Thanks To Dennis Hastert Victim, It's Going To Get Easier To Report Child Sex Abuse
By Emma G. Gallegos in News on May 19, 2017 8:37PM
The victim of disgraced former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert championed a new bill that will make it easier for the victims of childhood sexual abuse to pursue justice against their abusers. It is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
The bill completely eliminates the statute of limitations for all childhood sex abuse crimes, according to the Associated Press. Previously, Illinois law allowed victims to come forward and press charges only up to 20 years after their 18th birthday. That's a problem because—as the Hastert case and high-profile Catholic priest molestation cases have demonstrated—it's not unusual for childhood victims of sexual abuse to take not just years but decades to get up the nerve to speak out against their abusers.
Hastert admitted to sexually abusing teens while he was a wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in the 1965 to 1981, but prosecutors weren't able to go after him for those crimes. They were only able to nab him on a technicality essentially—for the "hush money" he paid out to his victims that violated banking laws. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being accused by five people who came forward.
State Attorney General Lisa Madigan stumped for the bill in the wake of the Dennis Hastert case, which she said provided a prime example of how Illinois law thwarts justice for molestation victims.
"There should be no limitation on the pursuit of justice for felony sex crimes committed against children," she said Thursday in a statement to the AP. "We must ensure survivors are able to come forward in their own time and receive the support they need and deserve."
Madigan and one of Hastert's victims, Scott Cross, spoke out against Illinois' restrictive statute of limitations in testimony in front of state legislature. Cross, at the age of 54, told a Senate committee hearing in March, "Dennis Hastert inflicted unbelievable pain on the lives of the youth he was entrusted to care for, yet he got a slap on the wrist."
Once Rauner signs the bill, the state will join the federal government and 36 other states in removing the statute of limitations against all felony criminal sexual assault and sexual abuse crimes against children.