Massachusetts Attorney General's Report Details Clergy Sexual Abuse and Calls for Elimination of Statute of Limitations

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announces the release the report detailing clergy sexual abuse

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announces the release of the clergy sexual abuse report

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s report released on September 30th about clergy sex abuse in the three Catholic Dioceses of Worcester, Springfield and Fall River confirms what survivors have been telling us for decades. Nearly 1,000 children were sexually abused across these dioceses by 270 members of the clergy. Sadly, church leaders chose to protect the abusers rather than the children.

But issuing a report alone will not provide justice. The findings of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s report shows that many of these cases can never be prosecuted because the clock ran out, and too many survivors are still locked out of the courthouse by an arbitrary deadline. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse often need decades before they can speak about what happened to them, and Massachusetts law should not punish them for that.

The Attorney General has now called on the Legislature to eliminate the civil statute of limitations for these claims, give survivors whose claims have expired a way back into court, and eliminate the outdated charitable cap of $20,000 for damages.

The Lawn amendment in the Primary Care bill (H5630) answers that call. A House/Senate Conference Committee is currently reviewing the bill and we urge its members to pass it without delay so that every survivor has a path to accountability, and no institution in Massachusetts ever again decides it can simply wait out the children it failed.

Watch the full Press Conference where Attorney General Campbell announced the release of the report.

Read the full report: “Sexual Abuse of Children in the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester.”

Send an already drafted email to your legislators, asking them to ensure that Amendment 110, eliminating the civil statute of limitations on child sexual abuse and the cap on damages for charitable institutions, is included in the final Primary Care bill.

AI-CSAM Ruling: What the Seventh Circuit’s Anderegg Decision Means for Child Safety

Generative artificial intelligence can now produce virtual sexual depictions of children (AI-generated child sexual abuse material, or “AI-CSAM”) that are nearly indistinguishable from images documenting the abuse of actual children. A recent federal appellate court decision has brought into sharp focus the tension between that technology and a legal framework developed long before such imagery was possible. The headlines were alarming, but the AI-CSAM ruling is considerably narrower than they suggest—and it does not make AI-CSAM broadly legal.

In the recent AI-CSAM ruling, United States v. Anderegg, federal prosecutors charged a Wisconsin man with producing, distributing, possessing, and transferring sexually explicit AI-generated depictions of children. According to the government, Anderegg used Stable Diffusion, a generative-AI program, to create more than 13,000 realistic sexual images of prepubescent children. Read more –>

Enough Abuse Launches a New Campaign To Prevent Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

One in 5 children are estimated to be victims of in-person or online child sexual abuse, grooming, sextortion or deepfake sexual imagery. It’s especially difficult for busy parents and the public to keep up with the growing threats to children on so many online platforms. Two-thirds of parents, in fact, don’t feel knowledgeable or confident enough to talk to their children about vital online safety concerns.

To support them, Enough Abuse is launching a three-part campaign to educate parents and the public on how to challenge those with unfettered online access into our homes and our children’s lives. Learn how prevent online child sexual abuse and exploitation, including how to communicate crucial messages to children that will protect them and keep them safe from grooming, sextortion, deepfakes, and online exploitation. Read more –>

Violent Online Networks: A Growing Threat Against Children

Enough Abuse has recently produced an online Public Awareness video about a growing threat to children: violent online networks. The FBI has issued warnings about these organized violent extremist networks of individuals that deliberately target children, youth and other vulnerable people online through grooming, manipulation, blackmail and coercion. The individuals in these groups manipulate children and teens online and coerce them to carry out unspeakable acts, including acts of violence and sexual abuse against themselves, animals, and other children. They even push young people to die by suicide.

This video and blog inform parents and other caring adults about these malicious individuals and networks, so you can better protect the children in your lives from this new and unprecedented threat to their safety and well-being. Read more–>

Blogs & Announcements

Massachusetts Attorney General’s Report Details Clergy Sexual Abuse and Calls for Elimination of Statute of Limitations

Latest Blogs & Announcements

AI-CSAM Ruling: What the Seventh Circuit’s Anderegg Decision Means for Child Safety

Enough Abuse Launches a New Campaign To Prevent Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

Violent Online Networks: A Growing Threat Against Children

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