ILLINOIS
eNews Park Forest
Chicago —(ENEWSPF)–October 4, 2016. Attorney General Lisa Madigan today urged members of the Illinois Senate to pass legislation to eliminate the statutes of limitations for felony criminal sexual assault and sexual abuse crimes against children.
Madigan testified today before the Senate Criminal Law Committee’s Subcommittee on Statutes of Limitation, detailing the importance of eliminating Illinois’ statutes of limitations that can allow child predators to go unpunished. Joining Madigan in testifying were Scott Cross, a survivor, St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly, Polly Poskin, the executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Barbara Blaine, president and founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), and Mark Parr, the executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of North and Northwest Cook County.
“Sex crimes against children are far too common and often have devastating, lifelong impacts,” Madigan said. “Children who suffer sexual assault and abuse often spend their entire lives recovering from the unimaginable crimes they have experienced. Illinois law must support these survivors by allowing them to report their crimes in their own time. We must ensure that survivors know that they will be taken seriously and justice will be pursued.”
Madigan explained that there are many reasons survivors of child sexual abuse are often unable to report their crimes to authorities until many years later, if they ever report them at all. Children may not reach an understanding that what has happened to them is a crime until decades later, or they may be under the control of the perpetrator or be physically, emotionally or financially dependent upon the abuser. Madigan said that the reporting delay is a sign of the lasting trauma and should not enable predators to avoid prosecution.
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