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New Idaho Law Gives Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse the Hope of Justice

March 22, 2007

Kudos to Idaho Governor Butch Otter who yesterday signed in to law a special
statute of limitations bill that extends the time period in which adult
survivors of child rape and molestation may pursue civil legal actions
against their sexual abusers and those that knowingly unleashed those sexual
predators on children. The new law, which becomes effective July 1st, allows
victims of childhood sexual abuse up to five years after they discover their
injuries and/or the causal relationship between the sexual abuse and those
emotional and psychological injuries.

Scientific studies show that abused children are often unable to fully
appreciate the nature and extent of their psychological problems or are
unable to "connect the dots" between those injuries and the abuse often
until well into adulthood. This new law formally recognizes that reality by
expanding the time period in which adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse
may come to court and use the civil justice system to hold their abusers
accountable.

It is noteworthy that the law ttp://www3.state.id.us/oasis/H0125.htmlpassed the Senate unanimouslyand with only a few dissenters in the House.


One of the sponsors of the bill spoke inspiringly on the senate floor last
week referring to the bill as "a prayer from the soul of a child."

Idahoans should be proud of its lawmakers from both political parties for having the courage, humanity and foresight to standup to those few that opposed this bill.

Idaho's leadership on this issue will long be remembered both as a matter of compassion for abuse survivors but also as pragmatic politics that recognizes that empowering crime victims is the cheapest and most effective form of law enforcement. This law empowers the victims themselves to publicly identify their abusers, often dangerous predators that continue to live in comfortable anonymity and prey upon the a new generation of children in our communities. It should not be forgotten that these child molesters continue to pose a threat to children and their exposure through civil litigation will protect parents and children while also allowing the victims to expend their own resources to pursue justice against the pedophiles and their enablers without placing any additional burden on the police or prosecutors.??

While this statute of limitations law is not a guarantee that an adult survivor of child sexual abuse will be able to make a case that will hold up in court, and victims should have no illusions about the difficulty of these case especially those that are many decades old, but at least this new law gives these long-suffering victims a fighting chance at justice. This new law opens the door just a crack but it gives victims a glimmer of hope of justice for the wrongs done to them and most of all it gives victims a meaningful opportunity for healing and closure.

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