A new law-related game changer could be on the cards in Minnesota where lawsuits are being brought forward by those who were sexually abused as children due to a recent exemption to the statute of limitations. Attorney Jeff Anderson is currently battling for a family to have a trial, due to an issue involving the Boy Scouts of America. Anderson is currently in talks with a judge to convince them to hold the Boy Scouts civilly liable for Peter Stibal, who is currently serving 14 years in prison for molesting young boys. It’s believed that Stibal had previously been known as an offender before he abused the child of the family Anderson is working with, so why were these red flags not highlighted earlier?
While the case against the Boy Scouts is not affected by the new law, which states that such child abuse cases can be brought forward at any time rather than being erased after a set time frame, Anderson has been key in getting the so-called perversion files released. He is now working to develop something similar from the Catholic archdiocese, which is the name of 47 priests thought to be involved in sexual misconduct. In light of the new law surrounding children, he believes that he could have another chance at making those names public knowledge. The new law in Minnesota allows a three-year retroactive exemption for victims of child sex abuse from the statute of limitations. In the future there will be no limitations at all for cases of child sex abuse.
The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is committed to making sure that children and young people are as safe as possible. Since 2002 the archdiocese has implemented the requirements from the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which was adopted by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to ensure that extraordinary measurements were taken to protect children in school, parishes and religious education classes.
Comments are closed.