PENNSYLVANIA
Centre Daily Times
BY CATE HANSBERRY
chansberry@centredaily.com
In the wake of a grand jury report on abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese released earlier this month, state representatives, adult victims of child sexual abuse and advocates gathered Monday at the Capitol to push for statute of limitations reform.
Led by Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, the rally in the Capitol Rotunda was held to demonstrate public support of efforts to revise child sex abuse statute of limitations laws to allow adult victims to prosecute their abusers.
According to the grand jury investigation, priests in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese sexually abused hundreds of children over about 40 years. The report alleges that religious leaders worked to cover up the abuse.
Due to statute of limitations laws, the case cannot be prosecuted.
“First it was Boston, then Philadelphia and Los Angeles, and the pattern repeats itself in Altoona-Johnstown,” Rozzi, who was a victim of child sexual abuse, said. “The only way this ends is if we make it loud and clear to child rapists and those who harbor them, that they can no longer hide.”
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