PA Catholic Church Abuse: 50 Leaders, 100s of Children, 40 Years: 0 Criminal Charges

The details of a grand jury investigation into Pennsylvania Catholic church sex abuse against children announced Tuesday were both horrific and shocking in scale — involving more than 50 religious leaders, hundreds of children over a span of at least 40 years.

But if you expect the revelations to lead to a wave of criminal prosecutions and hard time for pedophile priests, guess again: not a single one of the perpetrators involved can be criminally prosecuted, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane.

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There are several reasons the abusers will escape justice. Many of the alleged predators have already died. Some traumatized victims don’t want to testify, perhaps out of shame or else lingering doubt that doing so will lead to prosecution for acts that occurred long ago. But at least a few will escape charges because of a legal technicality: the statute of limitations for their alleged crimes has expired.

The grand jury hearing the case was rightly outraged over this fact, and went so far as to recommend a drastic measure — the elimination of all statutes of limitations for criminal cases of sexual assault against minors.

Such a move is far from unprecedented. Thirty-two states already have no criminal statute of limitations for some forms of child sexual assault, according to SOL-Reform.com. These laws vary wildly from state to state based on factors like age, the presence of DNA and whether or not threat of force was used, but the intention, broadly, is both clear and just: to prevent sexual predators from running out the clock on their crimes.

The Catholic church has a dark history of sexual abuse and cover-ups in the United States, which began to come to light in the 1980s. Criminal prosecutions, though, haven’t always been handed down for many of the reasons Kane cited in the Pennsylvania case.

“Because of longstanding cover ups, the criminal statutes of limitations had expired for the vast majority of perpetrators,” Marci Hamilton, a professor of law at Yeshiva University and founder of SOL-Reform.com, told Patch. “And the hierarchy in the church has been even more unlikely to be charged.”

The conviction of a Louisiana pastor in 1985 is regarded as one of the first modern cases of sex abuse in the church. Gilbert Gauthe, a former Roman Catholic priest in a small Louisiana parish was charged with 34 counts of child molestation in 1985. Gauthe ultimately served 10 years after pleading guilty to 11 counts of aggravated crime against nature and other crimes.

In April 2015, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a Missouri bishop who waited six months before notifying police of a reverend in his diocese whose computer contained lewd photos of young girls taken in and around churches where he worked. The Rev. Shawn Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2012 to child pornography charges.

Perhaps one of the most notable cases in sex abuse cover up by the church was brought to light by a group of Boston Globe reporters in 2002, the subject of the movie “Spotlight,” which Sunday won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

The Globe investigation found that Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Bernard Francis Law covered up dozens of cases of sexual abuse committed by priests in the Boston area. While 25 priests were removed from their positions, only five were criminally charged.

Law ultimately submitted his resignation in 2002 and moved to Rome, under protection of the Church.

If the statute of limitations is eliminated in Pennsylvania, as the grand jury has recommended, Hamilton said, charges will still not be brought against the priests subject to the most recent Pennsylvania Attorney General’s investigation.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 ruled in favor of an accused child molester who was charged after California extended its statute of limitations in the 1990s.The court ruled that Stogner couldn’t be charged after all, since the statute of limitations in place when he allegedly committed the crime had expired.

Under Pennsylvania law, sexual assault victims under the age of 18 have until their 30th birthday to file criminal charges if they were born before August 27, 2002. Victims over the age of 18 have 12 years to report the assault.

On August 27, 2002 a new state law was implemented that increased the statute of limitations to 32 years, but it only applies to people born after it was enacted.

Bill Cosby’s Pennsylvania criminal charges for a 2004 sexual assault of a Temple University employee were brought just days before the statute expired.

Cosby’s case and the Penn State child rape case, among others, have spurred calls for abolishing the criminal statute of limitations altogether in cases of rape, especially when children are involved.

“In the case of a child, the power differential between the perpetrator and the child is so extreme,” Hamilton said. “It’s unreasonable to expect that child to come forward immediately.”

Kane urged anyone with knowledge of abuse at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown to contact the Office of the Attorney General at 888-538-8541, a toll-free, dedicated hotline established for the case.

“This is by no means the end of our investigation. We will continue to look at this matter and consider charges where appropriate, which is why it is so important for those with information to come forward,” Kane said.

“At the very least we must continue to shine a light on this long period of abuse and despicable conduct.”