Survivors rally in SLO to urge lawmakers to extend statute of limitations for sex crimes

Around 100 community members rallied in San Luis Obispo on Monday to urge lawmakers to extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting felony sexual assault and domestic violence.

The call-to-action event, hosted by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office, was held at the San Luis Obispo Veterans Memorial Hall to coincide with Victim Rights Awareness Month in SLO County.

“We don’t call it the victim justice system. We call it the criminal justice system,” San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow told the crowd during Monday’s event. “Even just in the language that we use to describe our legal system sadly leaves the victims out of this conversation.”

Dow urged the community to describe the legal system as the “criminal and victims justice system” to reframe it in a way that centers victims just as much as perpetrators.

SLO County supervisors Debbie Arnold and Dawn Ortiz-Legg attended the event, along with members of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s and Probation Offices and the San Luis Obispo County Behavioral Health Department.

Representatives from several community organizations, including Lumina Alliance and CASA, also attended the event.

Statute of limitations should be abolished for felony sex crimes, survivor says

Speakers at Monday’s event called for the passage of Senate Bill 690, which would extend the statute of limitations for those who are victims of intimate partner violence from five years to 15 years.

They also called for a blanket ban on statute of limitations for victims reporting sexual violence.

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, California currently does not have a statute of limitations for most felony sex offenses, but certain circumstances still have a statute of limitation applied.

For example, there’s still a statute of limitations for rape by fraud or artifice, meaning the perpetrator convinced the victim they are someone else in order to get consent.

Seven states — Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming — do not have statutes of limitations for felony sex crimes.

“All you do in telling somebody that they’re past the statute of limitations is reinforce the fear that they felt in coming forward in the first place,” Atascadero resident Brittany Barber, a survivor of childhood sexual assault, told The Tribune.

Barber, who spoke at the event, shared her story of navigating the court system after her father went to trial in 2021 on accusations he sexually assaulted her as a child.

She said he assaulted several children, adding that two survivors could not have their cases prosecuted because of the statute of limitations.

“People need to understand that survivors need to be able to come forward in their own time,” Barber said. “And they need to be believed.”

In her speech at Monday’s event, Barber said she spoke with California State Assembly member Dawn Addis about abolishing the statute of limitations for felony sex crimes, adding that Addis was on board.

But when Addis brought the issue to lawmakers in Sacramento, Barber said, other lawmakers were not interested because they did not want to overpopulate prisons.

Addis is currently working on Assembly Bill 452, which would abolish the statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault to bring their assaulter to a civil trial, but this bill isn’t enough, Barber said.

“Moving forward with things in a civil form is only going to seclude the majority of survivors because most abusers are not going to be independently wealthy enough,” she said.

Barber told The Tribune that she called 80 law firms to try to pursue a civil case against her father, but none would take her case.

Barber was told her case wasn’t profitable enough to take on because her father wasn’t wealthy and wasn’t a part of a wealthy corporation, she said.

“It was crushing every single time and it never got easier. It never got easier to tell my story,” Barber said. “It never got easier to be told that my abuse was not financially advantageous to somebody.”

Barber urged the community to push state lawmakers to abolish the statute of limitations for felony sex crimes.

The San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office has a pre-written letter that community members can sign and send to their representatives at https://linktr.ee/slo_da.

Survivors need to be centered, advocates say

Jessica Yates, director of the San Luis Obispo County Victim Witness Assistance Center with the District Attorney’s Office, told The Tribune that Monday’s event is “just the beginning.”

She said the county hopes to continue to push for statewide recognition and expansion of victims rights.

“A big piece of what our organization or our department does is education and educating our victims on what their rights are and really that they do have a voice in the justice system, because a lot of people don’t think that they do,” Yates said.

She said her department is there to support victims in any way they need — legal or not — and can connect victims of crimes to resources and assistance.

The department works with multiple community partners to bring the best support possible to victims of crime in San Luis Obispo County, Yates said.

One of those partners is Lumina Alliance, which provides support for survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence.

Lumina Alliance CEO Jennifer Adams, spoke Monday about the importance of centering survivors experiences when talking about crime, specifically sexual assault.

Adams said the alliance’s role is to provide support to survivors and meet them where they are at.

“There’s an important distinction between helping and empowering,” Adams said. “When we empower a survivor, we are placing their voice, their needs and wants, their innate wisdom first. We are there to support them, providing important information that’s relevant to their decision making and reflecting back to them all of their strength. We are not there to tell them what to do.”

Adams said survivors’ autonomy is “paramount” to their healing process because all their power was taken away during their assault.

This is why abolishing the statute of limitations for felony sex crimes is important, Barber told the Tribune, noting that it can take a long time for a survivor to heal and come to a place where they feel comfortable coming forward.

How to get help

Have you or your family been the victim of a crime? You have rights. View them at oag.ca.gov/victimservices/content/bill_of_rights.

If you or someone you know are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.

The hotline offers a range of free services including confidential support from a trained staff member, help finding a local health facility, legal and medical advice and referrals for long-term support.

Survivor support and resources are also available by calling the Lumina Alliance’ Crisis and Information Line at 805-545-8888 or visiting at luminaalliance.org.