Eliminating Limits to Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims Act of 2022
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair of the Judiciary Committee for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I am heartened that today we will vote to send this bill to the President's desk to guarantee justice for victims of child sex abuse.
Experts estimate that more than 85 percent of child sex abuse goes unreported. Kids experiencing abuse face a variety of the barriers to reporting. Often they don't know how to recognize abuse, they don't know how to talk about their experiences, or they don't have a trusted adult they can contact.
Even when survivors do report their abuse, their experiences often fail to reach the people in the justice system who can stop the predator. For all of these reasons, the process of disclosure of abuse can take decades. The average age of reporting child sex abuse is 52 years old.
Tragically, statutes of limitations often prevent survivors who disclose their abuse as adults from getting their day in court. But justice systems are slowly beginning to understand how delayed disclosure impacts access to justice.
In the past two decades, 48 States and Washington D.C., have amended child sex abuse laws to expand or eliminate statutes of limitations. Congress previously eliminated the Federal criminal statute of limitations for child sex abuse and sex trafficking and slightly lengthened the Federal civil statute of limitations.
However, this short extension of the civil statute of limitations does not reflect current data on just how long most survivors delay disclosure of their abuse.
All survivors deserve access to justice no matter how long it takes them to talk about the trauma they have suffered.
Today, 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 13 boys experience sex abuse before their 18th birthday. I have heard about far too many cases of child sex abuse in my home State of North Carolina.
A case currently before the North Carolina Supreme Court involves the wrestling team at a Gaston County high school where teenage athletes were sexually abused by their coach.
While the coach was convicted and sentenced to decades in prison, the athletes were initially unable to sue in civil court because of the statute of limitations.
This case is currently before the North Carolina Supreme Court because a three-judge panel ruled that the State law opening a window for adult survivors of sexual abuse was unconstitutional.
We cannot provide effective remedies to survivors while the Federal civil statute of limitations remains in place.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Representative Swalwell, Representative Salazar, and Representative Reschenthaler for leading this effort with me in the House, as well as Senator Durbin and Senator Blackburn for leading this bill in the Senate.
Mr. Speaker, I urge support of the bill.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source