Democrats in the United States Congress have proposed a new law which would fully scrap the statute of limitations for federal civil sex abuse cases.The proposed legislation has been named Virginia’s Law after Virginia Giuffre, who accused the late, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associates of sexually abusing and trafficking her in the 1990s when she was a teenager.Giuffre died by suicide in April last year after reaching a settlement in her sex-abuse case against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom and a friend of Epstein’s.What is Virginia’s Law?The proposal for the new law has been introduced to the US Congress by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez, alongside Giuffre’s family.It is a federal bill which would remove the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits regarding sexual abuse and trafficking.Civil cases are private disputes between individuals and organisations, while criminal cases involve the government prosecuting individuals for breaking laws.Under federal criminal law, most offences must be prosecuted within five years, but there is no time limit at all for many trafficking and child sexual abuse crimes, which can be charged decades after the fact.According to US federal anti‑trafficking law, a victim of federal trafficking‑related offences has 10 years to lodge a civil suit after a crime took place. If the crime took place when the victim was a minor, then they have 10 years to sue from when they turn 18. Advertisement In September 2022, Congress passed a law removing the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse, but that change did not apply to any crimes committed before that date.Virginia’s Law calls for the …
