LANSING, Mich. — Survivors of sexual abuse could get more time to take action under a series of bills proposed by a bipartisan group of state lawmakers.
The House Criminal Justice Committee will hear testimony on the “Access to Justice” bills on Tuesday.
State Rep. Julie Brixie (D-Meridian Twp.) has led the effort.
“If we want to stop harboring sexual predators, we need to change our laws because our laws harbor sexual predators and pedophiles,” said Brixie.
If signed into law, the bills would:
- Extend the civil statute of limitations to age 52
- Extend civil statute of limitations after the time of discovery from three to seven years
- Eliminating civil statute of limitations if there is a criminal conviction
- Establishing a two-year revival window for survivors whose statute of limitations previously expired
- Remove governmental immunity for criminal sexual assault if the agency or employees knew about the reported sexual assault and failed to prevent it
Brixie says reforms enacted in 2018 in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal at Michigan State University did not go far enough. For example, when lawmakers then eliminated the statute of limitations for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, it only applied to incidents that occurred after that year.
“By changing our laws, we're going to help institutions make sure that they have proper protections in place, so that doesn't happen at their institution,” said Brixie. “Changing the culture and setting up accountability and precautions and protections is some of the things that we hope will be impacted by these bills.”
Chéree Thomas, who serves as the deputy director for the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, says more time would further help survivors seek accountability.
“It allows us to see what has actually been done to create opportunity to cause harm and then when that person has an opportunity to go before the courts and say, ‘This is what I've experienced,’ [and] then they can heal,” said Thomas.
It’s unclear how many sexual abuse survivors could seek further justice under the proposed reforms, but Thomas hopes it offers them peace.
“When a person experiences sexual assault, one of the things that we know that happens is the way that the brain actually encodes the information changes because it goes into protective mode,” said Thomas. “No longer are you thinking critically with the frontal part of your brain, but the survival part of your brain engages. By allowing them to heal, and to actually know, factually, it wasn't their fault… it allows for that space for us to actually hear it [the assault] in the way that makes sense for us to hear it and when I say us, I mean the general population - the courtroom, the people who are actually going to be making that decision as to what the outcome is ultimately going to be.”
For more on Tuesday’s hearing, click here.
If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or click here to chat with someone.
