What is the statute of limitations if a priest is accused of pedophillia?

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RaymondJensen

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i heard that if he’s found guilty, it’s twenty years. i also heard that if he’s found guilty he just confesses and is forgiven. NOT GOING TO DEBATE THE ANSWER NOR QUESTION ANYONE’S ANSWERS just want to know so i understand the church better. PLEASE NO RULE BREAKING ABOUT GIVING POLITICAL IDEAS ABOUT THIS. AGAIN JUST WANT THE CURRENT FACTS OF WHAT THE RULES ARE ON THE SUBJECT.
 
The first reply should contain your answer, but you’re probably going to have to dig a little. In general, Statutes of Limitations will vary from state to state.
 
There is also a set of Vatican statutes. I think they go for 20 years after the 18th birtday of the victim. Even the, the Vatican will extend limit if there is a solid claim.
 
The OP seems a little confused.

a) a ‘statute of limitations’ refers to the amount of time after a crime or civil wrong has allegedly occurred that one can be brought to trial and/or punished for it. Assuming the other posters’ information is correct, this is normally 20 years in the case of child sexual assault.

The statute of limitations has NOTHING to do with being found guilty or not, only with whether you can be brought before a court (including a Church tribunal of some kind) if accused.

Are you actually thinking of the average prison sentence pedophiles receive? That would vary enormously, I imagine, depending on the circumstances of the case and the jurisdiction.

b) confessing and being forgiven is a spiritual matter, it has nothing to do with your obligations to civil law (including Vatican civil law - remember the Vatican is a self-governing state, probably with its own criminal code).

A priest can be forgiven all he wants, and not penalised by the Vatican, but still face prosecution in the regular court system, and jail and whatnot. Just like a murderer being forgiven in the confessional can still be hauled off to court and jail regardless.
 
I remember reading in the news a few months ago, on the Federal Level, the count down starts as soon as the person who was a minor at the time of the abuse files a complaint with the Police.

For it to go on a Federal Level one of the persons involved would have to cross state lines at some point like someone from Ohio driving to a Church in Michigan for example or even in the victim moved out of state after the abuse.
 
Big_Dummy said:
I remember reading in the news a few months ago, on the Federal Level, the count down starts as soon as the person who was a minor at the time of the abuse files a complaint with the Police.

For it to go on a Federal Level one of the persons involved would have to cross state lines at some point like someone from Ohio driving to a Church in Michigan for example or even in the victim moved out of state after the abuse.
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I’d be careful about giving out legal advice.
 
The statute of limitations varies from one state(or country) to another for legal liability. It literally varied from a very few years, to decades.

The “statute of limitations” within the Church would also vary somewhat. As an example, a number of priests were accused of such acts from 30-4-50 years ago, but were not disciplined for a variety of reasons. In some cases, they were senile, and could not respond to any such charge. In others, other than the statement of the accuser, there simply was no evidence at all.

I personally knew a man who made such an accusation in California, collected over $40,000 from the Diocese, and then later admitted that he had never been molested at all. I reported this, but nothing was ever done about it.

For molestation to be a Federal offense, it would have to have occurred on Federal property. The victim moving to another state would have no bearing on this at all. Neither would driving to another state to commit an offense. The state laws of the state where the offense occurred would prevail in such a case.

However, if you were to take a victim from one state to another, then you might fall under various Federal offenses (but NOT for molestation itself). If you travel to another country, with the express intent to violate children, that IS a Federal offense.
 
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