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	Sex Abuse Victims Ask Lawmakers to Lift Time Limit on Lawsuits By Theo Emery Associated Press, carried in Boston.com [Boston MA] September 21, 2005 BOSTON --When Robert Costello swam with his scout troop every Wednesday afternoon at a Jamaica Plain pool, he said, the priest who led the troop picked out boys among them to molest. Costello said he was sexually assaulted as he waded in the shallow end, and afterward raped in the locker room. He buried the memories, and it wasn't until he was in his 30s that Costello, now 44, began to confront what happened to him as a child. By then, the statute of limitations for criminal charges and for civil claims had expired long before. Costello and other adult victims of child sexual abuse pleaded with lawmakers on Wednesday to lift the state statute of limitations on civil claims for sexual crimes against children, saying it takes years, even decades, for children to confront their abuse and their abusers. Though Costello sued and settled with the church, he said that the law must be changed so that abusers can be held accountable. "Passing this bill will give children like me a fighting chance when they do determine what happened and how it affected their lives," he told the Judiciary Committee on Beacon Hill on Wednesday. Under current law, civil claims for child sexual crimes must be filed within three years of the crime, or within three years of a child victim turning 18. The legislation that the Judiciary Committee heard Wednesday would remove that statute of limitations completely, allowing victims to bring lawsuits years after crimes allegedly took place. "I can't tell you how many times I've heard from clients, 'I thought I would take my secret to my grave," said Ann Hagen Webb, an abuse victim who is New England coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. Another pending bill would remove the time limits on criminal charges of child abuse. A broader omnibus bill aimed at tightening up laws for sex offenders would also remove both criminal and civil time limits, but that bill has not been presented for a public hearing. Abuse victims and their supporters have been pressing for the end to the statute of limitations for both civil claims and criminal charges since the massive clergy sexual abuse scandal involving the Roman Catholic Church erupted in Boston in early 2002. Eventually, hundreds of priests were found to have molested thousands of children over the decades. In the vast majority of those cases, the statute of limitations had long expired, but the Boston Archdiocese agreed to settle them anyway. It was the enormous publicity of the scandal that forced the archdiocese to settle old claims, said attorney Carmen Durso, who represented many alleged clergy-abuse victims. In less high-profile cases of child sexual abuse or incest, such claims would never make it to trial because of the limits, he said. "This is vital. This will change the landscape on sexual abuse if this legislation is passed," he said. Michael Kennedy, 58, of Needham, described in graphic detail being sexual abused and raped as a 10-year-old child. His abuser, Kennedy said, threatened to kill his mother if he told, and if he failed to return for more abuse. When he was an adult, he had no ability to pursue his attacker in court. He said that striking down the statute of limitations would give abuse victims like himself some recourse. "I don't know why we are sitting here today discussing this issue again," he said.
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