbing estimate: roughly 90 percent of all childhood sexual abuse goes unreported.
The reasons for that are numerous and complicated. But Rosanne Sliney understands why. She’s a Waltham native and says she was sexually abused by her uncle from age 5 to 14. Sliney now says she wishes she could prosecute. But she can no longer do that under Massachusetts law, which has a statute of limitations on bringing criminal charges in cases involving the sexual abuse of minors.
There’s a bill pending to eliminate that statute, however, and on Tuesday the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee reported the bill out favorably, meaning it will now go to the full House for debate. If it becomes law, it would make child sex abuse the only crime besides murder that has no time limit on filing charges.
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