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Can You File Criminal Charges for Childhood Sex Abuse

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  • 04-10-2017, 11:52 PM
    Judihacker
    Can You File Criminal Charges for Childhood Sex Abuse
    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Ky
    I am a 51 year old female but at the age of 5 my Aunt started molesting me until the age of 10 at that point I ran away. Can I possibly file criminal charges against her?
  • 04-11-2017, 12:09 AM
    Taxing Matters
    Re: Molestation
    You cannot file charges against her yourself. All you can do is file a complaint with the police or prosecutor in the town/county where this occurred. It would be up to the police and prosecutor whether to pursue filing charges. If this took place in Kentucky then it is possible that time to prosecute the offense has not yet expired. The current Kentucky statutes provide no statute of limitation for any felony offense. It matters though what the rule was 41+ years ago when the acts of sexual abuse took place. You can make the complaint with the police or prosecutor and they will do the research to see if it is still possible to pursue this, assuming of course that they have an interest in going after it. The problem is that prosecution is likely to be difficult after all these years. That doesn’t mean they won’t do it. But just understand that it is not guaranteed they’ll pursue it.
  • 04-11-2017, 12:25 AM
    Dogmatique
    Re: Molestation
    The age of the victim would likely be a significant factor, too.
  • 04-11-2017, 12:31 AM
    Taxing Matters
    Re: Molestation
    Quote:

    Quoting Dogmatique
    View Post
    The age of the victim would likely be a significant factor, too.

    I understood the post to mean that the OP was molested from the age of 5 to the age of 10. While I suppose it’s possible that she meant her aunt was age 5-10, that seems to me to be unlikely. If, however, the aunt was only age 5 - 10 then there is no chance of prosecution as she would have been too young to be criminally responsible. The age of the aunt at the time she committed the alleged molestation is thus a factor here as well.
  • 04-11-2017, 01:25 AM
    Dogmatique
    Re: Molestation
    Quote:

    Quoting Taxing Matters
    View Post
    I understood the post to mean that the OP was molested from the age of 5 to the age of 10. While I suppose it’s possible that she meant her aunt was age 5-10, that seems to me to be unlikely. If, however, the aunt was only age 5 - 10 then there is no chance of prosecution as she would have been too young to be criminally responsible. The age of the aunt at the time she committed the alleged molestation is thus a factor here as well.

    ?

    I was referring to the victim - the OP - being so very young when this happened. A 5 year old's retelling of a given experience is already questionable at best; the retelling 40 years after the fact would be even more fraught with doubt, no?
  • 04-11-2017, 01:34 AM
    Taxing Matters
    Re: Molestation
    Quote:

    Quoting Dogmatique
    View Post
    ?

    I was referring to the victim - the OP - being so very young when this happened. A 5 year old's retelling of a given experience is already questionable at best; the retelling 40 years after the fact would be even more fraught with doubt, no?

    I see, that clarifies what you were getting at. Yes, that would be a significant factor, along with the fact that memories fade and change over time. The 40 year gap between the last of these events and today is a problem and is one of the things I had in mind when I said that prosecution would be rather difficult after all these years.
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