With return of lawmakers, victims of child sex crimes implore Pa. Senate to advance reform bill
Updated Apr 19, 2021; Posted Apr 19, 2021 By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com
Their stories - harrowing as they are - have become familiar across the commonwealth over the years.
Five sisters sexually assaulted and exploited by the family priest. A young boy - now a man fighting for justice - brutally raped by teachers at his Harrisburg Catholic school. A girl repeatedly raped by a family member, another by her music teacher. A boy and his classmates raped by priests at their Philadelphia Catholic school.
Those were the gut-wrenching stories shared on Monday as dozens of victims and advocates urged the Pennsylvania Senate to advance legislation that would provide a temporary period of time for victims - all of them now adults and out of legal recourse - to seek justice.
The state Senate this week is poised to consider a bill that would pave the way for victims timed-out of the legal system to get a two-year reprieve to file civil claims - facing predators in court, or at the very least, the institutions that turned a blind eye to their abuse. The state House of Representatives has already approved the bill.
“How much longer do we have to wait,” said Patty Fortney, a victims of clergy sex abuse. “Please hear us. The time is up. Victims’ lives cannot wait any longer.’
The measure, which the House approved this month by a vote of 149-52, would allow lawsuits outside the statute of limitations against both public and private entities. Some legislators are aiming to change the state law while also pursuing an amendment to the state constitution.
Efforts to provide a window for victims to sue have been defeated time and again. Pennsylvania is the only northeast state that hasn’t fully reformed child sex crimes to offer retroactive windows that would temporarily lift expired statute of limitations, allowing victims to seek recourse in civil court.
“Senators, your greatest duty is to protect the children of this commonwealth,” said Patrick Duggan, who delivered an emotion account of his brutal rape as a boy at the hands of his teachers at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School in Harrisburg.
The midday rally coincided with the return of lawmakers to the legislative session. Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who led the 2018 grand jury investigation, attended the rally, along with several Democratic lawmakers, including state Sens. Steve Santarsiero, Judith Schwank, Katie Muth, Tim Kearney, Maria Collet and Anthony Williams.
“It’s time for justice,” said Marci Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania law professor and one of the country’s leading advocates for statute of limitations reform. “We are close and we are hopeful.”
Hamilton called on Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman and Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward to advance House Bill 951, which would open a two-year retroactive window.
Almost all of the victims standing on the Capitol steps have been here before. Since 2005, they and their families, as well as advocates have been fighting for this narrow opportunity at justice, momentum sustained in the wake of grand jury investigations, but only to fall short at the end at the legislative level.
“Please hear us,” said Fortney, a member of the Harrisburg-area family of five sisters who were all sexually abused by a priest. In 2018, she testified before the 40th Statewide Grand Jury that documented the widespread and systemic sexual abuse of thousands of minors by Catholic priests.
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