Justice for all?

Legal Help / Your Rights EDITOR'S NOTE: Although NAASCA does not give legal advice, we certainly do provide members with a general understanding of how to get help and what our rights are. Here's an article and web site that might help. They also have a newsletter. Remember .. not everyone can get 'justice' .. but all of us can heal !!

Criminal versus Civil Cases

The first thing you need to understand is the difference between criminal and civil lawsuits.

Criminal cases are filed by the state when abuse is reported to the authorities and sufficient evidence is available to build a case against the abuser. Although you may have filed the report of abuse and the case feels personal to you, it is not your case. The case is owned by the state and you have very little control over the way it is handled. It is important to understand this differentiation for your own personal mental and emotional well-being.

When the state files criminal charges against an abuser, the state's case is handled by a prosecutor, who is employed by the state.  While the prosecutor will advocate to convict the abuser of the charges, the prosecutor represents the state, not the survivor.  Therefore, the prosecutor may make decisions about the disposition of the case without the survivor's knowledge or consent.

You can, however, hire your own lawyer to represent your interests in the case (e.g., privacy concerns, such as the release of medical/mental health records, etc.).  Some jurisdictions provide a court advocate to assist you through the criminal process but the advocates typically are not attorneys.

Civil cases are filed by you against your abuser(s) for monetary compensation for losses such as lost work wages, costs for medical and psychological care, and also for pain and suffering. While we realize no amount can ever undo the damage done by child sexual abuse, compensation can help to offset financial difficulties directly or indirectly attributable to the abuse.

Legal Rights for Adult Survivors and Child Victims

When it comes to your legal rights, where you live makes a difference. From the legal definition of “child seduction” (which covers a broad range of child sexual abuse crimes) to the statute of limitations for a particular sex crime, each state has it's own separate laws.

The RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) legal rights database provides a clear and concise guide to many aspects of the child sexual abuse laws in your state, including state-specific information on:

• Rape and Sexual Assault Crime Definitions
  
• Criminal Statutes of Limitations
  
• Termination of Rapists' Parental Rights
  
• Mandatory Reporting
  
• Confidentiality Laws
  
• HIV/AIDS testing of sexual offenders

Click here to ==>  View Your Legal Rights

Civil Statute of Limitations

In civil cases, any lawsuit arising from an accident or injury must be filed within a certain time limit or the injured person's legal claim will be barred and his or her right to sue will be lost forever. This time limit is known as the statute of limitations.

RAINN's legal rights database (see above) includes information on the statute of limitations for criminal cases . Each state also has a separate statute of limitations for civil cases.

For civil cases involving child sexual abuse (injury to minors), the filing time is typically extended to begin at the time the minor turns 18 (if the abuse was known prior to the child turning 18), or the moment when the survivor knew (or should reasonably have known) that they had suffered harm, and the nature of that harm.

So, for example, if you had repressed memories of your abuse until your 40th birthday when they suddenly came flooding back, it is possible you would have the normal statute of limitations period to file a civil suit against your perpetrator beginning on the day your memories resurfaced sufficiently to know that you had been abused and the nature of your abuse.

Statute of limitations may be updated year to year and vary for certain special types of crimes, so you will want to consult with an attorney to get more detailed information on your specific situation. However, the general statute of limitations can be found for your state using the button below.

Click here to ==>  Find your Civil Statute of Limitations

*Note: Statute of Limitations is only one hurdle in filing civil cases for child sexual abuse damages. Please read the rest of this page and consult with an attorney before taking any action.

Legal Advocacy Support

At some point you may come to a place in your healing where you just want to scream out loud to the world that John or Jane Doe sexually abused you as a child. You may have a number of reasons for this inclination. You might believe that revealing them is the only justice you will ever have for their actions. You might be feeling trapped by your own silence. Or you simply might feel compelled to protect other children from being harmed if your abuser is still alive.

Whatever your reasons are, if you are considering revealing your abuser, it is highly recommended that you understand the risks and benefits of publicly disclosing your abuser's identity BEFORE you do it. Whether you choose to report the abuse to police, file a civil suit against your abuser, or simply make a public announcement via social media posts, letters or emails, or even talking with friends, acquaintances or co-workers, there can be significant legal ramifications.

Vertigo Charitable Foundation, LLC (VCF) is a legal advocacy support organization for adult survivors of child sexual abuse. They offer guidelines and tips–from both a survivor's perspective and a legal perspective–on what to expect if you expose your perpetrator publicly. VCF can also direct you to people and services that can assist you if you choose to pursue pressing criminal charges or filing a civil case against your abuser(s).

Single Filing versus Group Filing

Often adult survivors have a hard time trying their cases because without substantial hard evidence to support their claims, offenders cannot be convicted. Litigation can sometimes take years with cases taking a toll on the survivor who filed the suit.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't report your case. It just means that you need to be prepared mentally and emotionally for a potentially long and arduous journey through the legal system. However, as we've seen in recently publicized cases, when multiple survivors ban together to report an abuser, justice is more likely to be served .

Creating a Group Action Against Your Abuser

The legal advocacy and support organization, Vertigo Charitable Foundation, LLC , has created a unique system (me2csa.com) by which child sexual abuse survivors can anonymously identify their abusers and be notified when other survivors report their abuser as well.

If you choose to participate and identify your abuser in the me2csa database, VCF will notify you immediately each time a new user reports your abuser. Once notified, you will have the opportunity to share your contact information with the other user who reported, or to decline.

Sharing your contact information allows you to collaborate with other survivors of abuse by your perpetrator–for anything from emotional support and confirmation, to collectively reporting your abuser to the authorities, or filing a civil suit as a group action. You decide how far and how fast you go.

Remember, the only information shared is the contact information you provided when reporting, which could be nothing more than a fictitious name and a useable email address. Regardless, it is recommended that you take it slow as you reach out to the other reporting survivors to make sure you feel safe and confident with the people with which you are communicating. Meet in public places. Slowly learn more about each other and go from there.

If you do not choose to share your contact info with the other survivor(s) reporting your abuser, no one outside of the survivor advocates responsible for matching abuse reports will ever see the information provided.

To find out if your abuser has been reported, click here ==>  Anonymous Predator Reporting