What reporting was like

It was hard.  It felt like it took forever, but probably only took an hour or an hour and a half.  It mostly involved me talking, with the State Police Special Victim's Unit detective interrupting with questions to clarify what I was saying.

I had to start at the beginning, the first incident of abuse, and explain in detail what happened to the best of my recollection.  Of course there were things I didn't know because I was five when it happened.  I didn't know the exact date, or the time of day.  I did remember how old I was, and what was on television while he was abusing me.  That was enough for them.  The hardest part for me was specifically naming what he did to me.  I had to name body parts and describe acts that made me ill to have to think about.  I reminded myself it would be over soon.  I felt detached as I spoke, but I got through it.

The detective I spoke with was a woman, which allowed me to feel as comfortable as possible.  She was kind and professional.  She did not try to deter me from reporting, nor did she tell me it was my obligation to take this as far as I could.  She was there, she was supportive, and she did her job.  When I was leaving she gave me a card with her number on it and told me to call anytime if I had any questions.

I left the detective, went home, and took a nap.  I was honestly exhausted after reporting.  I tried not to think about it.

So, I saw an article on Scott Brown

I started thinking about how wonderful it was that he was finally able to come forward about the sexual assault he suffered as a child.  I always think it's great when people in the public eye come forward, it's often a necessary reminder that I'm not alone in what I've gone through, and I find it comforting as I'm sure plenty of other survivors feel.

My second thought was that this abuser is still out there possibly abusing other children, with years of practice.  It's so sad that now that Senator Brown is at a place where he can talk about his abuse he no longer has the option of reporting what he survived as a crime and having charges pressed against his abuser.

I was lucky that I was able to tell my story while I still had the option of pressing charges.  I'm grateful for that every day because reporting my abuser felt like a load had been taken off my back.  I no longer felt like I was responsible if he hurt another person in the way he hurt me.  That relief was such a good feeling to have.

Even though it felt like I waited forever to tell anybody what happened to me, it was almost twenty years after the abuse occurred, I have since learned that it's not infrequent for it to take survivors of child sexual assault even longer to come forward.  It shouldn't be too late for those survivors to seek justice.  The people who have abused them may have abused other children who have also been pressured into silence, and if it takes so long and so much strength to come forward why would we want to risk the safety of future children by having a statute of limitations on reporting sexual assault.  Sexual assault is so humiliating and so difficult and time consuming to recover from, why do we further hurt survivors by not allowing them the opportunity for justice?

I believe that the statute of limitations on sexual assaults should be either extended or the limitations should be completely thrown out.  Particularly with such a sensitive crime as sexual assault.  The justice system is not just to seek justice for the crimes against one person, but it's also there to protect the public from a criminal re-offending, and with such stringent statutes of limitations we're not protecting the public.

Everyone should have an opportunity to seek justice.  I'm so very grateful for mine.