Lawyers handling child sex abuse cases help guide child sex abuse victims through the legal processes to obtain justice and compensation. Both the individuals that abused the victim and the institutions that failed to protect the victims can be held liable for the abuse. The trauma that the perpetrator causes the victim can have long-term psychological and physical effects that often last the victim’s entire lifetime. These victims frequently experience depression, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), anxiety, various other disorders, including eating, personality, and somatic disorders, and often have relationship and intimacy issues for years and even decades after the abuse. A child sex abuse lawyer can help victims receive compensation from the organizations and perpetrators that prey on younger victims.
Child Sex Abuse Law Firms
While it is impossible to undo the horrifying abuse that the victim experienced, an experienced law firm can help victims receive compensation to help pay for the psychological, therapy, and psychiatric treatment often needed in the recovery processes. Child sex abuse law firms have the resources to advocate for child sex abuse victims’ rights.
How are Child Sex Abuse Cases Handed? Institutional vs. Individual Child Sex Abuse Cases
Child sex abuse cases are often difficult to prosecute, as less than 5% of the cases contain medical evidence and must rely on the child’s testimony. It is important for the lawyer representing the child sex abuse victim to navigate the legal process to both achieve justice and help determine what justice is for that child victim. It is also important to protect the greater community at large from the perpetrator.
Child sex abuse cases usually fall under institutional or individual child sex abuse cases. Institutional child sex abuse cases center around the institution that failed to protect the individual from the perpetrator within its organization. These cases have been brought to light in recent years in the Boy Scouts of America sex abuse scandal, the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, and many others involving other religious organizations, schools, summer camps, and other recreation organizations for youth. In these types of cases, law firms will sue the institutions themselves that either knew or should have known about the perpetrators abusing the victims and failed to protect the victims.
Individual child sex abuse cases center around the abuser. These abusers can be family members of the victim, strangers, caregivers, mentors or teachers, or other adults indirectly related to the victim.
Whether on an individual or institutional level, a sexual abuser must be held accountable and a victim must receive justice. The institutions that allowed the sexual abuse to occur must be held accountable as well. This can be achieved by pursuing legal actions in both the criminal and civil systems. The criminal case will help convict the perpetrator or perpetrators and protect the rest of the community from that abuser. The victim or the victim’s family will testify or act as a witness in the prosecution.
The civil case will help the victim receive compensation for the injuries, both physical and emotional, that the abuser caused the child victim to suffer. A lawyer can help the child’s voice be heard and bring the perpetrator to justice. A child sex abuse lawyer will investigate the case’s specific facts, determine who to hold accountable, and help bring justice and closure to the victim.
If you or a loved one experienced abuse either on an individual level or while part of an institution, such as a religious organization, summer camp, recreational program, school, or other institution, a law firm that specializes in child sex abuse can help fight for the compensation and justice you deserve.
Statute of Limitations on Child Sex Abuse Lawsuits
It is crucial to bring your case as soon as possible. However, many states are changing the laws around the statute of limitations to allow victims to bring their cases, even decades after the abuse occurred. The average age that child sex abuse victims reveal that they were abused is 52 years old. This delayed disclosure has been crucial in pushing legislatures to change the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases nationwide.
Specifically, in states such as New York and California, Governors have passed bills that allow child sex abuse victims to file any civil claim until a specified deadline, no matter how long ago the incident took place. These are known as look back windows, which allow survivors to continue to file lawsuits against an institution.
In Texas, House Bill 3809 allows people to file civil lawsuits against abusers and organizations for 30 years after the victim turns 18. In June 2018, the Michigan legislature passed the Public Acts 180 and 18, which extends child abuse victims who were under 18 years of age at the time of the abuse to be able to file civil and criminal lawsuits from 10 to 15 years, or before the victim’s 28th birthday, depending on whichever timeframe is later.
In Florida, there is no statute of limitations for rape victims under 16 years of age; however, this often can be a confusing statute since there is minimal guidance for those between 16 and 18 years of age.
Other Legal Aspects of Cases
While each state defines sexual abuse differently, the general notion falls under unwanted sexual conduct. Many factors are considered in legal processes when holding both the individual and institution accountable for child sex abuse.
It is not uncommon for institutions to attempt to avoid legal processes by offering cash payments to the victims or the victims’ families. However, in these situations, the institution avoids being held fully accountable. The pedophiles and abusers then are able to walk away unscathed, often just being moved from one unit to another within the same organization. This has allowed the decade-long scandals within the Boy Scouts, Churches, and other organizations to remain prevalent within the institutions.
Law firms and sex abuse lawyers throughout the nation are committing themselves to fight for victims’ rights to receive justice and compensation for the horrifying abuse they endured at the hands of individuals and institutions.