ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Statement by Barbara Blaine of SNAP (312 399 4747), April 28, 2016
If one in four homes were burglarized in Illinois, lawmakers would be jumping into action.
If one in eight cars were stolen in IL, lawmakers would be climbing over one another to propose solutions.
But one in four girls and one in eight boys are sexually violated as children in Illinois. So where’s the legislative uproar?
And most child molesters, unlike Denny Hastert, never get caught. The relatively few who are caught, like Denny Hastert, hurt several or many kids and perpetrate for years undetected, in part because it takes them so long to be able to tell. Telling is not simple. It usually takes years before victims realize what happened to them as children was criminal and abusive, and that it still cripples them years later. Then it takes strength and courage to come forward. When they do, they are usually told, “You’re too late.” Those who committed the crimes go scot-free. Those who concealed the crimes go scot-free. And those who suffered the crimes keep suffering.
We applaud Attorney General Lisa Madigan for speaking out for statute of limitations reform.
We applaud every lawmaker – and there were plenty of them – who opined in recent days just how awful Hastert’s crimes were.
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