TAHLEQUAH (OK)
Daily Press
February 15, 2020
When the child molestation scandal in the Roman Catholic Church was at its height several years ago, many Americans were mortified to learn that statutes of limitation across the country precluded prosecution of predatory priests. Some states quickly made adjustments in their criminal law to deal with that injustice.
For some reason, Oklahoma lawmakers have only turned a tentative corner in that regard, but not for lack of trying on the part of Carol Bush, R-Tulsa. She introduced legislation in 2017 to remove the statute of limitations on sex crimes against children, as well as prosecution of child-trafficking cases. This year, her repeat bill passed the House Judiciary Committee, but its chances for passage looked good in 2017, too – until revamps on the bill changed the statute of limitation to expire at age 45 for victims.
This time around, maybe the Legislature will see fit to remove all obstacles to punishing those who harm our most precious and vulnerable citizens: our children.
Bush explained what most people already know – that sometimes, because of the nature of these crimes and the trauma they cause, victims often don’t come forward until many years later. In fact, sometimes they block the terrible memories of the abuse. It takes emotional maturity to face the chain of events that lead to prosecution, not to mention the abusers themselves – and that type of maturity takes many years to acquire. In fact, Bush pointed out, the average victim doesn’t report the crime until he or she is 52.
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