Sexual Abuse Blog -

Sexual Abuse and the Five Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Responses

Sexual abuse survivors, as well as people who witness these activities, often develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Contrary to popular belief, PTSD is not a processing disorder that randomly affects some victims and leaves others untouched. Instead, PTSD is a stress-related brain injury. Extreme stress enlarges the amygdala and squeezes out the cerebral cortex. The...

Top-Five Reasons Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors Do Not Immediately Come Forward

Delayed reporting of childhood sexual abuse is extremely common. Researchers have known this for years. Unfortunately, the law does not keep up with science very well. In recent years, several states have altered their respective statute of limitations laws in favor of survivors, including Maryland. A statute of limitations (SOL) limits a victim’s right to...

No More Adverse Childhood Event Statue of Limitations in Maryland

In the wake of a sweeping report detailing long-term childhood sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Governor Wes More signed a provision that ended the statute of limitations (SOL) for institutional adverse childhood event (ACE) sexual abuse claims. “There is no statute of limitations on the hurt that endures for decades after someone is assaulted,”...

MD Attorney General Finally Releases Sex Abuse Report

After many delays, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown published a 1,000-page report which detailed an “astonishing” amount of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Maryland over the past 80 years. The report paints a damning picture of the archdiocese, which is the oldest Roman Catholic diocese in the country and spans much of...

Catholic Church Failed to Block Sex Abuses Cases at the Statehouse

The Archdiocese of Maryland paid lobbyists over $200,000 in an apparently failed effort to defeat a statute of limitations forgiveness measure and other pro-victim laws. Professional lobbyists are people whose business is trying to influence legislation, regulation, or other government decisions, actions, or policies on behalf of a group or individual who hires them. Individuals...

Maryland AG Vows to Defend Controversial Lookback Provision

State Attorney General Anthony Brown said that since a proposal to abolish the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases was “not clearly unconstitutional,” his office would defend it in court. The proposal has more momentum than in years past when it failed to pass out of the Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee. Advocates for...

Lawmakers Approve SOL Exception for Survivors of Sexual Abuse

In a major win for survivors of sexual abuse, a legislative panel voted overwhelmingly to relax the statute of limitations in sexual abuse cases. If the bill goes on to pass the Maryland General Assembly, the church is likely to face a crush of new lawsuits, especially in light of the impending release of a...

MD Public to See Most of AG Sex Abuse Report

A municipal judge ruled that people have a right to see a redacted version of a 456-page Attorney General probe into alleged sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. To balance things, people who were named in the report that did not have a chance to defend themselves in front of a grand jury may...

Sexual Abuse Blog

CATEGORIES

DO I HAVE A CASE?