I suppose it comes as no surprise at this point for me to say that the statutes of limitations (SOLs) for childhood sexual abuse need to be abolished across the board. Now that principle must be translated into reality.

What The States Must Do

The laws relating to childhood sexual abuse cover a fair amount of legal territory, with the two main arenas being the private sphere (companies and nonprofit organizations) and the public sphere (public schools and government agencies). My view is that children deserve to be protected wherever they are, and so the SOL for childhood sexual abuse should be abolished in all circumstances.

For the state legislator, though, this task is not quite so simple. The law itself is typically divided between public and private spheres, and therefore these reforms often should be considered separately in each arena. There are distinct issues with respect to each realm, and so the elimination of the SOL needs to be handled in a two-step fashion.

State Reform in the Private Sphere

Reforming the SOL for childhood sexual abuse in the private sphere is uncomplicated. Two reforms are necessary in order to serve the four public policy goals I detailed in Chapter 3:

1. (1) Accommodating the needs of childhood sex abuse survivors by crafting a system that makes them and not the predators the priority;

2. (2) Identifying the child predators in our midst;

3. (3) Finding more survivors of the same perpetrator once a single survivor has come forward;

4. (4) Deterring institutions from hiding child sex abuse.