ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune
William Lee
Chicago Tribune
A day after former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced to prison in a federal banking case tied to the decades-old sexual abuse of a high school wrestler he coached, victim advocates say it’s time to get rid of the deadlines for prosecuting child sex crimes.
In handing down the 15-month prison sentence on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin repeatedly slammed Hastert as a “serial child molester” after he acknowledged there were several sex abuse victims; but prosecutors have noted that Hastert could not be charged with sex crimes in those cases because the statute of limitations had long passed.
In front of the Chicago Archdiocese’s Gold Coast headquarters, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests pushed for state and federal reform regarding statutes of limitations on sex crimes against children, and called on the public to pick up the phone and ask their elected officials to act.
SNAP wants Illinois to join the handful of states that have completely removed statutes of limitations for child sex crimes.
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