skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Day two of David Pecker testimony wraps in NY Trump trial; Supreme Court hears arguments on Idaho's near-total abortion ban; ND sees a flurry of campaigning among Native candidates; and NH lags behind other states in restricting firearms at polling sites.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The Senate moves forward with a foreign aid package. A North Carolina judge overturns an aged law penalizing released felons. And child protection groups call a Texas immigration policy traumatic for kids.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Wyoming needs more educators who can teach kids trade skills, a proposal to open 40-thousand acres of an Ohio forest to fracking has environmental advocates alarmed and rural communities lure bicyclists with state-of-the-art bike trail systems.

Gov. Lynch Signs Childhood Sex Abuse Law Today

play audio
Play

Tuesday, September 2, 2008   

Boston, MA – The statute of limitations for filing a civil lawsuit related to childhood sexual abuse is being extended to 12 years after the victim's 18th birthday, an increase of five years. Gov. John Lynch is signing the extension into law today. The law is needed, victim advocates say, because it can take survivors years to come to terms with what happened to them as children.

Jennifer Durrant with the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence says extending the lawsuit window is reinforced by research findings.

"We know that people who were sexually assaulted, often for long periods of time by people they trusted, tend to not disclose that trauma until later on in life."

Sexual abuse victims will now have until age 30 to file lawsuits for civil damages. While New Hampshire gets kudos for giving survivors more time, Durrant is convinced the state could do better. Many other states, she says, are completely eliminating their statutes of limitations on childhood sexual abuse cases.

Critics of the change are concerned it could encourage false accusations. But Durrant says the new law gives notice to offenders that they cannot escape justice with the passing of time, and she believes it encourages those who have been abused to come forward.

"We are really trying to build a place where survivors feel comfortable. I think we have definitely come a long way, not only in changing our laws, but in our social service delivery systems."

The governor signs the law, SB 311, today at 2 p.m. in the Governor and Council's Chambers.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
Several Mississippi correctional facilities offer both short-term (12 weeks) and long-term (six months) alcohol and drug programs with individual and group counseling for treating alcohol and drug addictions. (Wesley JvR/peopleimages.com)

Social Issues

play sound

Mississippi prisons often lack resources to treat people who are incarcerated with substance-use disorders adequately but a nonprofit organization is …


Social Issues

play sound

April is Second Chance Month and many Nebraskans are celebrating passage of a bipartisan voting rights restoration bill and its focus on second chance…

Health and Wellness

play sound

New Mexico saw record enrollment numbers for the Affordable Care Act this year and is now setting its sights on lowering out-of-pocket costs - those n…


Migrants are put on buses from Texas to other states, often without knowing where they are going. (afishman64/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

The future of Senate Bill 4 is still tangled in court challenges. It's the Texas law that would allow police to arrest people for illegally crossing …

Social Issues

play sound

Residents in a rural North Carolina town grappling with economic challenges are getting a pathway to homeownership. In Enfield, the average annual …

Social Issues

play sound

A new poll finds a near 20-year low in the number of voters who say they have a high interest in the 2024 election, with a majority saying they hold …

Social Issues

play sound

A case before the U.S. Supreme Court could have implications for the country's growing labor movement. Justices will hear oral arguments in Starbucks …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021