Child Abuse: New Legal Avenue 2 Justice & Deterrence? (SEE LINK) Extend OR OVERCOME Statute of Lim.s
There is a lawyer trying out a new way to get around legal roadblocks to justice for (at least some) child-abuse victims. He is filing lawsuits on the basis of fraud when sex-abuse statutes-of limitations have run out. I wonder if his idea could possibly also help with justice for victims of adoption scams/negligences/reckless placements, etc. I have for years found the too-short statutes-of-limitations on child-abuse lawsuits to be intolerable. I have wondered for years why there isn't a concerted effort to get them extended. (I give a link below to an article about the lawyer's effort. The particular state is Wisconsin, but you never know where else such an effort could be applicable.)
For example, I once saw a tv program (a 'Prime Time Live' type of program) which told the story of a girl who bore her own biological father's baby. Her mother was complicit - she knew of the abuse (which started when the girl was little) and she went along with it. What really got me (as if that weren't enough) is I remember being horrified at the short statute-of-limitations for prosecution. (A short statute-of-limitations can be bad enough under circumstances where a child knows s/he has been abused - but how much longer can it take for a victim to be able, willing, & ready to testify when he or she has been raised - by both parents - to think the abuse was not abuse at all but rather a normal part of life?) What got me even more than the statute-of-limitations roadblock was this: It seemed to me that The Criminally Abusive Parents actually might have purposely SHOPPED AROUND for a state to move to w/ a short statute-of-limitations on prosecution for child abuse! As I remember the story, which I saw I-don't-know-how-many years ago (in the 90's I think), the parents had moved to Alaska. My personal belief is that even 25 years is too short. As I remember the particular story that I just mentioned, it was even shorter than that in Alaska (at least at the time).
The article at the following link is dated March 26, 2010. If you don't have time to read the entire article, then read the 11 consecutive paragraphs that start directly under the pope's photo, down through the paragraph that starts with "The goal of Cardinal Ratzinger..." (don't worry - the paragraphs are short). The paragraph of most interest to this topic is the 4th paragraph under the heading 'Anderson Finds New Ways Around Legal Roadblocks.' (The 4th paragraph there is the one that starts with "Meanwhile, Anderson...") This lawyer's idea is to file lawsuits on the basis of FRAUD. That's because the statute-of-limitations for that (at least in that state) is different.