In the state of Maine, this law states: “It is a defense that prosecution was commenced after the expiration of the applicable period of limitations provided in this section, except that if the victim had not attained 16 years of age at the time of the crime and the juvenile had attained 16 years of age, a prosecution for the juvenile crime of unlawful sexual contact under Title 17-A, former section 255 or section 255-A or gross sexual assault under Title 17-A, section 253 may be commenced at any time if the attorney for the State first presents evidence based on DNA, as defined in section 2136, to the court in a closed hearing that implicates the defendant in the crime by a preponderance of the evidence.” 

In a nutshell: Perpetrators of sexual abuse who are minors cannot be convicted of crimes unless there was DNA evidence collected from the crime linking the minor to the crime. 

Backstory: I was sexually abused by a 17 year old in 2004 when I was 7 years old. He has sexually abused at least 3 other people. When you are 17 years old morally you know what you are doing is wrong, especially when it’s against a young innocent child. After the abuse I thought that behavior was normal, and I never thought to tell my parent. Hence, I never went to the hospital for a rape kit or anything to be performed. I have no DNA evidence against this person. I never told anyone until I was in 6th grade. Nothing was and ever has been done about it until recently now that I have a witness; someone that this perpetrator also affected. Nothing can legally be done about my crime because there is no DNA. That is not fair. I wish that this law could be revised. I have testimony from a witness. That should be good enough. 

I hope the Governor of Maine, Maine Legislators, Maine Senators, and anyone else will hear me out on this topic. I hope that you can change this law so that the DNA requirement isnt the only evidence that can be used against a former minor in court. You could keep the DNA in place as a possible requirement for evidence, but also accept other forms of evidence that people could use to put their abusers away. If victims have no DNA evidence, they have no hope for justice. One cannot just convict someone because of word of mouth of course. But, for example: now that I have a witness who is willing to give a testimony, why can’t this evidence be used to try to prosecute this individual? It’s not fair that because I did not get DNA evidence, that I can’t receive justice. This individual stole my innocence and to this day I’m affected by his actions. This individual also has kids now. This individual could be molesting his own children considering how old he was when he molested me. If I win this petition, me and countless others will be able to move forward with the next steps in our case and receive the justice we deserve. We can work to end child abuse one step at a time within our communities. Thanks for your time.