Illinois Sexual Abuse Case Results in Minimal Punishment Due to Statute of Limitations
Illinois lawmakers may soon vote
to eliminate the state’s statute of limitations on child sex abuse
crimes. The move comes in response to the 15-month sentence given last
month to former Illinois House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Although Hastert
admitted molesting teenage boys he coached decades ago, the statute of
limitations had run on those crimes. Hastert could only be sentenced for
a financial crime related to his efforts to pay one of his victims
millions of dollars in hush money to cover up the crime.
In Hastert’s case, Scott Cross told a
Chicago federal courtroom last month what he called “his darkest
secret”: that Hastert, his high school wrestling coach, had molested him
in 1979. It was a secret Cross held for 36 years.