UNITED STATES
Celebrity Insider
November 2, 2017
By Charisse Van Horn
Hollywood is in an uproar after allegations revealing the widespread and rampant nature of pedophiles and sexual predators within the entertainment industry have come to light. Corey Feldman has been a vocal advocate for children within Hollywood warning people about the prevalence of pedophiles for years. Ronan Farrow’s explosive exposé has launched a social media movement that may be revolutionary in nature. Men and women across the globe are coming forward to share their stories of abuse, harassment, and assault at the hands of sexual abusers. While many are finding the path to healing by speaking out, some publicly for the first time, there are many cases that will never see justice in a court of law due to the statute of limitations.
Each state in the U.S. has their own laws and rules regarding the statute of limitations. One thing that unites each of the stories of sexual harassment and abuse that are beginning to unfold is the time of the offense. Corey Feldman has spoken publicly about abuse that occurred in the 80s.
In the Harvey Weinstein and James Toback case, some of the allegations date back to the 90s. Roman Polanski has been accused of sexual crimes dating back to the 60s.
Many times cases are only picked up by state attorneys for prosecution if there is some legal loophole that will allow the case to move forward.
California tried to change their statute of limitation laws to help proceed with the Bill Cosby trial only to have those changes overturned.
During the height of the Catholic sexual abuse scandal, Massachusetts had to amend statute of limitation laws to allow adults who suddenly remembered the abuse the ability to prosecute.
There is no question about it. Statute of limitation laws in sexual abuse cases are absurd. They serve only to protect abusers from being prosecuted for crimes they committed.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.