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Program: Why Washington Needs to Eliminate Statute of limitations on Child Sexual Abuse
September 21, 2023 @ 11:30 am - 1:00 pm PDT
Speaker Leah Griffin
Washington State Association for Justice
Meeting will be held over Zoom. – email info@zontaeverett .org for the zoom link
Speaker will start at 12:00.
Childhood Sexual Assault is more common than you might think.
And the trauma and age of the victim is unique in preventing and delaying reporting of the abuse.2SHB 1618 eliminates the civil statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse. This bill acknowledges the unique challenges survivors face and recognizes that there should be no time limit to commence an action for injury suffered as a result of childhood sexual abuse. 2SHB 1618 will shift the cost burden of child sexual abuse from the victims and society at large to those who caused harm and hold perpetrators accountable
Data from the Department of Justice suggests that 86% of child sexual abuse goes unreported altogether. When a victim does report, it is likely they will delay disclosure well into adulthood. While we all hope that a survivor would disclose abuse when it happened, data reveals a different reality. In a study of over 1,000 survivors, the average age at the time of disclosing child sex abuse was about 52 years.
Leah Griffin is a leading advocate in Washington state for survivors of sexual assault.
Over the past eight years, she has been instrumental in passing multiple laws to reform the systems which failed her as a victim of sexual assault. Those laws lead to the elimination of the rape kit backlog, tracking for sexual assault kits, survivors’ rights, police training, and hospital protocols. She led on the Approve R90 campaign to create inclusive sexual health education in WA state school curriculum, and works on the coalition behind the Keep Our Care Act to provide oversight to religiously affiliated hospital mergers which seek to deny reproductive and trans healthcare.
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