NEW JERSEY
The Record
WHEN POPE Francis came to the United States, there was talk about a “Francis effect.” Perhaps such an effect will light a fire under state senators who, so far, have failed to take action on a bill that would offer justice and closure to adults who were sexually abused as children.
A bill sponsored by Sens. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, and Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, and co-sponsored by Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, among others, would do just that. It would remove the statute of limitations on many civil cases of sexual abuse. As it stands now, someone who was abused as a minor has only two years after turning 18 to bring a civil suit.
The proposed bill, which appears to be going nowhere in the Legislature, would make it possible for someone to file a civil suit at any age. While the removal of all restrictions may be hard to sell to legislators, the current two-year time limit is woefully inadequate. If legislators want to get serious about a serious issue — and at the moment they are putting their energies behind a bill unofficially named for Britney Spears — this is the bill that should demand their immediate attention.
For many sexually abused children, there is a long road before closure. Memories are repressed, and often too much time passes from when the abuse occurred to bring criminal charges. And sadly, there are some in our society who see civil suits by victims as a ploy for money rather than a necessary public validation that something horrible was done to them as children.
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