PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

John Salvesen, executive director of the Foundation to Abolish Child Abuse, Bryn Mawr, Montgomery County.

Q: What is different about the crime of child sex abuse that requires a longer statute of limitations in civil cases and no statute of limitations in criminal cases?

A: It routinely takes the victims decades to come forward if they come forward at all. That’s the nature of the reaction to child sexual trauma. It takes time. A statute of limitations that limits the age by which a victim must come forward almost, by definition, excludes virtually all victims.

Q: Doesn’t waiting a long time to report a crime weaken a case?

A: These changes to the statutes don’t do anything but give victims of child sexual abuse a chance to have their case heard in court. If too much is forgotten, you’re going to lose your case. This…