By Marci A. Hamilton
Child sex abuse victims, their families and friends, and, frankly, everyone except perpetrators and those who enable them, should be pleased about the progress toward victims’ access to justice in 2013. This past year, the pace of the movement quickened remarkably. Sadly, though, religious groups have gone back to the drawing board to find new ways to protect themselves from the law, so there is also a cloud on the horizon for victims as well.
We need civil-rights advocates, children’s advocates, and survivors and their communities to work hard to make 2014 even better than 2013, and if we all work together, the prospects of our doing so are good.
Progress Report on Statute of Limitations (SOL) Reform in 2013
We made more progress in opening up abuse victims’ access to justice in 2013 than at any point in history. The artificial deadline that has blocked victims from pressing charges against perpetrators and institutions and from filing civil lawsuits—imposed by the various statutes of limitation (SOLs)—were pushed back in a number of states. . .
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2013 Year Review of Child Sex Abuse Victims Access to Justice
Marci A. Hamilton is a professor of law at Cardozo School of Law, and the author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children, recently published in paperback with a new Preface. She manages two websites on issues she writes about at www.sol-reform.com and www.RFRAfolly.com. Email her at [email protected].