Bill eliminating statute of limitations for child sex abuse civil suits heads to Biden's desk

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Yahoo! News

The House on Tuesday passed a bill eliminating the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse who seek to file civil claims, sending the measure to President Biden’s desk for final approval.

The chamber cleared the bill, titled the Eliminating Limits to Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims Act, by voice vote, a strategy reserved for non-controversial, popular measures. The Senate passed the legislation by unanimous consent in March.

The measure calls for removing the statute of limitations for minors filing civil claims relating to a number of sex abuse crimes, including force labor, sex trafficking, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children.

Under current law, minors who experience sexual abuse are able to file federal civil claims until they turn 28 years old, or until 10 years after the violation or injury is discovered. The bill Congress passed seeks to eliminate those time restraints. There is no statute of limitations in place for criminal offenses involving child sex abuse.

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/bill-eliminating-statute-limitations-child-203119759.html

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[lapfog_1]

1. forced labor?

can I sue my parents because I had chores to do every day (feed the horses, break the ice on the pond, mow about 2.5 acres in summer, shovel snow from our .5 mile driveway in winter, make coffee before they woke up, plow and plant the 1 acre garden in the spring, harvest from the garden all summer, pick cherries in June from the cherry trees... and repair fences, etc when needed) all unpaid from age 10 until 17.

To be fair... I did my best "Tom Sawyer" by high school... getting friends to come over to help with the garden and fence repair or cutting wood for firewood. Giving someone a quart or two of cherries usually did the trick.

[Scrivener7]

4. WTF? Way to miss the point.

[LeftInTX]

13. It's sex abuse. Regular ole child abuse still has SOL

Sorry.
No justice for you!

For some reason, pedophiles are known to perform poorly at rehabilitating themselves.

[obamanut2012]

14. What does that have to do with raping a child?

Did your parents sexually assault you every day? Why did you think your post was a good idea?

And, having grown up with many farm kids, yes, you were used for forced, unpaid labor, and that type of labor, especially unpaid, should be illegal for minors.

[intrepidity]

2. Legal experts, please help clarify

What is the difference between removing a statute of limitations and making something legal/illegal retroactively?

Is there a bold defining line, or are there gray areas where things aren't clear?

For context, I'm recalling discussions earlier this year about Roe reversal, and the potential for punishment for abortions that occurred in the past.

Can you envision any legal-language gymnastics wherein such a thing could occur--even if in civil rather than criminal context?

[NYC Liberal]

6. Statute of limitations simply set a time limit for prosecuting someone for a crime.

Adding or removing a statute of limitations doesn’t affect whether the act is illegal. Indeed, statutes of limitations by definition only apply to things that are illegal.

An ex post facto law applies the criminalization of an act retroactively and that is not constitutional. If someone had an abortion in 2020, they cannot now be prosecuted for it under a new law passed later.

[intrepidity]

11. Same for civil?

Thanks for the reply

[BumRushDaShow]

7. I believe this is the text of the bill

S. 3103
AN ACT

To amend title 18, United States Code, to eliminate the statute of limitations for the filing of a civil claim for any person who, while a minor, was a victim of a violation of section 1589, 1590, 1591, 2241(c), 2242, 2243, 2251, 2251A, 2252, 2252A, 2260, 2421, 2422, or 2423 of such title.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the “Eliminating Limits to Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims Act of 2022”.

SEC. 2. Elimination of the statute of limitations.

Section 2255 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:

“(b) Statute of limitations.—There shall be no time limit for the filing of a complaint commencing an action under this section.”.

SEC. 3. Effective date; applicability.

This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall—

(1) take effect on the date of enactment of this Act; and

(2) apply to—

(A) any claim or action that, as of the date described in paragraph (1), would not have been barred under section 2255(b) of title 18, United States Code, as it read on the day before the date of enactment of this Act; and

(B) any claim or action arising after the date of enactment of this Act.

Passed the Senate March 2, 2022.
Attest:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3103/text

So it doesn't appear to be "retroactive".

[cstanleytech]

9. I think they had to do that as if I recall correctly (and I could be mistaken) did not SCOTUS

rule a number of years ago that retroactive removal of Stature of Limitations was Unconstitutional and thus verboten?

[BumRushDaShow]

10. I expect that was due to the Constitution forbidding "Ex Post Facto" laws

Article I

(snip)

Section 9.

The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

(snip)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei

[2live is 2fly]

12. You cant charge somebody now today for doing something that was legal yesterday or at the time

when they did it. Unless of course you're, Vladimir Putin, and you live in Russia.

[Traildogbob]

3. Rutt Roe

Mattie the mattress flipper Gaetz.

[Tucker08087]

5. We have that law here in NJ.

Unfortunately, my abuser was “grandfathered” into safety. I reported when I was 19. The last incident was when I was 12 when I punched and kicked and ran away to lock myself into my room. My mom didn’t know until I filed my complaint, so it was quite scary and then I was angry that after only 7 years, I went through the “coming out” period for nothing. It started when I was five. I know for certain that there was another victim and I have strong beliefs about one other, which means he skated on AT LEAST 2 or 3 cases of years of child rape. These people know how to manipulate and put the fear of God into 5 year old children. The terror of coming forward at 5, or even at 19, is more than people who have never faced the situation can imagine. It takes maturity and a great deal of courage to come forward. There is no statute of limitation on trauma. The same should be true of abuse.