Statutes of limitations regarding clergy sexual abuse of minors
Statutes of limitations serve the common good of society because they
force legal recourse to take place within a time frame that allows all
the parties to present, explain, and prove their position, thereby
serving the cause of justice. The Catholic Church’s law uses statutes of
limitations (referred to as prescription in the Code of Canon Law)
similar to the use of them in state legal systems. In the course of the last thirty years throughout the country,
however, as the sexual abuse of minors has become a matter of public
concern and people have become more aware of the difficulty that victims
/ survivors have in finding their voice to report the abuse, the
church’s law and the states’ laws regarding the statute of limitations
have changed.
