RALEIGH — Bills introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly would broaden the state's power to investigate child sexual abuse crimes and raise the statute of limitations on claims of past abuse.
The proposals, labeled the Sexual Assault Fast reporting and Enforcement Child Act, or SAFE Child Act, gained early support from a Republican and Democrat lawmakers.
Several legislators appeared alongside child welfare advocates at a March 7 news conference in Raleigh led by North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.
"It doesn't matter whether you're a parent or a policymaker, nothing is more important than keeping children safe from sexual abuse," Stein said. "It's critical that we protect kids wherever they are or spend time, whether that's in their home or at summer camp or an afterschool activity or online."
With the proposed legislation, Stein said, "More children who were abused will see justice, and more abusers will see prison time."
Following Stein's news conference, the Diocese of Raleigh posted a statement on its website stating, "The Diocese of Raleigh looks forward to reviewing the proposed act recently announced by Attorney General Stein and supports efforts to further protect North Carolina's children from sexual abuse."
"Bishop (Luis) Zarama and the diocese support additional measures that would further clarify or expedite reports of suspected abuse and aid survivors in healing," the statement continued.
The legislation would extend the statute of limitations on misdemeanor child sexual abuse cases from two years after the alleged assault occurred to 10 years. Felony abuse cases already have no time limit on prosecution.
The statute of limitations on civil lawsuits related to claims of past child sexual abuse would extend to when the alleged victim reaches the age of 45 (in the House version) or age of 50 (in the Senate version). Under current law, the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits generally expires when the victim turns 21.
Noting that victims often don't come forward until years -- sometimes even decades -- later, Stein said, "We fully anticipate that more charges will be brought and more civil claims will be brought, because we know a great deal more about the psychological impact of abuse of children."
The proposed legislation would also empower the attorney general to convene an investigative grand jury to examine child sexual abuse claims -- a power currently not available in North Carolina.
The legislation would also mandate that all "high risk" sex offenders register their computer's IP address in addition to their physical address on the North Carolina sex offender registry.
Another provision would require any adult or institution that suspects child abuse to report it to local police -- not just to the North Carolina Department of Social Services as current law mandates. Failure to report abuse would be a misdemeanor.
Both the Charlotte and Raleigh dioceses already report all allegations of child sexual abuse to DSS as well as to the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, which then routes the report to the appropriate local law enforcement agency to investigate.
Since 2003, the Raleigh Diocese has trained more than 24,000 staff and volunteers in recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect and have received national criminal background checks.
In the Diocese of Charlotte, more than 48,900 people have received training and nearly 57,000 background checks have been processed since 2002.
Reports of child abuse are declining in North Carolina – down 5.5 percent from 2013 to 2017, according to the latest data available from the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2017, 7,392 North Carolina children were victims of abuse or neglect, 19.5 percent of whom were sexually abused.
Deana Joy, executive director of Children’s Advocacy Centers of North Carolina, expressed support for Stein and the proposed legislation.
“We still have a long way to go to bring about drastic change in our state with regards to child abuse. It is our hope that this legislation, while a tremendous starting point, will more importantly begin a con-versation that will lead to streamlined centralization of reporting and statewide adult-based preven-tion efforts. There is nothing in our state that is more valuable than its children.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor