XPost: can.politics   
   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   I think so.  What has been passing for 'justice' in the media this past month   
   is nothing short of permanently damaging someone's reputation for a lifetime -   
   without proof.   
   Also lopsided in Canada is the media being able to name the accused, but not   
   the accuser.   
      
   If there was a statute of limitations on coming forward with a formal complaint   
   - to an employer, or to police - it would prompt the accuser to do so in a   
   timely manner.  And the chances of there being supportable documents or   
   witnesses, would increase.  This 'waiting 10 years to name an accused' has got   
   to stop.  It's become a free-for-all.  Everyone has a story to tell and   
   everyone seems to have waited 10 years or more to tell it.   
      
   Time to re-balance the justice scales.  And stop using the media to get even   
   with someone years after the fact - or maybe no fact.   
   __________________________________________________   
   CBC News Posted: Nov 21, 2014   
      
   Bill Cosby accusers face legal limits in U.S., unlike in Canada   
      
   Canada has no statute of limitations for laying a sexual assault charge and   
   more flexibility to sue   
      
   Allegations of sexual assault against comedian Bill Cosby are unlikely to see   
   the inside of a U.S. courtroom, either criminal or civil, because the relevant   
   statutes of limitations have mostly run out, legal experts say, adding that the   
   situation in Canada would play out much differently.   
      
      
   The many women now accusing Bill Cosby of decades-old sexual assaults are   
   unlikely to ever see their cases in U.S. court because the maximum time for   
   starting legal proceedings has passed.   
      
   But legal experts say that if the alleged incidents had occurred in Canada, the   
   accusers would have more "power" to seek criminal charges and launch lawsuits   
   against the 77-year-old comedian.   
      
   For his part, Cosby, who's mired in a scandal that has led to cancellations of   
   some of his appearances and projects, is denying the allegations through his   
   lawyer.   
      
   "I think the United States should be embarrassed that we knowingly close the   
   door as quickly as we do" to sex assault charges and lawsuits, said lawyer   
   Wendy Murphy, who used to prosecute sex crimes and now represents rape victims,   
   and also teaches sexual violence law at the New England School of Law in   
   Boston.   
      
   "There’s no doubt that if you look at Canada, you have a wide window of   
   opportunity for victims to seek redress in civil and criminal cases. That’s a   
   far more effective public policy approach," Murphy added.   
      
   An athletics director at Temple University in Pennsylvania made the first   
   public sexual assault allegations against Cosby 10 years ago. Police   
   investigated but laid no charges, and she reached an out-of-court settlement   
   with the comedian after launching a subsequent lawsuit (such a settlement is   
   not necessarily an acknowledgment of any wrongdoing).   
      
   But that led to a number of women coming forward with allegations dating as far   
   back as 1969. And in those matters, "it appears that the statute of limitations   
   would prevent any criminal prosecution, and also bar any civil lawsuit," said   
   Gloria Allred, a U.S. lawyer who has represented women in high-profile cases   
   involving filmmaker Roman Polanski, former congressman Anthony Weiner and   
   golfer Tiger Woods, among others.   
      
      
   No time limit in Canada to lay charges   
      
   Take Arizona artist Barbara Bowman, who alleged in a Washington Post op-ed   
   piece last week that Cosby "drugged and raped" her during an encounter in New   
   York, and said he also assaulted her in Reno, Nev., all in the mid-1980s. Or   
   publicist Joan Tarshis, who came forward on Sunday to allege Cosby took   
   advantage of her in a Manhattan hotel suite in 1969.   
      
     Under Nevada law, unless a victim files a written report within four years of   
   an assault, no charges can be laid thereafter.   
      
   In New York, because the alleged incidents were more than five years ago, even   
   if an investigation turned up enough evidence, prosecutors would be barred from   
   laying all but the most serious rape charges — which are the most onerous to   
   prove. And if no criminal charges are ever filed, then the opportunity to file   
   a civil suit has long past.   
   Barbara Bowman says Cosby 'drugged and raped' her   
      
   Artist Barbara Bowman wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post alleging   
   Cosby 'drugged and raped' her in the mid-1980s. (CNN)   
      
   (None of these sexual allegations against Cosby has been tested in court. In a   
   statement on Sunday referring to all but the Temple University employee case,   
   his lawyer said they are "decade-old, discredited allegations," and "Mr. Cosby   
   does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment").   
      
   Contrast that all to Canada, where there is no time limit on laying any serious   
   criminal charge. As well, thanks to a 1992 Supreme Court decision and ensuing   
   legislative changes in many provinces, the time limits for filing civil   
   sex-assault claims are fairly flexible, tending to account for victims'   
   individual circumstances. (In Ontario, for example, a sex assault lawsuit can   
   almost always go ahead time-wise unless the defendant can prove the plaintiff   
   should have been held to a shorter limitation period).   
      
   "It's been very liberating for survivors. You don’t have that kind of clock   
   ticking in your head, driving you to do something that maybe you’re not ready   
   to do," said Elizabeth Grace, a partner at Lerners LLP in Toronto, who co-wrote   
   the main legal text on civil liability in Canada for sexual violence.   
      
   "When a person has been abused, they’ve really had power taken away from   
   them,   
   so if the process can give them back some more power, around decisions about   
   when to bring forward a claim, then that can be good."   
      
   More:   
   http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bill-cosby-accusers-face-legal-limi   
   s-in-u-s-unlike-in-canada-1.2841564   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)