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Help the children. Not the molesters!

We Need Your Help! We Cannot Speak For Ourselves

We must all get involved and take responsibility for taking action on behalf of our children to protect them from child molesters. Remember, to paraphrase - all it takes for evil to prevail is for good men and women to do nothing.

Please join in the effort to convince Washington state legislators that our children are truly our most precious resources and are entitled to every protection we can give them against child molestation. The criminal statutes of limitation that now apply to the sexual molestation of children under the age of 18 should be eliminated.

Why should sex crimes committed against children under the age of 18 be subject to an artificial time period called a statute of limitations so after the passage of that time there can be no prosecution of the crime? The victim lives with the effects of the abuse for the rest of their lives. Why do we reward the molester just because the abuse was not immediately discovered and brought to the attention of law enforcement authorities, or the victim was too afraid or ashamed to come forward and may not be able to for several years? After all, the victims are children.

Why would we not want to deter potential sexual molestation of children by a law that would cause molesters to know they would have to look over their shoulders for the rest of their lives if they commit the crime? Why would we not want justice for the victims when they are able to come forward to identify and prosecute the child molester? Why would we want to deprive victims of the opportunity to seek justice for the conduct we have made criminal? They would then identify their molesters, prosecute, and the molesters would be registered.

Consider homicide cases in which there is no statute of limitations. Because we think homicide is such a serious crime affecting society, a prosecution can occur at any time after the act when there is sufficient credible evidence to bring charges against the person believed to be responsible. Do we not think enough of our children that the same rule should apply to sexual molestations of them? Do we think the child should have to die in order for there to be responsibility for the criminal act at any later time?

Join us now in urging our Governor and state legislators to change the law in order to eliminate the criminal statutes of limitations for sex crimes committed upon children under the age of 18. The burden to safeguard children falls squarely on us to convince our representatives. Contact them to urge the passage of this change in the law, a child protection measure that will help the vulnerable. To see how you can take action see the "How You Can Help" link.