Soon to be visited: California’s time bar on certain sex crimes
It’s likely hard — in fact, insuperably difficult — for readers of our blog to contemplate what goes through the mind of a victim of sexual assault, unless, of course, they have been victimized themselves.
For purposes of today’s post, we focus on the aftermath of such heinous behavior, specifically, the inability of a victim to come forward in quick fashion to identify and confront the criminal who has violated his or her life and body.
Understandably, acting with dispatch in the wake of a sex crime is not always possible for a victim. In some instances, the trauma might simply be too great. In addition, victims often feel too shamed and degraded to come forward, which is a truly sad reality and, in fact, an outcome that many perpetrators anticipate and act upon.
And in instances where children are victimized by sex crimes, an illegal act — or recurring acts — can go unrecognized for years or even a lifetime owing to singular factors tied to their maturity level and inability to articulate details in the same manner as an adult victim might be able to.
The bottom line is that it can take some time before a victim feels sufficiently confident and empowered to take aggressive and purposeful action against a sexual perpetrator.
And for that reason, notes one California legislator, the state’s statute of limitations that serves as a cut-off point for prosecuting certain sex crimes against adults and children is unfair and needs to be changed.
California law currently mandates that a felony rape case must be prosecuted within 10 years of a crime’s occurrence.
Sen. Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) says that she will challenge that law when state lawmakers formally convene early next year by introducing a bill that seeks to eliminate time limits on such crimes altogether.
Sexual predators should not be able to escape justice, she says, simply because “time limits set in state law have expired.”
Serving clients throughout the Greater Los Angeles and Southern California area, we represent victims in a variety of civil litigation cases. If you or a loved one has been injured, turn to an experienced Los Angeles personal injury or sexual assault lawyer.
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