Reporting & Statutes of Limitation

In many states, there is no Statute of Limitation [SOL] on Childhood Sexual Assault [CSA]. In fact, a few states don't have SOL for any sexual assault, and some states don't have any SOL for any felonies, period!

Every state is different, and the framers made that possible on purpose. In WA, we have a 3 year SOL on almost everything. Right or wrong, that's the way it is right now.

Nothing says we can't work to change that, however.

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Surprisingly, Victim Advocates in WA are not in support of removing the SOL from CSA. Very few groups are in support of it, in fact. Wash-CAP thinks that it wouldn't be a bad thing, but that it's not a total fix for victims of CSA.

To get that opinion, we interviewed researchers at UW, victims, and prosecutors. If anyone wants more details, email me.

So, we came up with a compromise, and have started working on consensus for it:

When we came up with the idea, we were discussing what specific issues victims need addressed. We determined that victims may need

• to know that they’re not ‘allowing’ the predator to commit more crimes due to their lack of reporting,
• to know that they’ve sought justice for themselves, and
• to speak out against their abuser

We’re not victim’s advocates, so that list may not have the proper terminology or be a complete list. However, it did allow us to come up with the proposed compromise:

1. SOL be extended to 25 y/o for all felony CSA.
   This is for the following reasons:
   >The majority of abuse takes place within the home, and in the majority of cases the abuser is in direct control of the child and is also the person paying for the child’s car, college, etc.
   >The extension allows the child time to find therapy [free therapy in college without risk of mandatory reporting], complete college/trade school, and establish financial and social independence from the abusive environment.


2. Victims would be able to submit affidavits detailing the facts of the abuse as they remember it. Those affidavits would
   >Be held by law enforcement
   >Be “searchable” by law enforcement [databased]
   >Be admissible in court
   >Have no SOL


3. The accused would be notified of the affidavit and would be able to provide a response.

We leave it to the wisdom of the legislature as to whether these affidavits would be accessible to the public. Perhaps the facts of the affidavit, but not the identifying information.

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We're open to suggestions and opinions.