BATON ROUGE (LA)
WAFB TV
February 1, 2019
By Carmen Farrish
Victims of abuse at the hands of clergy often struggle with reporting what happened to them.
“This is a real personal, difficult decision people will have to make and we respect that, but we need much more information than what we have right now,” said East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore. Even after coming forward, victims often have to face tough questions so prosecutors like Moore will know what, if any, legal options they have to press charges.
“We would have to know what act is alleged to have been performed. Is it a touch, penetration… what is it? When did it occur? We would have to compare that with what the law was at the time for those particular acts,” the DA said.
Moore would only be able to prosecute those cases that happened in East Baton Rouge Parish; cases in other parishes would fall to the DAs in those jurisdictions.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has been urged to open a statewide investigation into clergy abuse, and to make it easier for victims to report abuse.
One group that’s calling for that is the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Victims can call SNAP at 1-877-SNAP-HEALS.
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