Two years ago, Gov. Wes Moore signed into law the Child Victims Act, which enabled victims of child sexual abuse to sue their perpetrator and/or the institution responsible for supervising the perpetrator, no matter how long ago the abuse took place.
The law has created a fiscal crisis for the state due to the fact that thousands of victims have come forward, making claims against the state itself for abuse suffered largely in juvenile detention facilities.
In an attempt to undo the fiscal crisis the law created, the Maryland General Assembly passed House Bill 1378 in early April, just before the end of this year’s session. The bill reduces the cap for civil damages for child sexual abuse to $400,000 for public entities and $700,000 for private entities, including churches, parishes, private schools and nonprofits.
Before he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the bill, sponsor C.T. Wilson (D, Charles County) said he wants to ensure that the names of all perpetrators of child sexual abuse in the state Department of Juvenile Justice are made public.
“I want everybody that was an abuser – I want their name. I want that to be public record. … (I)f that person is still out there, they need to be held accountable,” Wilson told reporters March 26 outside a State House Judiciary Committee hearing room.
Wilson was also the sponsor of the Child Victims Act in 2023, a law that capped damage suits at $890,000 per incident for public entities and $1.5 million for private. HB 1378 lowered the caps and changed the language to “per claimant.”
What’s missing from HB 1378, now headed for Moore’s desk for signature, is the accountability Wilson said he wanted, though he and many of our elected officials voted for it and passed the bill. The bill does not require a list of those credibly accused of abuse within public institutions, especially the DJS and its detention centers.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore has published a list of clergy accused of child sexual abuse since 2002, with frequent updates to the list. It was one of the first dioceses in the country to do so after the U.S. Bishops approved the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and its accompanying norms. And many accused abusers in the archdiocese were named in a 2023 report by the Maryland Attorney General.
But the state? No such list, no such transparency, even though, as the Maryland Catholic Conference notes a terrible truth: “The largest employer of abusers in the State of Maryland appears to be the State of Maryland itself.”
What else didn’t lawmakers include? Compassion. While a few victim-survivors testified in the run-up to passage of the bill, their voices were largely absent.
In response to allegations of clergy sexual abuse, our bishops have met face to face with many victim-survivors over the years. In 2018, Archbishop William E. Lori and Bishop Adam J. Parker attended town halls around the archdiocese and virtually to hear from victims and other lay people, in addition to more than a dozen other gatherings. In the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, the court has held two sessions for victim-survivors to speak about the abuse they received as minors. Archbishop Lori voluntarily attended both sessions.
The church has implemented strong child protection protocols and safe environment training since 2002. After the print edition of the Catholic Review went to press, a spokesman from the Department of Juvenile Services told the Catholic Review, “All employees are fingerprinted and have background checks before they are offered a position. All employees are mandated to take and pass an exam for sexual abuse, discrimination, etc.”
If the state wants to show that reducing caps for those who sue the state for abuse is not “just about the money,” then Moore and other state officials need to go on a listening tour and meet face to face with victim-survivors, particularly those who were abused in state-run institutions. They need to apologize, again and again, as church leaders have done. And they need to publish a list of credibly accused abusers and install strong protections for those in their care.
That’s what’s missing.
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