Welcome to the National Center for Victims of Crime

We are the nation's leading resource and advocacy organization for crime victims and those who serve them. Please join us as we forge a national commitment to help victims of crime rebuild their lives.


           

Add your name to a list of supporters for the Child Victim Act!

Click HERE to join thousands of concerned citizens ensuring justice does not expire!



I am a Survivor

If you are a survivor of Child Sex Abuse and are willing to share your story with advocates, legislators, committees, or media, please let us know. 

All responses are strictly confidential and can include only the information you feel comfortable sharing.

To proceed, click HERE


Child Victims Act in California


Not all silence is golden. Child Victims Act

 

 

Sign the Petition to Support the Child Victims Act

Become a part of the national movement to protect children and hold abusers and those who harbor them accountable. 

This One Minute petition will help victims of child sexual abuse of all ages.


Police officer with small boy. Child Victims ACt Awareness Poster

Authors:

Senator Jim Beall (Democrat) District: 15


Key Legislators to Contact:

California Senate Judiciary Committee

California Senate Appropriations Committee



Where is this Bill?

Senate Bill 131: Track this bill

Read the Child Victims Act


Key States Currently Considering the Child Victim Act

For more information on reforming statutes of limitation for child sex abuse and efforts in other states, please visit one of our advocacy partners at www.SOL-Reform.com


   
Vote Smart
  • Find contact information for your elected representatives and let them know you support the Child Victim Act!
  • Track your elected official's record.

Need Help?

If you are victim or adult survivor seeking assistance, please refer to our Connect Directory for a full listing of organizations that can provide help. 


The Problem

The sexual abuse of children is a public health epidemic in the United States. Recent child sex abuse cases at Penn State University, the release of documents concerning sexual abuse and the Boy Scouts and consistent reports of abuse within California institutions such as Miramonte Elementary School are recent examples.

Research has shown that as many as one in four women and one in five men suffered abuse as a child and that almost 90% of abuse never gets reported.  Those that do come forward find themselves barred by the legal technicality of a statute of limitation. Considering how long victims often take to find the courage to speak out, statutes of limitation are woefully short and act as an arbitrary barrier to justice.



News Coverage of the California Child Victims Act


All news

Victims of Child Sex Abuse One Step Closer to Justice in Minnesota

National Center for Victims of Crime logo


For Immediate Release                               Contact: Kath Cummins
March 7, 2013                                                            202.590.0837
                                                                                  kcummins@ncvc.org


Washington, D.C.-- The National Center for Victims of Crime congratulates the Minnesota House of Representatives Civil Law Committee for its support to lift the civil Statute of Limitations on child sex abuse, and its vote to create a legal “window” for past victims to bring actions.

“Child abusers and the institutions who shelter them have been able to ‘run out the clock’ and avoid justice because their victims are often adults before they are ready or able to come forward," said National Center Executive Director Mai Fernandez. “Yesterday, Minnesota House legislators affirmed that their priority is protecting children and holding negligent institutions accountable.”

This important three year window in the House version of the Child Victims Act will allow any survivor of sexual abuse to bring suits forward for three years (until 2016). In addition, the House version ends the civil Statute of Limitations for future child abuse cases, with the exception that claims based on vicarious liability will still be subject to the six-year Statute of Limitations that currently exists in Minnesota law.

The three year window to file suit is similar to legal windows passed in California, Delaware and Hawaii. In California it was this crucial legal window that led to the release of Los Angeles Archdiocese personnel files which implicated senior clergy of relocating abusers in an elaborate attempt to exploit the Statute of Limitations. 

The Child Victims Act must now pass the House Judiciary Committee, a full House vote, and be voted for by the Minnesota Senate.

"We call on all Minnesota lawmakers to stand with the survivors of child abuse and to protect all children in the state of Minnesota by voting to pass the Child Victims Act," said Ms Fernandez.

www.victimsofcrime.org/ChildVictimsAct/ 
@CrimeVictimsOrg

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The National Center for Victims of Crime, established in 1985, is the nation’s leading resource and advocacy organization for crime victims and those who serve them. For more than 25 years, the National Center has led this nation’s struggle to provide crime victims with the rights, protections, and services they need to rebuild their lives.