Who we are:

Massachusetts survivors and advocates working together to promote legislation that will

Focus:

• We are rallying Massachusetts citizens and legislators to support the repeal of civil and criminal statutes of limitations on crimes of sexual assault and abuse.

Text and Explanation of Proposed Legislation

Information on Proposed Legislation to Eliminate

Statutes of Limitations on Certain Sexual Crimes in Massachusetts

These bills are designed to:

• Eliminate time bars that currently prevent victims of sexual abuse and assault from pursuing criminal charges and civil claims against their perpetrators.

• Increase prosecutors’ power to bring charges against rapists, pedophiles, and child molesters in cases in which victims have been unable to come forward.

• Enable those who were molested as children to pursue legal claims by removing barriers to the presentation of evidence.

Who would be affected by these bills?

• Predators who have previously evaded prosecution.

• Victims who have been unable to speak out about the crimes committed against them.

• Potential victims who would gain new protections from harm.

Why do victims delay reporting?

• Perpetrators threaten, deceive, and manipulate their victims to prevent them from speaking out.

• Undeserved guilt, social stigma, and fears of retaliation cause victims to remain silent.

• Achieving the emotional strength required to seek justice usually takes many years.

Why this legislation is needed now:

• Most victims of childhood sexual assault and abuse are unable to come forward until after statutes of limitations have expired.

• Sexual offenders frequently remain active for decades, and most are never caught.

• Statutes of limitations currently allow hundreds of serial predators to remain free to molest additional victims.

• Prosecutors’ inability to pursue older cases protects confirmed molesters from supervision and enables them to pass Criminal Offender Records Investigations and other background checks.

Please email us for more information.

 To find out more about the realities of rape and sexual assault, please visit:

Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Sexual Assault Prevention and Survivor Services

Massachusetts Citizens for Children

 

Fact: The American Psychiatric Association supports the elimination of statutes of limitations on crimes of childhood sexual abuse (Stogner v. California, 2003). “Sex offenders who abuse children use psychological manipulation to prevent their victims from taking any self-protective action while the abuse is ongoing, and to deter them from disclosing the abuse after the fact…The effects of psychological manipulation can last well into adulthood, long after the abuse has ended,” Judith Herman, M.D., Testimony before the Massachusetts State Legislature, April 2003

Here's more information on why we must repeal statutes of limitations: