It’s been a year since the State Department of Justice started an effort to find victims of clergy and faith leader abuse in Wisconsin.
Attorney General Josh Kaul says the state has started charges against one person, but that a lot of cases are outside the statute of limitations.
“Certainly, if we get information that can lead to a prosecution, we’re going to work with local law enforcement to pursue that. But we also want to provide victim services and support to individuals, many of whom, again, had never come forward.”
Kaul says he’s pleased with the progress that’s been made so far, and that his office has been working hard to get services to victims, 51 of whom had never reported their abuse before.
“First and foremost identify as many people as possible, who committed abuse. And then secondly, so we can move the healing process forward and hope and work to prevent this from ever happening again.”
Kaul says that continuing this process and giving victims a chance to come forward will allow the Justice Department to better do its job of protecting young people.