UTAH
SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
June 12, 2020
We are dismayed and disappointed by the decision in Mitchell v Roberts out of the Utah Supreme Court. This decision will only make it harder for victims of sexual abuse to come forward, put more children at risk of abuse, and prevent law enforcement from getting dangerous criminals out of the community.
The fact is that the reform bill overturned by this decision was a rare example of modern bipartisanship in which legislators from both parties, in both legislative chambers, as well as the executive branch, agreed that the state’s statute of limitations needed to be reformed. The resulting reform not only gave survivors of sexual violence hope for a shot at justice, but also helped to ensure that abusers could no longer hide behind archaic statute of limitations and escape from their crimes while living quietly among children and the vulnerable.
Now, despite the will of the people in Utah, victims are left in the cold. Our hearts break for Terry Mitchell, the brave survivor of childhood sexual abuse who fought for years for the rights of survivors, only to be denied a chance for justice by this example of judicial activism.
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