Justice Should Not Expire

I grew up in Waltham. My roots there run deep.

From age five to fourteen, I was sexually abused by my uncle, who was also my godfather, someone I had been taught to love and trust.

On January 30, 2012, I filed a civil case against him. Five months later, it was dismissed because, under the law then in effect, I was considered too late.

Too late.

Those words do not account for what childhood trauma can do to memory, voice, or trust. They do not account for silence, shame, fear, dissociation, or the years it can take to speak.

In 2014, Massachusetts expanded the civil statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse from three years to thirty-five years. My appeal was still pending. In 2015, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Sliney v. Previte that the expanded law applied to my case and that its retroactive application was constitutional as applied. The dismissal was vacated.

Years later, I had my day in court.

Changing a law can change what is possible in a survivor’s life.

This summer, the House adopted Amendment 110, which would eliminate civil time limits going forward and open a two-year window for previously time-barred childhood sexual abuse claims. The legislation is now before a House-Senate conference committee.

On September 30, Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell released a report documenting decades of child sexual abuse in the Fall River, Springfield and Worcester Catholic dioceses. Her office reported that more than 270 clerics abused nearly 1,000 children. She called for eliminating civil time limits and expanding access to justice for survivors with expired claims.

Representative John Lawn, whose district includes part of Waltham, has shared his experience of childhood sexual abuse. He and Senator Joan Lovely have championed legislation to remove civil time limits.

Survivors do not process trauma or seek justice according to a timetable.

This is about both generations: giving survivors a meaningful opportunity to seek justice and using what we learn to protect children. Their safety depends on adults willing to listen and act.

I urge lawmakers to preserve these protections in the final bill and pass them into law. I ask readers to contact their representatives and senators and urge them to act.

I know what it means to be told I was too late.

I also know what it means when the courthouse door finally opens.

Justice should not expire.

Rosanne Sliney
Stoneham, Massachusetts
Raised in Waltham