- Jun 20, 2014
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If the victim is a minor, they don't have a choice. At least they didn't back in 1988, when I went through it.
I am glad you were able to restore a relationship with your brother.
Unless I'm mistaken all licensed therapists, psychiatrists, teachers, and doctors are still mandated reporters of child abuse in every state in America. It's one of many reasons the Duggar parents have been criticized for their claim they'd obtained appropriate counseling and treatment for Josh and his victims, because if they had taken him and the girls to physicians and professional counselors, those people would have been required by law to report him. Law enforcement officers are also mandated reporters, but the state trooper the Duggars presented Josh to for a "very stern talk" in 2003 - a full year after the alleged abuse occurred - was a personal family friend who apparently failed to fulfill his legal obligation to report the abuse because no other police action was taken at that time. Despite this, that conversation still constituted a "confession to law enforcement" and the clock on the statute of limitations began to tick. It was that police officer's probable (it can't be confirmed due to privacy laws) dereliction of duty that ultimately led to it being impossible to file charges against Josh.
In 2006 when the family was interviewed by law enforcement after tips regarding the allegations had been received, it would have been possible to prosecute Josh for the offenses that he’d allegedly committed against his sisters and another child in 2002 if the 2003 "confession" hadn't been made. Arkansas has an extended statute of limitations on sex crimes against minors, but it only applies in cases where the abuse has never been reported to law enforcement.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/may/23/silence-led-to-no-case-for-duggar-20150/
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