UNITED STATES
Huffpost
Celia Wexler, Contributor
Journalist, feminist and nonfiction author, celiawexler.com
This week, Cardinal George Pell, a high-ranking Vatican official, was summoned to his native Australia to face criminal charges for what was termed “historical child abuse.”
The police have not disclosed any details about the abuse or when it occurred. But a recent book recounted the story of an altar boy who came forward to charge abuse in 2014. The alleged incident took place sometime between 1996 and 2001.
That would mean that at least 13 years elapsed before a victim came forward. Reportedly, he did so after the suicide of a fellow former altar boy.
We don’t know whether Pell is guilty. He has denied all allegations of abuse. But what we do know is that if the alleged victim had lived in New York, he likely would have had been denied any access to justice.
That’s because New York has some of the highest hurdles in the nation for the victims of sexual abuse that occurred when they were children. New York only gives these victims five years after turning 18 to seek civil or criminal redress.
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