Pa. bill wants to lengthen time for sex abuse victims to report; Catholic Church pushes back

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is pushing towards a change to both the tort limit and the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse cases in both private and public institutions. This is being called House Bill 1947.

The statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse allegations provides a set length of time for criminal charges to be filed against a defendant. Currently the statute of limitations in Pennsylvania is 12 years after the victim reaches the age of 18. Tort is the amount of money a person can sue for in court.

“The statute of limitations exists as a legal reality because memories change, evidence is lost, sometimes the accused is not even alive any longer,” Father Carl Janicki from Cabrini University said. “The statute of limitations and these limits are long standing precedence and the rational for why statute of limitations exists in these instances is important to understand.”

Attorney Victoria Carmona Fehr reported that the trauma a victim goes through because of sexual abuse may suppress their memory and a statute of limitations has the possibility to run out by the time important details or evidence come into light. As a result, a victim can be left without any justice.

The other side of the matter Fehr points out is that the statute of limitations is imposed with parameters to assist the courts from having to deal with stale claims and protect potential defendants from the fear of litigation. These parameters include if relevant evidence will become stale, lost or destroyed and the possibility of blackmail being continued by potential plaintiffs.

Obviously, offenders of child sexual abuse are not able to be prosecuted until the state is made aware of their actions. Fehr calls the statute of limitations a buffer that prevents the expenditure of judicial resources where evidence has disappeared or become useless due to time.

The House and the Senate were originally trying to pass an unlimited tort and statute of limitations in only private and religious institutions for criminal cases. The Bill has been amended to increase the statute of limitations to 32 years after the victim turns 18 only in private and religious institutions for civil cases, but the unlimited tort has yet to be discussed into the proposed bill.

Catholics and leaders of the Catholic Church have taken this news with mixed emotions.

“I got sick to my stomach. It is all very sickening,” Father John Newns of Saint Ann’s Parish in Phoenixville, Pa. said. “The abuse of children especially by priests and in responding to this many years later. It just brings all the history up again. We want to help people and admit responsibility and be responsible. In some sense I think the diocese has attempted that by accompanying people and paying bills and all kinds of things.”

Reverend John Hutter of Saint Mary of the Assumption Parish in Phoenixville, Pa. placed a letter in the church bulletin urging the congregation to reach out to their representatives and ask for change to House Bill 1947. The letter calls the original proposal of legislation, “Unjust and deeply misleading. It ends up punishing Catholic parishes and families that are innocent of any wrongdoing.”

In regards to the tort limit when it comes to the lawsuits, taxes are a major factor.

“We have the tort limitations because we don’t want tax payers suing other tax payers which is why there would be different tort limitations for public institutions versus private institutions,” Janicki said.

Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles Chaput sent out a letter to the Catholic churches within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in July 2016 updating priests on the status of the bill.

“Following the committee’s determination that the retroactive [unlimited] provision was unconstitutional, an amended version of the bill was considered by the full senate,” Chaput said. “The amendment stripped the retroactive provisions pertaining to the civil statute of limitations covering sexual abuse. The senate voted unanimously in favor of the amended version of the bill.”

“I believe it [the bill] marks an important step in providing justice for future victims of childhood sexual abuse,” State Senator Andrew Dinniman said in an email. “As it now stands, the bill, in its amended form, still abolishes the criminal statute of limitations so that future victims can pursue prosecution at any age, and still extends to age 50 the civil statute of limitations for future victims.”

In the fall of 2016 the amended bill will be reconsidered by the members of the House of Representatives.