Rendell signs bills to crack down on child-sex offenders

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Ed Rendell on Wednesdaysigned a package of bills intended to toughen penalties for sexoffenders who prey on children, including a measure that would makechanges recommended by a Philadelphia grand jury that investigatedabuse by Roman Catholic priests.

The legislation would give alleged victims of child-sex crimes untiltheir 50th birthday to file criminal complaints, 20 years longer thancurrent law allows. Employers and supervisors could be held criminallyliable if they know of alleged abuse by employees who care for childrenbut fail to stop it, and caregivers would have to report suspectedabuse regardless of whether the victim reports it.

The grand jury recommended legislative reforms in a September 2005report that documented alleged assaults on minors by more than 60priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese since 1967. The report alsoaccused church leaders of covering up the abuse.

The panel said that, under the law at the time, too much time hadelapsed for criminal charges to be filed against the church or thepriests.

"The report concluded that there were many loopholes existing in thelaw and gaps in the law that allowed those who commit these kind of sexcrimes against children to get away with them," Rendell said.

He said the expansion of the statute of limitations on seekingcriminal prosecution was important because "often, people don't feelcomfortable bringing up these type of things that happened until longinto their 30s and 40s."

John Salveson, founder and president of the Bryn Mawr-basedFoundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, praised the new law, saying theprovision holding employers and supervisors responsible for protectingchildren from sexual abuse by employees was critical.

"I think it's far more outrageous when a supposedly healthy,responsible person looks the other way and allows sex abuse of kids tocontinue," Salveson said. "If (the law) was in place a year and a halfago, would there have been indictments that came out of that grandjury? Absolutely."

The archdiocese has said it had already adopted many of the bill'sprovisions, but would review its policies and practices to ensure thatthey complied fully with the new legislation.

The new law also requires additional information on sex offenders tobe posted on the state's Megan's Law Web site, including the completeaddresses of all offenders and whether their victims were children. Thesite currently lists only the full addresses of offenders considered tobe sexually violent predators.

Under a separate bill signed by the governor, the mandatory minimumsentence for an adult who sexually assaults children aged 16 or underwould double from five to 10 years for the first offense. The penaltywould increase to at least 25 years for a second offense, and a lifesentence upon a third conviction.

The legislation is known as Pennsylvania's version of "Jessica'sLaw," a Florida law named after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, who waskidnapped from her Homosassa, Fla., bedroom Feb. 23, 2005. She was heldcaptive and sexually assaulted in a nearby mobile home before she wasburied alive, allegedly by a sex offender.

Two other bills Rendell signed would require the state to setminimum standards for rape kits used by hospitals and health carefacilities and establish a system of court and administrative agencyinterpreters for the deaf and for people who speak little or no English.