KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star
Sept. 18, 2019
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has referred the cases of a dozen former Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing minors to prosecutors after a year-long investigation.
That potential for justice for any of those so long denied is appreciated, though it’s impossible to say how many of the dozen men will be charged, much less convicted.
But charges can’t even be pursued against 46 other ex-clergy because the statute of limitations on the allegations against them has expired.
The AG’s inquiry found “credible allegations of 163 instances of sexual abuse or misconduct by Catholic diocesan priests and deacons against minors.” Eighty-three of those accused have died, and of the 80 who are still alive, 46 can’t be pursued without changing the law.
Across the decades and across the country, the Catholic Church has lobbied against such revisions, often successfully.
But knowing all we now know about abuse and how long child victims in particular can take to come to terms with it makes Missouri’s confusing mishmash of statute of limitations on various sex crimes committed during various time frames inexcusable.
This summer, Illinois became the latest state to remove all statutes of limitations on felony sex crimes. The others, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, are Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming and the District of Columbia.
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