CONNECTICUT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Monday, September 22, 2014
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com )
The Connecticut Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in a case that could be monumental for children.
Hartford Archbishop Leonard Blair wants to fix what isn’t broken and turn back the clock on kids’ safety. He’s asking the justices to overturn a 12 year old law that protects children by helping child sex abuse victims expose child molesters in court. We desperately hope he loses. If he wins, mothers, fathers, boys, girls, employers, neighbors, police and prosecutors all lose.
If Hartford’s archbishop wins, it will be the biggest legal setback for the children’s safety movement since
–Wisconsin’s 1995 Pritzloff decision which, for years, made it almost impossible for clergy sex abuse victims to file civil lawsuits, no matter how egregious the crimes and cover ups
–Missouri’s 1997 Brewer decision, which made it extremely hard for victims to do likewise, and
–the US Supreme Court’s 2003 Stogner decision which enabled hundreds of alleged sex offenders – some being investigated, some who were already charged – go free.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.