Madison — State Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) and other state legislators today urged Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to investigate the 8,000 unreported instances of child sexual abuse and 100 alleged offenders reported to be contained in sealed documents in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy case.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Attorney General Van Hollen on legislation protecting children from sexual abuse and holding perpetrators accountable for their crimes,” said Sen. Lassa. “I know that this is an area that he cares about deeply, which is why I hope he will proactively reach out to victims and law enforcement agencies, especially since these cases involve multiple local jurisdictions.”
A letter signed by the legislators urged Van Hollen “to take immediate action to investigate these allegations of child sexual abuse and to work with other law enforcement agencies to bring those individuals who sexually abused children to justice.”
“We know that, left unchecked, child sexual predators will reoffend,” the legislators wrote. “Research on pedophilia indicates that the average perpetrator will have between 80 to 100 victims over the course of a lifetime. This raises the real likelihood that many of these offenders are still in a position to abuse children. The concealment of these offenses may already have facilitated hundreds of additional crimes against young people. It is vital to immediately determine whether any of these documented crimes are still prosecutable under the statute of limitations, and in any case to identify all known perpetrators so they can be prevented from damaging any more young lives.”
The allegations of unreported cases and perpetrators were made on February 9 by attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who represents hundreds of victims who have filed suit against the archdiocese, during a hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley.
In addition to the unreported assaults themselves, the legislators also wrote Van Hollen, “[W]e ask that your investigation into these allegations of child sexual abuse also include anyone who participated in the concealment of these violent sexual crimes against children. There can be no leniency for those who, if these allegations are proven to be true, allowed innocent children to be sexually abused and victimized.”
“The sheer numbers of assaults and perpetrators make this a serious public safety crisis,” Sen. Lassa said. “As the state’s chief law enforcement officer, the Attorney General must act quickly to bring criminals to justice and prevent more children from being abused.”
She urged anyone who has been abused, or knows of abuse, to report the incidents to local law enforcement officials.
Sen. Lassa has introduced the Child Victims Act, which would eliminate the civil statute of limitations on child sexual abuse.
