Some Child Sex Crime Victims Could Get More Time To Seek Justice

For TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS–Dawn Price was 5-years-old when her father began molesting her, telling her it was his way of showing her love.

The Peru woman endured years of abuse even though she told her mother, who did nothing. When she turned 18 and was about to marry, she and her fiancé reported the abuse to local police who told her there was nothing they could do because the statute of limitations had expired.

Price, now 48, told her story to the Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee Tuesday, urging members to give victims and law enforcement more time to investigate and punish people who prey on children.

Current law—called Jenny’s Law—gives child victims of sexual abuse until age 31 to report the crimes and then for investigators and prosecutors to pursue criminal charges Jenny’s Law was passed in 2015 in response to the number of adults who were reporting that they had been abused as children and because the statute of limitations had passed the cases could not be prosecuted.

Senate Bill 109, filed by Sen. Michael Crider, R-Greenfield, would give victims an additional five years from the time new evidence is discovered to pursue the case. It passed the committee by an 8-0 vote.

“If there is a discovery of a DNA, a recorded image or video recording of the event, or a confession, it doesn’t matter how long after the fact, the case is initiated and the prosecutor still gets a new five-year window of opportunity to charge the violator,” he told the committee.

The original version of Crider’s bill would have eliminated the statute of limitations on sex crimes involving children, but the committee chair, Sen. Michael Young R-Indianapolis, indicated that would not have passed.

“I kind of expected that,” Price said of the changes to the bill. “Most people can’t fully understand because one, it hasn’t happened to them, or it hasn’t happened to someone they love.”

The committee heard from victims, law enforcement and advocacy groups arguing in favor of legislation to allow more time to prosecute cases involving child sex abuse. Many said they preferred the original version of the bill, but were happy that lawmakers were taking some action to extend the statute of limitations.

“I mean it’s still movement in the right direction which we will take anything at this point because Indiana is so far behind so many other states,” said Rachel Peach of northwest Indiana and another victim of sexual abuse as a child.

Camille Cooper of RAINN—the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network—said the initiative behind the bill is to ensure that victims are able to get justice. She and others noted that victims often take years to come forward.

“It is important that any victim, regardless of the time that has passed, can seek justice,” Cooper said.

The legislation advances to the full Senate for action.

FOOTNOTE: Maddie Alexander and Annah Elliott are reporters for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.