A child walking along her usual path - innocently enjoying an August summer day, close to her home, her school and the Abington Police Station - was abducted and brutally raped by a stranger.  My name is Liz and I am a 35 year old woman and mother of three young children who would like to speak for the child that could not speak for herself.  Exactly one week from my sweet 16th birthday, I was abducted and brutally raped.  This was a day that changed me and my life forever. 

I represent the hundreds of survivors of sexual violence that have chosen to have their voices heard through this website.  I am currently lobbying our State Senators and Representatives to repeal the statute of limitations for reporting the crime of rape of a child in the state of Massachusetts.

The more voices that are heard, the more the Legislators will be forced to listen.  I can only hope the elected officials of this country will appreciate the time, effort and emotion we have spent and will continue to spend on this issue.      

Delaware now has no statutes of limitation, criminally or civilly, in regard to childhood sexual abuse and their 2007 Child Victims Law also opened a two year window for bringing forward previously time barred cases by anyone, no matter what public, private or religious affiliation attached.   
   

We group rapists and murderers together in our prisons and refer to them in the same category in conversation.  Murder has no statute of limitations.  Rape needs to be the same.  A piece of me was murdered on that day and I know all other victims would agree.  

◊RAPE◊ = crime of ◊RAGE◊  ◊CONTROL◊  ◊FEAR◊  ◊WEAKNESS◊

The statute of limitations does not serve to promote justice - it merely keeps rape victims from getting the fair trial they deserve!

◊When I was raped it was illegal for me to operate a vehicle, consume alcohol or to vote in an election.  Yet the law states that I should have been able to make one of the most important decisions in my life -  all at the age of 16.   

◊Rape is not about sex - it is about weakness, anger and need for absolute power and control.  Most convicted rapists (Research shows between 55-80%) had access to consensual sex at the time they decided to rape someone.  

◊The Center for Disease Control (CDC) changed its primary focus to Perpetrator Prevention in 2000.  Sexual Abuse is not a disease - IT IS A LEARNED BEHAVIOR and IS PREVENTABLE, unlike Cancer!

◊Society seems to comprehend that it takes years, sometimes decades for a rape victim to come forward, if they ever do at all.  So why are our laws still holding the door open for rapists to offend and re-offend?  50% of the calls received by the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center are from adult victims who were abused in their childhood, more than 15 years earlier.    

◊The statute of limitations on reporting the rape of a minor presently stands at 27 years - for victims under the age of 16.  Any child 16 or older is still presently limited to a 15 year statute of limitations.  The Catholic priest scandal was the latest catalyst to "update" the statute of limitations.