Click here for an update about the work we are doing on this issue. Thoughts much appreciated below.
Published by Will Brownsberger
Will Brownsberger is State Senator from the Second Suffolk and Middlesex District.
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56 replies on “Child Sexual Abuse — Legislative Update”
Bravo Senator Brownsberger! Massachusetts citizens need solid legislation that protects children and give victims a voice and door to justice!
I support your efforts in this. Thank you for sticking to it.
Survivors of child sexual abuse and child advocates take great solace in knowing that you have made the issue of SOL reform one of your top priorities. We know we can count on you to masterfully shepherd this historic bill through. We support your efforts and leadership in the critical months ahead and look forward to celebrating a well-earned victory with you soon !
Senator – This is an extremely important subject and I thank you for your efforts. Please keep us informed on the progress and especially on any roadblocks you run into. We are here to support you in this matter.
Will, Thank you for stepping up. A while back, I wrote this op-ed for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. You might find it of interest. Best, Richard Hoffman, 3 Gladstone St., N. Cambridge.
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS IS LEGALIZED INJUSTICE
Richard Hoffman
I am a survivor of boyhood rape. I am also a father, a husband, a teacher, and a writer. When my memoir, Half the House, was published in 1995, it became instrumental in the arrest, conviction, and incarceration of the man who assaulted me when I was ten, a revered youth sports figure in my town in Pennsylvania. It took many, many years for me to work through the consequences of that boyhood abuse and to speak and write the truth. These were years of working to keep up appearances, working to convince myself as well as others that I was unhurt, that what happened to me didn’t matter.
During that time, hundreds of children were violated by this same man, including the brave children who, with their families, brought him to trial. You see, he could not be prosecuted on the basis of the revelations in my book, because the statute of limitations had long run out. Among those children, whom I met at the trial, the oldest was my son’s age then, 13, and the youngest, 9 years old, was the same age as my daughter.
Like many other rape survivors, I am still trying to fathom the enormity of this event in my life. I recall how it felt to be a stunned and reeling child trying to understand what it MEANT that this had happened to me. Many meanings were offered me as a young person, and all of them had to do with something shameful about ME. No one said, clearly and indisputably, that I had been the victim of a crime. That I was entitled to justice, that I did not need to remain feeling trapped and isolated and shattered. That my parents did not need to suffer, wondering what was wrong with their once cheerful and confident boy.
It is in the very nature of this intimate violation that a shamed silence will be kept until the victim comes to see its toxic effect: that takes between 30 and 40 years. It isn’t until you have tried and failed at keeping the silence you have been sworn to by the abuser, by your own misplaced shame, and by the compelling interest of large institutions to protect their reputations (and their current insurance premiums), that one even conceives of speaking out. It isn’t until you have tried and failed to believe another can love you; it isn’t until you discover that alcohol and other induced oblivions are not medicinal; it isn’t until you realize that running away from your own history means abandoning yourself, that you finally turn, face the past, and tell the truth.
Ah, but then, if you live in Massachusetts, you’ll be told it’s too late.
Imagine for a moment that you buy a furnace for your home that is known to explode after ten years and the manufacturer gives you a nine year warranty — would it not add insult to injury, with your home now rubble around you, to see that manufacturer protected by the law?
Not only here in Massachusetts, but around the country and around the world, law enforcement agencies will tell you that in many cases, they have ample evidence to bring perpetrators to trial but are stopped cold by the clock running out. We need look no further than the case of former Springfield Bishop Thomas Dupre to find justice denied to Massachusetts citizens.
Fortunately, we can do something about this, just as citizens have done in other parts of the country and in several European nations as well. At present, several bills are in committee that would enable victims to take legal actions against their abusers. These bills will give prosecutors the wherewithal to hold sexually violent criminals accountable. Support for Senate Bill 1056/House Bill 1813; Senate Bill 1057/House Bill 909; and Senate Bill 1058/House Bill 3555, will remove the Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card issued to Massachusetts’ sexual predators who can no longer count on shame, silence, and time to put them beyond the reach of justice.
The Coalition to Reform Sex Abuse Laws in Massachusetts has created a website that makes it easy to reach your state senators and representatives with an instant-email feature. Help Massachusetts get rid of these dangerous statutes, as other states have. Visit the Coalition at http://www.stopsexcrime.org/repeal.html, and let your voice be heard.
Richard Hoffman is writer-in-residence at Emerson College and author of Half the House: a Memoir.
I voted for John Lawn because of his unwavering support for this issue and I appreciate the efforts being made to raise the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse. However, I feel it does not go far enough. As Mr. Hoffman so eloquently stated in his piece – he needed time to cognitively and emotionally work through the consequences he experienced because of the abuse. So too do most others who have experienced such abuse. Unfortunately, not everyone works through this in the same manner or the same length of time. For some it may take six years. For others it may take 60 years.
Sexual abuse, particularly child sexual abuse, is a form of murder. It murders the person who was and the potential for who that child might have become. And just like for murder there should be no statute of limitations.
Senator Brownsburger its so amazing to have such needed support from your leadership..
Its hard to even find words to express my gratitude, I am 49 years old and I am a survivor of child sexual abuse.
-I always thought growing up that nobody cared or they just didn’t know what was happening to me.
When I found my voice, the current law say’s I’m past my time. limit.
-I thought that the state I live in also didn’t care or want to know what had happened to me.
With all my heart I now know you Senator Brownsburger care and are listening.
Forever thank you,
Rosanne
Thank you for caring. Thank you for listening. Thank you for fighting to help so many victims that many of us watch struggle through this every single day.
Your work and efforts are SO GREATLY appreciated.
-Michelle Flanagan-Black
It is true that the harm that childhood sexual abuse victims suffer to their sense of self can keep them from naming the crime and the perpetrator and attempting redress in the courts.
But there can be another dynamic that keeps them silent for years and it is fear. Fear based on very real threats made to the victims about what the perpetrator will do to them, to their families and even their friends.
This is another reason why the statute of limitations should be extended, so that victims who need time and/or distance can still help themselves and the community by seeking justice.
Thank you for supporting victims, and for keeping this bill on track for early passage.
Child rape is the most brutal of crimes. Most often a child is not raped by a stranger, but by someone he or she should be able to trust: a father, grandfather, uncle, priest, teacher, and on rare occasions, a mother or aunt.
They groom these children, tell them how special they are, and a child desperate for love and acceptance, becomes confused. The child is often told of the harm that will come to them, the rapist (whom they often love), the family, or another beloved parent, if the truth comes out, and so secrecy becomes essential. The child so badly betrayed by the perpetrator, fears speaking out.
As the rape survivor who first coined the term “survivor” and spoke out against the dehumanizing and discriminatory term of “victim” – unless we are murdered – I have counseled hundreds of men, women, and children raped. I was raped as an adult, but I believe that being raped as a child is the hardest violation to overcome.
Many adults only come to terms with it very late in life, in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. It has profound long term effects.
We have to imagine the difficult they have in speaking out. How do you stand up in court and say: “My father used to lock me in the bathroom with him and would then force me to perform oral sex on him?” Or, “when I was 10, I was so desperate for acceptance that I allowed a football coach to sodomize me in the showers?”
I testified in court, as a confident adult, about a stranger raping and stabbing me, and I never, never, never, want to experience that again.
Research by the U.S. Department of Justice shows that by the time a pedophile is arrested, he will have raped at least 60 children. Pedophiles are the only type of rapist that cannot be reformed. If we are serious about protecting children then your proposal will be enacted.
I will do all I can to support it, I thank you for your work.
Dear Mr. Brownsberger, Thank you for your work. This issue is always with me in my head and in my heart. I am the daughter of a victim and the cousin x2 of victims and the unbelievable trauma that my loved ones have gone through in their lives is unjust and excruciating. The effects of Child sex abuse live within the victims for years tearing their lives apart from the inside out. I believe that childhood sex abuse should be equal to murder as it murders the souls of its victims and they are forever changed. Some Kill themselves, some torment themselves (drugs, alcohol, food, sex ect…) some question their sexuality, some can never have any type of relationship with anyone…. the effects are so wide spread and destructive that when these amazing people are able to make it to “the other side” and want justice it is taken from them in Massachusetts. These victims deserve a voice and a chance…… Please, please continue this work and get this bill passed soon for all the wonderful people that I know and have met over the past 2 years, they are still living in their pain while their abusers walk around free to possibly do more harm.
Senator Will Brownsberger and Representative John Lawn, I can’t thank you enough for the work you are doing in helping so many survivors including myself. With opening the window opportunity Justice will be served as it should be. A survivor that has been in my shoes knows the importance of this bill. Your work is very much appreciated! Thank you!
Thank you for promoting this issue in the Massachusetts Senate. As a survivor of childhood abuse and a psychologist working with many survivors, I cannot stress the need for an extended civil SOL strongly enough. I never filed a lawsuit myself, since I didn’t feel strong enough in those first three years of working on it. Many people are simply not ready to take legal action in 3 years. The criminal SOL has been extended, but sexual abuse is very difficult to get to a criminal trial. Often the only recourse for justice is civil court. I completely support your efforts.
Thank you for your commitment to this issue. I wish each member of our legislature could understand that each day we are omitted from justice is painful. We have fought hard to be here, let the laws of the Commonwealth recognize us.
I will again share my open letter to the Massachusetts Legislature dated 2/25/13:
Dear Massachusetts Legislators,
I am writing to share my story and urge you to repeal the current Statute of Limitations for child sexual abuse. It is the personal stories that give light to the law and I would like to use mine to this end.
I am 39 years old and live with my two children in Longmeadow Ma. I was sexually abused by my stepfather Peter R. Cooney, beginning around the age of eight and ending around the age of 14. I was vaginally raped, sodomized, taught to perform oral sex and I was fed and smeared with his feces. I developed Dissociative Identity Disorder, a coping mechanism in which my mind found a way to distance a self from trauma.
In the “grooming” phase my stepfather bought me two dogs, later he used these dogs to keep me quiet. Last year I got in touch with a childhood friend. I had not been in contact with her for approximately 30 years. She told me that soon before we moved out of their neighborhood, I was then 10, I came to her driveway and shared that if I told what my step father was doing to me he would poison and kill my 2 dogs. I told her that he said he could do it and not get caught. Two years later these dogs were gone. My mother told me they went to a farm. Later in life my mother would ask me about them, she would say: “He got you those dogs, you loved those dogs, but then you wouldn’t go near them anymore- what happened to those dogs?” I now know much more of the story.
After the dogs my stepfather threatened the safety of my mother and I. As a child and victim it was made my responsibility to keep my mother safe and our “family” together. This is why when my mom died on Dec 26, 2010 I cracked open. I gained memories of the “other girls” that had accompanied me in life, holding my pain and separating me from the sexual relationship that existed between me and my stepfather. I gained memories of the abuse itself. The PTSD symptoms that I had struggled with as an adult I finally understood. I also remembered trying to tell my mother when I was 18 that I had been sexually assaulted in a particular bedroom. I reminder her of other mothers on that street coming to talk with her about me and I told her my pediatrician had noticed something about my vagina back then but I had lied to him about it. My mother could not hear me that day and I did not know who my abuser was. This is what my mind had done, it fractured it all out to protect me. Two years later, one summer day on the Cape, my mother specifically asked if Peter had molested me. I hardly let her get the words out, yelling “NO!” She followed with: “What did he do to you then? Why are you so strange around him?” I answered that I did not know. I don’t think that I did know then, but I do now, and this knowledge will help me walk to freedom. Although it is an important part of how children survive trauma we are in the end prisoners of the memories we repress.
Our current laws with regard to child sexual abuse prevent me from seeking justice through our legal system. Although I did not understand that I had been sexually abused by my stepfather until March of 2011, this is difficult to prove. The three year discovery rule, as it is currently worded, prevents justice time and again. I somehow made it to here. I am somehow whole and strong enough to want to stand up for the little girl I was. I have lived inside a bubble built by trauma and I want out. I want all survivors to know that we are rooting for them, that we will stand with them whenever they are ready to take back their lives. Survivors deserve a chance at a day in court. Lack of evidence may prevent justice, but time restrictions should not.
I live in this town with my abuser. I see him drive by my house. My friends see the man who fed me his feces shopping at the grocery store. I want to take him to court.
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. This April is the 30th anniversary of that designation. Let’s send a giant message to victims and abusers alike. We need to show where our priorities are in these horrific crimes. Let’s help keep children safe and their abusers identified and behind bars. This April, let’s finally repeal the Statute of Limitations for Child Sexual Abuse in Massachusetts.
Thank you.
Yours truly,
Lisa Foster
Longmeadow, Ma.
Hi, That’s all well and fine, but after all it is just words. We have been listening to this rhetoric for over 7 years with nothing being done. Senator, when you come to the table to make some changes and pass some bills, that is when it will be important. Talk, talk talk. Same crap for the last 7 years. All you are is another Senator blowing smoke out and doing nothing. I called your office and there is nothing on the table for committee. Committee hasn’t even been scheduled yet. It will be the same thing and it will be stalled until the end of session and then it will be push time from all of us and you will try to appease and it will fail again. The problem is Senator, that your word doesn’t mean much anymore because it is all broken promises and the children that are molested everyday still get molested. They get raped anally, vaginally and orally everyday while you sit and ponder thier fate and do nothing. Do you think it is fair that all of you decide what age all of us and all of them can prosecute at. How about pondering this, you go home everyday and drop your drawers in the bathroom and look at yourself and think about the kids that got molested on that day. Make sure you look long and hard and decide whether they should wait another day for all of you to decide thier fate and whether a prosecution should come forth. Does that get the message across. These kids don’t deserve to have to wait. We don’t deserve to have to wait. Just pass the god damn bill so we can protect the kids and prosecute instead of all you idiots nice words about what should be done. I am TIRED of listening to the crap year after year and new politicians coming in and doing nothing, but words. How about some ACTION AND PUT THE BILL FORTH AND PASS THE LAW!!! That is what we want to hear!!!! Not the words that another bill was created. Think of it this way and pass along to your legislative buddies, how many cocks in a kids mouth does it take for a legislator to pass a bill? Get our message?
Thanks, Beth. You are right that words are only a starting point. Hopefully we’ll make real progress in this session.
Beth, I totally understand your frustration. I have advocated for many SOL bills in other jurisdictions – I know how frustrating the legislative process can be.
But, Beth, I believe Senator Brownsberger is a man of integrity and a man of his word. He understands, he is committed to this important legislation.
It’s true, words are just words – change matters, truth matters. Senator Brownsberger is committed to both.
Yes, please!
Sen. Brownsberger’s SOL bill creates justice for many victims now shut out of court. And, an opportunity to learn the truth about institutions and families with hidden information about child sex abuse.
Senator Brownsburger will this bill be discussed for April??
Family institutions get overlooked continuously, the shame guilt and loss of what all you knew is gone. 1-4 are being molested by a family member. Just because it’s not a institution of education or religion. Family child sexual abuse is so terribly harmful to all members. We need to stop this violence and crimes in the family put the perpetrators and people who protect them away.. Educate, expose, make this right. No child should be silenced because of fear or shame. Bring this out – teach children to be safe and allow them to talk. End this cycle, the perpetrators should FEAR not the child or the adult child survivor. I don’t know why this has to even be discussed for years, every state should have the same standards for child molesters. THIS IS MURDER OF THE SOUL! alive but dead inside. Few have support to heal these wounds so deep in their soul, lets go Massachusetts, protect our children, state to state no one child should ever suffer that damage! Enough silence! Let’s get this done in April Senator.
Thank you
Amen Ro! Well said. As Survivors of sexual abuse we both know what needs to be done. By passing this law the help will be given to survivors especially with the 1 year window as well as helping innocent victims in the future. Educate the children in the schools. Wouldn’t be hard to do during Health class. By educating them to stop would prevent their abuse from continuing. I wish I was educated when I was a young girl.
Just once as a child I wish I had been taught that it was ok to say NO! I’m proud that my children, now young adults, no enough to stand up for themselves! My wish for them and all children is for them to be able to not only stand up but to speak up from themselves! It’s been my honor in the last year to meet other survivors…and yes I say other….I’m 51 years and have never spoken up and it’s clearly too late now! How sad…that one has to meet others to be brave enough to “tell”….a very sad commentary on life….please Senator…please help us….and we’ll be happy to help you help us….thank you for your time.
Debbie must of been during our age bracket because I am 50, 51 in August and was never educated to tell. I am proud of you for speaking as you do today! Let’s hope for the 1 year window so we can talk and get justice for us!
Thank you Senator Brownsberger for having the courage to be a voice at the State House for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. This atrocity sees no color, no religion, gender or race. It comes quietly, it lurks in our homes, within our families, schools , churches and youth organizations. That list in itself should explain why they have been protected so long! They are our family members, pastors,coaches,teachers and neighbors.They steal innocent lives like a thief, they rape, coerce and torture. They existed and were protected by a generation of fear, shame & denial. You are standing alongside a new generation. A generation that has had enough. A generation that has found its voice. A generation that will no longer protect child sexual abusers or those who stand beside them. I am humbled to follow you and all the great people that are standing up for the future of our children. I am hopeful that victims will all have justice for the heinous crimes committed against them.
Thank you,
Gina Sliney Mola
Thank you, Senator Brownsburger. I am behind your efforts 100% to prevent child sexual abuse and to hold abusers accountable. There should be NO time constraints for the victims of abuse.
Thanks to all for these strong statements of the need. My main hope is that we will not disappoint you again.
Disappointment is not an option, patience and conviction is. Thank you for all your work!!
I cried just now knowing how close the MA legislature is to making this bill a law. It took me 40 years to come to terms with childhood rape. I guess I waited until my child from the rape was off on his own…I guess I never wanted to cause him pain. Unfortunately after telling him his father raped me, he is in shock and has chosen to isolate from the truth as it is too painful for him. I knew it might be but after a severe PTSD trigger event last year, I couldn’t keep it held in any longer, it was killing me.
I have connected with so many of the good people of MA, Senator Brownsberger, Representative Mariano, Jetta Bernier, several lawyers…and appreciate all of them; there are not enough. You are all “golden” in my eyes! Thank you for helping victim/survivors achieve potential justice.
ENOUGH SECRETS. ENOUGH SHAME. ENOUGH HURT. ENOUGH CONFUSION. ENOUGH DENIAL. GIVE VICTIMS A FAIR FIGHT. STATISTICS SHOW 1 OUT OF EVERY 4 WOMEN ARE Sexually ABUSED, GIVE THEM THE VOICE there ABUSER AND MASSACHUSETTS HAS TAKEN FROM THEM, Don’t LET THEM BE SILENT.
THANK YOU FOR FIGHTING FOR US.. – Enough.org, CORSAL, Mass Kids, John Lawn, Tom Stanley, Senator Brownsburger and everyone fighting to make this right.
Dear Mr. Brownsberger, I received your email today regarding your intent to run for the US Congress. I wish you luck in this new endeavor, but would like to know how this will effect your work on the SOL Bill. I realize that there are many issues that you are working on, but Childhood Sexual Abuse Victims and Advocates have waited too long and fought too hard to lose your support at the State level.
Respectfully,
Lisa Coppola
In essence, the statute of limitations is absurd. The specter of child abuse is a slow drip on the physic that eats away at the enamel of personalities. External and social forces control the spigot’s flow, sometimes the dam breaks early, and other times the ego holds back the pressure until social influences decline or the extreme forces burst through the self-imposed prison walls.
You would have better odds predicting the exact time and shape of a snowflake than pin point a time frame for a victim to come forward. I know.
Thank you for this initiative. I have a family member (by law) who was born into a Satanic cult. They started prostituting her at age 4 and continued until age 8. She was rescued by a neighbor and CPS placed her with a grandparent. She experienced amnesia to the abuse, until she reached 55 years old and was bedbound for 3 years as the memories started coming up. The amount of time needed for the victim to be strong enough to experience the memories is dependant on the level of abuse and well surpasses the 6 years currently on the books. We need this. Somebody, somewhere needs to voice to adults, who have been abused, that their trauma is valid and that their recovery matters to the people of the world.
Thank you for opening this forum. Christine Freire Henderson NV
Dear Senator Brownsberger,
You have the means to get this done! There IS nothing that should stop you from making this your number one top priority. Victims cannot heal without resolve. We plead with you to take charge and use your position of power to pass this bill now! Victims have waited too long and feel that your words are just words. Please help us to get justice. We are growing old and weary.
Thank you. I would be someone who could benefit from passage of this bill. Even after all these years the strength and courage necessary to come forward is exhausting and stressful. If given the opportunity to seek legal action I hope I will have the courage. I m discovering how much courage and strength it takes to face each day while in the recovery process and how challenging it really is.
Thank you Jetta. Spoken so eloquently on behalf of so many who have been silent for so long.
mike that was the most amazing metaphor for the lifelong forces at work on a victim/survivor…thank you for that
The Joint Committee on the Judiciary is planning a hearing for this bill on May 7, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. in Room A2 of the State House.
Anne Johnson Landry
Committee Counsel and Policy Advisor
Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger
Thanks, Lisa. I hope my run doesn’t get in the way. Can’t promise success either way, but I’ll be doing everything I can to make it happen.
Dear Anne Johnson,
Is this hearing open to the public? Would it be helpful to the passing of the bill if people came to support it? Thank you.
Thanks for raising this issue. As a matter of public policy, not only do we need to consider past victims but also determine appropriate measures to protect those who might be victimized today or in the future. Deterrence is the key.
We live in a very different society today than that of the past. Most — but not all — of today’s kids are armed with far more information about the world from their exposure to media and the Internet.
What I think this means is that most children are now savvy enough to discreetly seek help if they’re ever targeted. What do we do about the others, who either don’t know they should look for help or who are fearful of retribution?
Those are the things I think about today. If we extend the statute of limitations beyond reasonable durability of evidence (which is obviously at the heart of this debate: long-term human memory is fallible as time passes, and most evidence in these cases is based on testimony rather than tangible) then there will be unintended consequences that future courts and legislatures will have to address.
Protecting today’s children should be the primary focus of this agenda.
-rich
Thank you for your question, Kevin. The hearing is open to the public and all members of the public are welcome to testify, either orally or through written testimony. Oral testimony in legislative committee hearings is often limited to about three minutes. We anticipate a high volume of testimony on this particular bill.
rich,
Passage of these House and Senate bills, in my mind, will expose the sexually abusive pedophiles and rapists that harmed victims/survivors long ago and that may be currently in situations that they are able to victimize children of today. The man who raped me at 14 and his sister when she was 5 is currently in the presence of his 4 year old step-granddaughter and, aside from my notifying the local authorities and the state child protection services of what he did to me, helping these bills pass will allow me to bring my case (long pass the current SOL) to the light of justice and potentially save this child as well.
This is a way to protect today’s children!
madeline
It is hard to believe that the statute of limitations has not been amended yet after all those years and as we know how hard it is for victims to come forward. Not to mention the additional damage caused in the meantime by perpetrators abusing more children.
Please let us know how to best support your efforts if there is any beyond this forum.
Thank you for sticking to this critical issue in the name of all the children who are victims as we speak and who have been.
I wonder in particular how schools could play a role in educating kids about what’s right and wrong. I know some do talk about safety and strangers. Local police may come to discuss safety but how to talk about safety at home or with a coach?
Kids themselves need to hear from other adults what’s right and wrong even at home, not just with strangers. May be as part of sex education which as I recall doesn’t start until 4th or 5th grade.
After the hearing in May, hopefully, we’ll have a better feel for where we are in the process for this session. At that point, me may have a better sense of next steps and how people can be helpful.
Senator Brownsberger and Representative Lawn have submitted a letter, signed by over 100 legislators, to the Senate President and Speaker of the House, expressing their eagerness “for the opportunity to vote to abolish or retroactively extend the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits for childhood sexual abuse.”
Anne Johnson Landry
Committee Counsel and Policy Advisor
Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger
Thank you Anne, Senator Brownsberger and Representative Lawn!!! Many Kudos from all of us that are abuse victims and survivors!! I think I can safely speak for the group of us. This should put the ‘thoughts about the SOL bills’ back into the forefront of the minds of the Speaker and President so that they may push the bills forward. Is there anything that we can do as survivors that may be recommended to ‘push’ the issues onto the floor? Do you think we need another session with them to reiterate what was already said or a sit in at the state house? You all would know best on what will help as what we have been doing as advocates has not faired the results we want. We need a new approach and any and all ideas are welcome!! Hopefully, the letter will be enough to push the bills out of committee and to the floor. Thanks again for what you have done to help so far. Warmest regards, Beth Donahue
For anyone that is looking to get in touch with me, I don’t have my computer running and had to change my phone number. If you want to get in touch with me, email me at bethdon01@hotmail.com or call me at 321-480-6218.
Senator Brownsberger:
Now that Eugene O’Flaherty is leaving his post on the Judiciary, How about replacing him with Rep Mariano D Quincy? Who appoints the new Hose Chair? Thanks
John Sweeney
Hi John, Senator Brownsberger and all;
I agree with John. It would be nice to have someone that believes in the issues that have been set forth for children’s issues such as abolishment of the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse to be voted to committee. I hope that happens. Can we get an update of what this means for all of us as far as the bills being put to the floor? It is January and if we work them now, we can get them passed by April!!!! Go Senator B!!!
The Speaker appoints the House Chair. It’s too soon to know what the impact of the personnel changes will be be on the politics of this issue, but rest assured that I look forward to continuing my advocacy on it as Senate Chair.
Hello Beth and Senator Brownsberger:
I think that all of the victims that have been sexually abused need to get out the vote campaign and have all their friends and loved ones call Speaker DeLeo’s office and tell the Speaker that Rep Mariano should be the new House Chair of the Judiciary and to call for a vote in the Judiciary Committee on H1455 and S633.Everyone knows there is a majority in both the House and Senate to pass H1455 with the 1ear window. My friends and family are calling the Speakers office. please get the word out to your friends and family members as well. We have the momentum, and unlike the Catholics Church , we have God on our side.
John Sweeney
Raped 1969
Dear Senator Brownsberger,
I’ve done my civic duty and called Speaker DeLeo’s office but to no avail. His aides will not let me speak with him nor do I get a call back from anyone in his office that knows anything.
Just wondering as it is only a few weeks till March 2014, and this is the last year I believe that you can get your bill through before it is re-written again and reproposed….is anything going to happen this year??? I know you must be busy with your new duties with your promotion but please don’t forget all of us victim/survivors of childhood sexual abuse that are waiting for the SOL reform laws to change. You are our only hope…
Madeline
Hi Madeline,
Stay tuned — we are working hard on this.
And don’t worry about the March deadline — that is routinely extended. The hard deadline is the end of July.
All best,
/w.
Senator Brownsberger:
Do the SOL Reform bills in the Judiciary have to wait for the vacant House seat to be filled. I see that Representative Markey has currently filled the House Chair on the Website. Is this permanent?
John Sweeney
John, please e-mail me at madeline_ek@yahoo.com as I would like to converse with a fellow survivor. This invitation is open to any other survivor that would like to converse with me as well. I think it’s time for us all to connect with each other.
Madeline CK
Hi John,
Representative Markey is the House Vice Chair. There many other issues awaiting the appointment of a House Chair, so I do expect a permanent Chair to be named soon.
Not sure about whether we need to wait. We are working very hard on getting a meaningful bill passed and I am cautiously optimistic at this stage. If the chairmanship remains open much longer, it’s possible that we could work out an agreement with the House that allows us start moving things.
Bravo Senator Brownsberger! Massachusetts citizens need solid legislation that protects children and give victims a voice and door to justice!
I support your efforts in this. Thank you for sticking to it.
Survivors of child sexual abuse and child advocates take great solace in knowing that you have made the issue of SOL reform one of your top priorities. We know we can count on you to masterfully shepherd this historic bill through. We support your efforts and leadership in the critical months ahead and look forward to celebrating a well-earned victory with you soon !
Senator – This is an extremely important subject and I thank you for your efforts. Please keep us informed on the progress and especially on any roadblocks you run into. We are here to support you in this matter.
Will, Thank you for stepping up. A while back, I wrote this op-ed for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. You might find it of interest. Best, Richard Hoffman, 3 Gladstone St., N. Cambridge.
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS IS LEGALIZED INJUSTICE
Richard Hoffman
I am a survivor of boyhood rape. I am also a father, a husband, a teacher, and a writer. When my memoir, Half the House, was published in 1995, it became instrumental in the arrest, conviction, and incarceration of the man who assaulted me when I was ten, a revered youth sports figure in my town in Pennsylvania. It took many, many years for me to work through the consequences of that boyhood abuse and to speak and write the truth. These were years of working to keep up appearances, working to convince myself as well as others that I was unhurt, that what happened to me didn’t matter.
During that time, hundreds of children were violated by this same man, including the brave children who, with their families, brought him to trial. You see, he could not be prosecuted on the basis of the revelations in my book, because the statute of limitations had long run out. Among those children, whom I met at the trial, the oldest was my son’s age then, 13, and the youngest, 9 years old, was the same age as my daughter.
Like many other rape survivors, I am still trying to fathom the enormity of this event in my life. I recall how it felt to be a stunned and reeling child trying to understand what it MEANT that this had happened to me. Many meanings were offered me as a young person, and all of them had to do with something shameful about ME. No one said, clearly and indisputably, that I had been the victim of a crime. That I was entitled to justice, that I did not need to remain feeling trapped and isolated and shattered. That my parents did not need to suffer, wondering what was wrong with their once cheerful and confident boy.
It is in the very nature of this intimate violation that a shamed silence will be kept until the victim comes to see its toxic effect: that takes between 30 and 40 years. It isn’t until you have tried and failed at keeping the silence you have been sworn to by the abuser, by your own misplaced shame, and by the compelling interest of large institutions to protect their reputations (and their current insurance premiums), that one even conceives of speaking out. It isn’t until you have tried and failed to believe another can love you; it isn’t until you discover that alcohol and other induced oblivions are not medicinal; it isn’t until you realize that running away from your own history means abandoning yourself, that you finally turn, face the past, and tell the truth.
Ah, but then, if you live in Massachusetts, you’ll be told it’s too late.
Imagine for a moment that you buy a furnace for your home that is known to explode after ten years and the manufacturer gives you a nine year warranty — would it not add insult to injury, with your home now rubble around you, to see that manufacturer protected by the law?
Not only here in Massachusetts, but around the country and around the world, law enforcement agencies will tell you that in many cases, they have ample evidence to bring perpetrators to trial but are stopped cold by the clock running out. We need look no further than the case of former Springfield Bishop Thomas Dupre to find justice denied to Massachusetts citizens.
Fortunately, we can do something about this, just as citizens have done in other parts of the country and in several European nations as well. At present, several bills are in committee that would enable victims to take legal actions against their abusers. These bills will give prosecutors the wherewithal to hold sexually violent criminals accountable. Support for Senate Bill 1056/House Bill 1813; Senate Bill 1057/House Bill 909; and Senate Bill 1058/House Bill 3555, will remove the Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card issued to Massachusetts’ sexual predators who can no longer count on shame, silence, and time to put them beyond the reach of justice.
The Coalition to Reform Sex Abuse Laws in Massachusetts has created a website that makes it easy to reach your state senators and representatives with an instant-email feature. Help Massachusetts get rid of these dangerous statutes, as other states have. Visit the Coalition at http://www.stopsexcrime.org/repeal.html, and let your voice be heard.
Richard Hoffman is writer-in-residence at Emerson College and author of Half the House: a Memoir.
I voted for John Lawn because of his unwavering support for this issue and I appreciate the efforts being made to raise the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse. However, I feel it does not go far enough. As Mr. Hoffman so eloquently stated in his piece – he needed time to cognitively and emotionally work through the consequences he experienced because of the abuse. So too do most others who have experienced such abuse. Unfortunately, not everyone works through this in the same manner or the same length of time. For some it may take six years. For others it may take 60 years.
Sexual abuse, particularly child sexual abuse, is a form of murder. It murders the person who was and the potential for who that child might have become. And just like for murder there should be no statute of limitations.
Senator Brownsburger its so amazing to have such needed support from your leadership..
Its hard to even find words to express my gratitude, I am 49 years old and I am a survivor of child sexual abuse.
-I always thought growing up that nobody cared or they just didn’t know what was happening to me.
When I found my voice, the current law say’s I’m past my time. limit.
-I thought that the state I live in also didn’t care or want to know what had happened to me.
With all my heart I now know you Senator Brownsburger care and are listening.
Forever thank you,
Rosanne
Thank you for caring. Thank you for listening. Thank you for fighting to help so many victims that many of us watch struggle through this every single day.
Your work and efforts are SO GREATLY appreciated.
-Michelle Flanagan-Black
It is true that the harm that childhood sexual abuse victims suffer to their sense of self can keep them from naming the crime and the perpetrator and attempting redress in the courts.
But there can be another dynamic that keeps them silent for years and it is fear. Fear based on very real threats made to the victims about what the perpetrator will do to them, to their families and even their friends.
This is another reason why the statute of limitations should be extended, so that victims who need time and/or distance can still help themselves and the community by seeking justice.
Thank you for supporting victims, and for keeping this bill on track for early passage.
Child rape is the most brutal of crimes. Most often a child is not raped by a stranger, but by someone he or she should be able to trust: a father, grandfather, uncle, priest, teacher, and on rare occasions, a mother or aunt.
They groom these children, tell them how special they are, and a child desperate for love and acceptance, becomes confused. The child is often told of the harm that will come to them, the rapist (whom they often love), the family, or another beloved parent, if the truth comes out, and so secrecy becomes essential. The child so badly betrayed by the perpetrator, fears speaking out.
As the rape survivor who first coined the term “survivor” and spoke out against the dehumanizing and discriminatory term of “victim” – unless we are murdered – I have counseled hundreds of men, women, and children raped. I was raped as an adult, but I believe that being raped as a child is the hardest violation to overcome.
Many adults only come to terms with it very late in life, in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. It has profound long term effects.
We have to imagine the difficult they have in speaking out. How do you stand up in court and say: “My father used to lock me in the bathroom with him and would then force me to perform oral sex on him?” Or, “when I was 10, I was so desperate for acceptance that I allowed a football coach to sodomize me in the showers?”
I testified in court, as a confident adult, about a stranger raping and stabbing me, and I never, never, never, want to experience that again.
Research by the U.S. Department of Justice shows that by the time a pedophile is arrested, he will have raped at least 60 children. Pedophiles are the only type of rapist that cannot be reformed. If we are serious about protecting children then your proposal will be enacted.
I will do all I can to support it, I thank you for your work.
Dear Mr. Brownsberger, Thank you for your work. This issue is always with me in my head and in my heart. I am the daughter of a victim and the cousin x2 of victims and the unbelievable trauma that my loved ones have gone through in their lives is unjust and excruciating. The effects of Child sex abuse live within the victims for years tearing their lives apart from the inside out. I believe that childhood sex abuse should be equal to murder as it murders the souls of its victims and they are forever changed. Some Kill themselves, some torment themselves (drugs, alcohol, food, sex ect…) some question their sexuality, some can never have any type of relationship with anyone…. the effects are so wide spread and destructive that when these amazing people are able to make it to “the other side” and want justice it is taken from them in Massachusetts. These victims deserve a voice and a chance…… Please, please continue this work and get this bill passed soon for all the wonderful people that I know and have met over the past 2 years, they are still living in their pain while their abusers walk around free to possibly do more harm.
Senator Will Brownsberger and Representative John Lawn, I can’t thank you enough for the work you are doing in helping so many survivors including myself. With opening the window opportunity Justice will be served as it should be. A survivor that has been in my shoes knows the importance of this bill. Your work is very much appreciated! Thank you!
Thank you for promoting this issue in the Massachusetts Senate. As a survivor of childhood abuse and a psychologist working with many survivors, I cannot stress the need for an extended civil SOL strongly enough. I never filed a lawsuit myself, since I didn’t feel strong enough in those first three years of working on it. Many people are simply not ready to take legal action in 3 years. The criminal SOL has been extended, but sexual abuse is very difficult to get to a criminal trial. Often the only recourse for justice is civil court. I completely support your efforts.
Thank you for your commitment to this issue. I wish each member of our legislature could understand that each day we are omitted from justice is painful. We have fought hard to be here, let the laws of the Commonwealth recognize us.
I will again share my open letter to the Massachusetts Legislature dated 2/25/13:
Dear Massachusetts Legislators,
I am writing to share my story and urge you to repeal the current Statute of Limitations for child sexual abuse. It is the personal stories that give light to the law and I would like to use mine to this end.
I am 39 years old and live with my two children in Longmeadow Ma. I was sexually abused by my stepfather Peter R. Cooney, beginning around the age of eight and ending around the age of 14. I was vaginally raped, sodomized, taught to perform oral sex and I was fed and smeared with his feces. I developed Dissociative Identity Disorder, a coping mechanism in which my mind found a way to distance a self from trauma.
In the “grooming” phase my stepfather bought me two dogs, later he used these dogs to keep me quiet. Last year I got in touch with a childhood friend. I had not been in contact with her for approximately 30 years. She told me that soon before we moved out of their neighborhood, I was then 10, I came to her driveway and shared that if I told what my step father was doing to me he would poison and kill my 2 dogs. I told her that he said he could do it and not get caught. Two years later these dogs were gone. My mother told me they went to a farm. Later in life my mother would ask me about them, she would say: “He got you those dogs, you loved those dogs, but then you wouldn’t go near them anymore- what happened to those dogs?” I now know much more of the story.
After the dogs my stepfather threatened the safety of my mother and I. As a child and victim it was made my responsibility to keep my mother safe and our “family” together. This is why when my mom died on Dec 26, 2010 I cracked open. I gained memories of the “other girls” that had accompanied me in life, holding my pain and separating me from the sexual relationship that existed between me and my stepfather. I gained memories of the abuse itself. The PTSD symptoms that I had struggled with as an adult I finally understood. I also remembered trying to tell my mother when I was 18 that I had been sexually assaulted in a particular bedroom. I reminder her of other mothers on that street coming to talk with her about me and I told her my pediatrician had noticed something about my vagina back then but I had lied to him about it. My mother could not hear me that day and I did not know who my abuser was. This is what my mind had done, it fractured it all out to protect me. Two years later, one summer day on the Cape, my mother specifically asked if Peter had molested me. I hardly let her get the words out, yelling “NO!” She followed with: “What did he do to you then? Why are you so strange around him?” I answered that I did not know. I don’t think that I did know then, but I do now, and this knowledge will help me walk to freedom. Although it is an important part of how children survive trauma we are in the end prisoners of the memories we repress.
Our current laws with regard to child sexual abuse prevent me from seeking justice through our legal system. Although I did not understand that I had been sexually abused by my stepfather until March of 2011, this is difficult to prove. The three year discovery rule, as it is currently worded, prevents justice time and again. I somehow made it to here. I am somehow whole and strong enough to want to stand up for the little girl I was. I have lived inside a bubble built by trauma and I want out. I want all survivors to know that we are rooting for them, that we will stand with them whenever they are ready to take back their lives. Survivors deserve a chance at a day in court. Lack of evidence may prevent justice, but time restrictions should not.
I live in this town with my abuser. I see him drive by my house. My friends see the man who fed me his feces shopping at the grocery store. I want to take him to court.
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. This April is the 30th anniversary of that designation. Let’s send a giant message to victims and abusers alike. We need to show where our priorities are in these horrific crimes. Let’s help keep children safe and their abusers identified and behind bars. This April, let’s finally repeal the Statute of Limitations for Child Sexual Abuse in Massachusetts.
Thank you.
Yours truly,
Lisa Foster
Longmeadow, Ma.
Hi, That’s all well and fine, but after all it is just words. We have been listening to this rhetoric for over 7 years with nothing being done. Senator, when you come to the table to make some changes and pass some bills, that is when it will be important. Talk, talk talk. Same crap for the last 7 years. All you are is another Senator blowing smoke out and doing nothing. I called your office and there is nothing on the table for committee. Committee hasn’t even been scheduled yet. It will be the same thing and it will be stalled until the end of session and then it will be push time from all of us and you will try to appease and it will fail again. The problem is Senator, that your word doesn’t mean much anymore because it is all broken promises and the children that are molested everyday still get molested. They get raped anally, vaginally and orally everyday while you sit and ponder thier fate and do nothing. Do you think it is fair that all of you decide what age all of us and all of them can prosecute at. How about pondering this, you go home everyday and drop your drawers in the bathroom and look at yourself and think about the kids that got molested on that day. Make sure you look long and hard and decide whether they should wait another day for all of you to decide thier fate and whether a prosecution should come forth. Does that get the message across. These kids don’t deserve to have to wait. We don’t deserve to have to wait. Just pass the god damn bill so we can protect the kids and prosecute instead of all you idiots nice words about what should be done. I am TIRED of listening to the crap year after year and new politicians coming in and doing nothing, but words. How about some ACTION AND PUT THE BILL FORTH AND PASS THE LAW!!! That is what we want to hear!!!! Not the words that another bill was created. Think of it this way and pass along to your legislative buddies, how many cocks in a kids mouth does it take for a legislator to pass a bill? Get our message?
Thanks, Beth. You are right that words are only a starting point. Hopefully we’ll make real progress in this session.
Beth, I totally understand your frustration. I have advocated for many SOL bills in other jurisdictions – I know how frustrating the legislative process can be.
But, Beth, I believe Senator Brownsberger is a man of integrity and a man of his word. He understands, he is committed to this important legislation.
It’s true, words are just words – change matters, truth matters. Senator Brownsberger is committed to both.
Yes, please!
Sen. Brownsberger’s SOL bill creates justice for many victims now shut out of court. And, an opportunity to learn the truth about institutions and families with hidden information about child sex abuse.
Senator Brownsburger will this bill be discussed for April??
Family institutions get overlooked continuously, the shame guilt and loss of what all you knew is gone. 1-4 are being molested by a family member. Just because it’s not a institution of education or religion. Family child sexual abuse is so terribly harmful to all members. We need to stop this violence and crimes in the family put the perpetrators and people who protect them away.. Educate, expose, make this right. No child should be silenced because of fear or shame. Bring this out – teach children to be safe and allow them to talk. End this cycle, the perpetrators should FEAR not the child or the adult child survivor. I don’t know why this has to even be discussed for years, every state should have the same standards for child molesters. THIS IS MURDER OF THE SOUL! alive but dead inside. Few have support to heal these wounds so deep in their soul, lets go Massachusetts, protect our children, state to state no one child should ever suffer that damage! Enough silence! Let’s get this done in April Senator.
Thank you
Amen Ro! Well said. As Survivors of sexual abuse we both know what needs to be done. By passing this law the help will be given to survivors especially with the 1 year window as well as helping innocent victims in the future. Educate the children in the schools. Wouldn’t be hard to do during Health class. By educating them to stop would prevent their abuse from continuing. I wish I was educated when I was a young girl.
Just once as a child I wish I had been taught that it was ok to say NO! I’m proud that my children, now young adults, no enough to stand up for themselves! My wish for them and all children is for them to be able to not only stand up but to speak up from themselves! It’s been my honor in the last year to meet other survivors…and yes I say other….I’m 51 years and have never spoken up and it’s clearly too late now! How sad…that one has to meet others to be brave enough to “tell”….a very sad commentary on life….please Senator…please help us….and we’ll be happy to help you help us….thank you for your time.
Debbie must of been during our age bracket because I am 50, 51 in August and was never educated to tell. I am proud of you for speaking as you do today! Let’s hope for the 1 year window so we can talk and get justice for us!
Thank you Senator Brownsberger for having the courage to be a voice at the State House for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. This atrocity sees no color, no religion, gender or race. It comes quietly, it lurks in our homes, within our families, schools , churches and youth organizations. That list in itself should explain why they have been protected so long! They are our family members, pastors,coaches,teachers and neighbors.They steal innocent lives like a thief, they rape, coerce and torture. They existed and were protected by a generation of fear, shame & denial. You are standing alongside a new generation. A generation that has had enough. A generation that has found its voice. A generation that will no longer protect child sexual abusers or those who stand beside them. I am humbled to follow you and all the great people that are standing up for the future of our children. I am hopeful that victims will all have justice for the heinous crimes committed against them.
Thank you,
Gina Sliney Mola
Thank you, Senator Brownsburger. I am behind your efforts 100% to prevent child sexual abuse and to hold abusers accountable. There should be NO time constraints for the victims of abuse.
Thanks to all for these strong statements of the need. My main hope is that we will not disappoint you again.
Disappointment is not an option, patience and conviction is. Thank you for all your work!!
I cried just now knowing how close the MA legislature is to making this bill a law. It took me 40 years to come to terms with childhood rape. I guess I waited until my child from the rape was off on his own…I guess I never wanted to cause him pain. Unfortunately after telling him his father raped me, he is in shock and has chosen to isolate from the truth as it is too painful for him. I knew it might be but after a severe PTSD trigger event last year, I couldn’t keep it held in any longer, it was killing me.
I have connected with so many of the good people of MA, Senator Brownsberger, Representative Mariano, Jetta Bernier, several lawyers…and appreciate all of them; there are not enough. You are all “golden” in my eyes! Thank you for helping victim/survivors achieve potential justice.
ENOUGH SECRETS. ENOUGH SHAME. ENOUGH HURT. ENOUGH CONFUSION. ENOUGH DENIAL. GIVE VICTIMS A FAIR FIGHT. STATISTICS SHOW 1 OUT OF EVERY 4 WOMEN ARE Sexually ABUSED, GIVE THEM THE VOICE there ABUSER AND MASSACHUSETTS HAS TAKEN FROM THEM, Don’t LET THEM BE SILENT.
THANK YOU FOR FIGHTING FOR US.. – Enough.org, CORSAL, Mass Kids, John Lawn, Tom Stanley, Senator Brownsburger and everyone fighting to make this right.
Dear Mr. Brownsberger, I received your email today regarding your intent to run for the US Congress. I wish you luck in this new endeavor, but would like to know how this will effect your work on the SOL Bill. I realize that there are many issues that you are working on, but Childhood Sexual Abuse Victims and Advocates have waited too long and fought too hard to lose your support at the State level.
Respectfully,
Lisa Coppola
In essence, the statute of limitations is absurd. The specter of child abuse is a slow drip on the physic that eats away at the enamel of personalities. External and social forces control the spigot’s flow, sometimes the dam breaks early, and other times the ego holds back the pressure until social influences decline or the extreme forces burst through the self-imposed prison walls.
You would have better odds predicting the exact time and shape of a snowflake than pin point a time frame for a victim to come forward. I know.
Thank you for this initiative. I have a family member (by law) who was born into a Satanic cult. They started prostituting her at age 4 and continued until age 8. She was rescued by a neighbor and CPS placed her with a grandparent. She experienced amnesia to the abuse, until she reached 55 years old and was bedbound for 3 years as the memories started coming up. The amount of time needed for the victim to be strong enough to experience the memories is dependant on the level of abuse and well surpasses the 6 years currently on the books. We need this. Somebody, somewhere needs to voice to adults, who have been abused, that their trauma is valid and that their recovery matters to the people of the world.
Thank you for opening this forum. Christine Freire Henderson NV
Dear Senator Brownsberger,
You have the means to get this done! There IS nothing that should stop you from making this your number one top priority. Victims cannot heal without resolve. We plead with you to take charge and use your position of power to pass this bill now! Victims have waited too long and feel that your words are just words. Please help us to get justice. We are growing old and weary.
Thank you. I would be someone who could benefit from passage of this bill. Even after all these years the strength and courage necessary to come forward is exhausting and stressful. If given the opportunity to seek legal action I hope I will have the courage. I m discovering how much courage and strength it takes to face each day while in the recovery process and how challenging it really is.
Thank you Jetta. Spoken so eloquently on behalf of so many who have been silent for so long.
mike that was the most amazing metaphor for the lifelong forces at work on a victim/survivor…thank you for that
The Joint Committee on the Judiciary is planning a hearing for this bill on May 7, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. in Room A2 of the State House.
Anne Johnson Landry
Committee Counsel and Policy Advisor
Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger
Thanks, Lisa. I hope my run doesn’t get in the way. Can’t promise success either way, but I’ll be doing everything I can to make it happen.
Dear Anne Johnson,
Is this hearing open to the public? Would it be helpful to the passing of the bill if people came to support it? Thank you.
Thanks for raising this issue. As a matter of public policy, not only do we need to consider past victims but also determine appropriate measures to protect those who might be victimized today or in the future. Deterrence is the key.
We live in a very different society today than that of the past. Most — but not all — of today’s kids are armed with far more information about the world from their exposure to media and the Internet.
What I think this means is that most children are now savvy enough to discreetly seek help if they’re ever targeted. What do we do about the others, who either don’t know they should look for help or who are fearful of retribution?
Those are the things I think about today. If we extend the statute of limitations beyond reasonable durability of evidence (which is obviously at the heart of this debate: long-term human memory is fallible as time passes, and most evidence in these cases is based on testimony rather than tangible) then there will be unintended consequences that future courts and legislatures will have to address.
Protecting today’s children should be the primary focus of this agenda.
-rich
Thank you for your question, Kevin. The hearing is open to the public and all members of the public are welcome to testify, either orally or through written testimony. Oral testimony in legislative committee hearings is often limited to about three minutes. We anticipate a high volume of testimony on this particular bill.
rich,
Passage of these House and Senate bills, in my mind, will expose the sexually abusive pedophiles and rapists that harmed victims/survivors long ago and that may be currently in situations that they are able to victimize children of today. The man who raped me at 14 and his sister when she was 5 is currently in the presence of his 4 year old step-granddaughter and, aside from my notifying the local authorities and the state child protection services of what he did to me, helping these bills pass will allow me to bring my case (long pass the current SOL) to the light of justice and potentially save this child as well.
This is a way to protect today’s children!
madeline
It is hard to believe that the statute of limitations has not been amended yet after all those years and as we know how hard it is for victims to come forward. Not to mention the additional damage caused in the meantime by perpetrators abusing more children.
Please let us know how to best support your efforts if there is any beyond this forum.
Thank you for sticking to this critical issue in the name of all the children who are victims as we speak and who have been.
I wonder in particular how schools could play a role in educating kids about what’s right and wrong. I know some do talk about safety and strangers. Local police may come to discuss safety but how to talk about safety at home or with a coach?
Kids themselves need to hear from other adults what’s right and wrong even at home, not just with strangers. May be as part of sex education which as I recall doesn’t start until 4th or 5th grade.
After the hearing in May, hopefully, we’ll have a better feel for where we are in the process for this session. At that point, me may have a better sense of next steps and how people can be helpful.
Senator Brownsberger and Representative Lawn have submitted a letter, signed by over 100 legislators, to the Senate President and Speaker of the House, expressing their eagerness “for the opportunity to vote to abolish or retroactively extend the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits for childhood sexual abuse.”
Read more about their efforts here: http://willbrownsberger.com/legislators-express-support-for-extending-or-abolishing-statute-of-limitations/
Anne Johnson Landry
Committee Counsel and Policy Advisor
Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger
Thank you Anne, Senator Brownsberger and Representative Lawn!!! Many Kudos from all of us that are abuse victims and survivors!! I think I can safely speak for the group of us. This should put the ‘thoughts about the SOL bills’ back into the forefront of the minds of the Speaker and President so that they may push the bills forward. Is there anything that we can do as survivors that may be recommended to ‘push’ the issues onto the floor? Do you think we need another session with them to reiterate what was already said or a sit in at the state house? You all would know best on what will help as what we have been doing as advocates has not faired the results we want. We need a new approach and any and all ideas are welcome!! Hopefully, the letter will be enough to push the bills out of committee and to the floor. Thanks again for what you have done to help so far. Warmest regards, Beth Donahue
For anyone that is looking to get in touch with me, I don’t have my computer running and had to change my phone number. If you want to get in touch with me, email me at bethdon01@hotmail.com or call me at 321-480-6218.
Senator Brownsberger:
Now that Eugene O’Flaherty is leaving his post on the Judiciary, How about replacing him with Rep Mariano D Quincy? Who appoints the new Hose Chair? Thanks
John Sweeney
Hi John, Senator Brownsberger and all;
I agree with John. It would be nice to have someone that believes in the issues that have been set forth for children’s issues such as abolishment of the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse to be voted to committee. I hope that happens. Can we get an update of what this means for all of us as far as the bills being put to the floor? It is January and if we work them now, we can get them passed by April!!!! Go Senator B!!!
The Speaker appoints the House Chair. It’s too soon to know what the impact of the personnel changes will be be on the politics of this issue, but rest assured that I look forward to continuing my advocacy on it as Senate Chair.
Hello Beth and Senator Brownsberger:
I think that all of the victims that have been sexually abused need to get out the vote campaign and have all their friends and loved ones call Speaker DeLeo’s office and tell the Speaker that Rep Mariano should be the new House Chair of the Judiciary and to call for a vote in the Judiciary Committee on H1455 and S633.Everyone knows there is a majority in both the House and Senate to pass H1455 with the 1ear window. My friends and family are calling the Speakers office. please get the word out to your friends and family members as well. We have the momentum, and unlike the Catholics Church , we have God on our side.
John Sweeney
Raped 1969
Dear Senator Brownsberger,
I’ve done my civic duty and called Speaker DeLeo’s office but to no avail. His aides will not let me speak with him nor do I get a call back from anyone in his office that knows anything.
Just wondering as it is only a few weeks till March 2014, and this is the last year I believe that you can get your bill through before it is re-written again and reproposed….is anything going to happen this year??? I know you must be busy with your new duties with your promotion but please don’t forget all of us victim/survivors of childhood sexual abuse that are waiting for the SOL reform laws to change. You are our only hope…
Madeline
Hi Madeline,
Stay tuned — we are working hard on this.
And don’t worry about the March deadline — that is routinely extended. The hard deadline is the end of July.
All best,
/w.
Senator Brownsberger:
Do the SOL Reform bills in the Judiciary have to wait for the vacant House seat to be filled. I see that Representative Markey has currently filled the House Chair on the Website. Is this permanent?
John Sweeney
John, please e-mail me at madeline_ek@yahoo.com as I would like to converse with a fellow survivor. This invitation is open to any other survivor that would like to converse with me as well. I think it’s time for us all to connect with each other.
Madeline CK
Hi John,
Representative Markey is the House Vice Chair. There many other issues awaiting the appointment of a House Chair, so I do expect a permanent Chair to be named soon.
Not sure about whether we need to wait. We are working very hard on getting a meaningful bill passed and I am cautiously optimistic at this stage. If the chairmanship remains open much longer, it’s possible that we could work out an agreement with the House that allows us start moving things.
All best,
/w.