A growing number of states are extending filing deadlines for legal claims against child sex abuse perpetrators.

According to Non-profit Child USA’s statute of limitation tracker, 15 states have revised statute of limitation deadlines in 2023 alone, including: Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and Washington.

In Arkansas for example, a 2023 amendment to a 2021 law removes the age limit for adults to file complaints for abuse they experienced as children. The legislation also extends the filing period for any adult survivor — regardless of their age — to January 31, 2026.

In Louisiana, the Louisiana Supreme Court extended the filing deadline to June 2027. The change comes as Louisiana deals with an ongoing sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Diocese. That investigation recently expanded to include senior church officials suspected of shielding predatory priests for decades and failing to report their crimes to law enforcement.

Catholic Diocese of New Orleans Under Scrutiny 

In late April 2024, Louisiana State Police carried out a sweeping search warrant at the Archdiocese of New Orleans for a long-secreted cache of church records and communications between local church leaders and the Vatican about the church’s handling of clergy sex abuse.

According to the warrant, leaders within the diocese, including Archbishop Gregory Aymond, not only knew about the claims but ignored and covered them up. Predatory priests developed a code to share victims by referring to them as “gifts” and instructing them to pass on the gifts to clergymen at other schools and churches, according to authorities.

The warrant also confirmed a parallel FBI examination of clergy sexual abuse reported by the Associated Press nearly two years ago that centered on whether priests took children across state lines to molest them. Disturbing church records have come to light in a flood of sexual abuse lawsuits that drove the archdiocese to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020. The documents detail years of abuse claims and a pattern in which church leaders would quietly transfer problem priests rather than report them to authorities. The information, however, has been shielded under a sweeping confidentiality order in the bankruptcy case that has hampered both state and federal investigations.

Prevalence and Implications of Youth Victimization

In the latest National Institute of Justice (NIJ) report on youth victimization, the numbers show that “approximately 1.8 million adolescents ages 12 to 17 had been sexually assaulted, and 3.9 million had been severely physically assaulted. Another 2.1 million had been punished by physical abuse.”

The emotional consequences of child sexual abuse can be severe. Abuse survivors often experience psychological disorders, substance abuse and dependence and delinquency problems.

Sexual Assault Beyond Clergy

The National Institute of JusticeI report noted:

• Nearly three in four (74 percent) of the youths studied reported that the assaults were committed by someone they knew well.
• Almost one-third (32.5 percent) involved perpetrators who were friends, and more than one-fifth (23.2 percent) were strangers.
• More than half of the sexual assaults occurred either within the victim’s home (30.5 percent) or in the victim’s neighborhood (23.8 percent). Another 15.4 percent of sexual assaults occurred at a victim’s school.

According to CHILDUSA, one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused in their lifetime. The trauma of their abuse often leads to depression, PTSD, alcohol and opioid abuse, and many physical ailments, all of which frequently delay disclosure. The average age for disclosure is 52 years of age. The majority of abuse cases — 86 percent — are never reported, according to the NIJ.

More States Extend Sex Abuse Lawsuit Filing Deadlines

Survivors of abuse can file civil claims against their abuser, other involved individuals or organizations complicit in the abuse or its coverup. Many childhood sexual abuse survivors discover more victims during legal proceedings, as sexual predators often target multiple individuals. Legal action can reveal the full extent of the abuse and how it was hidden or dismissed by organizations. Civil lawsuits can provide victims with monetary resources to help on their road to recovery.

CHILDUSA has called on states that have not yet addressed their statute of limitations filing deadlines to take action and create what is called a “revival window” or “window to justice.”

These “windows to justice: have three goals:

• Identify hidden child predators
• Shift the cost of abuse from the victims to the ones who caused it
• Educate the public and prevent future abuse

Guam, California, Delaware, Hawai’i, Minnesota and New York are among the states that have enacted strong window legislation. Window legislation has not resulted in an avalanche of cases or false claims. In fact, according to CHILDUSA, no state that enacted a window has had a case that involved false claims in the courts.

How We Help Sex Abuse Victims 

Our national sexual abuse lawyers work one-on-one with survivors, offering a direct, personal level of care and discretion. We use our decades of experience battling big organizations to fight on behalf of survivors, aggressively taking on those responsible for causing pain and suffering. If you are a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, we can help.