CALIFORNIA
Catholic League
Bill Donohue comments on the June 18 vote by the California Assembly Committee on the Judiciary that keeps alive a bill that lifts the statute of limitations for one year on cases of the sexual abuse of minors; it applies only to private institutions:
Prior to the Civil War, we had one law for whites, and one law for blacks. In 1868, that was rectified when the equal protection before the law provision was encoded in the 14th Amendment. Now California Sen. Jim Beall wants to turn the clock back: he wants one law for public schools and another for Catholic schools. Differential legislation can be justified in many instances, but not when it comes to crime and children.
“Public schools and teachers have been held to a higher standard of care when it comes to the protection of children and reporting of child sexual abuse, than have the clergy and private youth-serving institutions,” said Beall. Not true. In 2007, AP did a major investigation of the public schools and found widespread sexual abuse of minors, a breakdown in enforcement, resistance from teachers’ unions to do anything about it, and grossly inadequate legislation. California was specifically cited for its negligence.
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