HARRISBURG (PA)
National Catholic Register
October 5, 2018
By Peter Jesserer Smith
In the wake of the Pennsylvania grand jury report, lawmakers, survivors and Catholic bishops agree: The statute of limitations for sexual-abuse crimes must be reformed.
But when it comes to addressing the sexual abuse of victims whose ability to bring forward criminal or civil action is time-barred by those same statutes, the bishops and many survivors are at an impasse about how best to achieve justice that works for the good of all.
The grand jury report blamed the Church’s hierarchy for covering up sex abuse carried out by 300 predatory priests on more than 1,000 children over seven decades. It further blamed Church leadership for preventing abused victims from seeking effective relief from the justice system.
“As a consequence of the cover-up, almost every instance of abuse we found is too old to be prosecuted,” the report said, advocating that victims be provided a two-year window that would open the statute of limitations.
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a statute-of-limitations reform bill on Sept. 25 that extends the time limit for civil claims on sexual abuse to 50 years old, up from 30. The bill also eliminates the statute of limitations for criminal cases.
The House bill took up an amendment to allow a two-year “window” in the statute of limitations for victims to go to court. The bill is supported by Gov. Tom Wolfe, but its fate is uncertain in the Senate, where lawmakers have concerns that allowing a window to retroactively bring forward cases would violate rights guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution’s “remedies clause.”
The Pennsylvania Constitution states that “every man for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay.”
However, Pennsylvania constitutional-law experts have argued for and against the state’s authority under the constitution to reopen a window for lawsuits.
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