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Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act will help prevent sex abuse in sports

The Hill by Kimberlee D. Norris and Jeffrey S. Love – June 20, 2017
WASHINGTON D.C. In March 2017, the United States Senate introduced Senate Bill 534 (S.534) aimed at preventing child sexual abuse in youth sport contexts. Two months later, the United States House of Representatives introduced House Bill 1973 (H.R.1973), virtually identical to its sister bill in the Senate, but more expansive.

Both pieces of legislation seek to broaden existing federal statutes. Though not yet law, each bill received near unanimous approval in respective chambers. It can be reasonably anticipated, therefore, that congress will pass the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act of 2017 in a form incorporating the identical provisions from each bill.

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Why victims of sexual assault often don’t press charges

Yakima Valley Herald by Molly Rosbach – December 5, 2017

YAKIMA – The deluge of high-profile sexual assault and harassment allegations in the news has barely stopped over the past two months. But a common response to decades-old claims is, why didn’t the victim report this sooner?

Mental health experts, law enforcement and victim advocates all say the same thing: Faced with a legal system in which reporting a sexual crime often means further trauma and no guarantee of justice, many victims feel they are better off staying silent.

“A lot of times, we have people come and they report things, and we have to tell them that the prosecutor’s not going to take this case,” said Detective Curtis Oja with the Yakima Police Department’s Special Assault Unit. “We’d like to be able to say that we solve every single case that comes through … but these cases are sometimes more difficult to prove than a homicide. With a homicide, you at least have that one crucial piece of evidence: the body.”

Sacramento St. Francis High School sued by sex abuse victim

ABC News10 Staff – December 19, 2017

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Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas says she was also abused by Larry Nassar

ESPN – November 29, 2017

Three-time gold medalist Gabby Douglas has become the third member of the “Fierce Five” U.S. women’s team to say she was abused by a former USA Gymnastics team doctor.

She made her allegations public as she was apologizing in a statement issued Tuesday for her comment on Twitter last week about ex-teammate Aly Raisman’s stance on sexual assault victims.