The Boy Scouts of America recently announced that next year the annual dues for Scouts will increase by 80%. According to the Boy Scouts, the reason for the increase is the growing cost of legal settlements relating to old claims of child sexual abuse by Scout leaders who served decades in the past.

Claims from states that have carved out “windows” in their statutes of limitations have heaped bundles of lawsuits on youth organizations, churches and schools. Organizations that serve youth typically have few cash reserves, so the money to pay claims in the hundreds of millions of dollars often comes from closing programs, selling assets, and raising fees or taxes. Settlement payments do not fall from the sky; they come out of the very services which these institutions provide to our communities.

When a state opens a window in its statute of limitations law, individuals claiming sexual abuse from long in the past can sue their abusers as well as the churches, schools and organizations in which they were involved as children. In many cases, the actual abuser has long since retired or died, but as long as the organization remains, there is a target for lawsuits. A proposed amendment to the state constitution would open the statute of limitations on such claims here in Pennsylvania.

Victims of child sexual abuse rightfully demand justice. For too long the claims of the abused have been hidden, ignored and even denied. Many victims bear the effects of their past abuse into adulthood. To state legislators who do not want to be accused of siding with abusers, lifting the statute of limitations and allowing lawsuits for old claims may seem like the only means of bringing justice to victims, but the outcome of these changes in state laws should lead us to question if justice is served.

When a statute of limitations is lifted, law firms that make their living filing and settling old child sexual abuse claims flood newspapers, radio and television with advertisements encouraging those with claims to contact them. Claims are bundled into large class-action lawsuits that lawyers typically settle without a trial. Victims seldom have their day in court or the opportunity to tell their stories. The people and institutions who hid or enabled the abuse seldom publicly admit fault. Schools, youth organizations and churches seek the protection of bankruptcy in order to survive.

The process of settling old claims does not come cheap. Law firms that concentrate on representing child abuse victims generally claim 30% to 40% of the settlement. The organizations being sued must spend millions of dollars on lawyers, accountants and bankruptcy court filings. The net result is a massive transfer of money from public charities, schools and churches in our communities to lawyers, courts and other experts. Only a fraction of the total money expended goes to victims.

This discussion provokes outrage. We are outraged that the abuse of innocent children occurred and that in some cases the abusers were sheltered by churches, schools and organizations that held our trust. There is no denying that these institutions let too many children down, but their leadership and their understanding of child safety is vastly different today. Efforts to ensure a safe environment, respond quickly to accusations of abuse and maintain greater organizational transparency have made churches, schools and youth organizations of today far safer than those of the 1980s and before. Anyone who would deny this has probably not been involved in an organized youth activity for at least the last decade.

If the statutes of limitations “window” is once again approved by the House and Senate a second time, the matter will go to the voters in a referendum, and Pennsylvanians will be asked to discern where justice can truly be found in this complicated and emotionally charged debate. It is just that victims be compensated and that offenders be punished, but is opening a floodgate of lawsuits against the charitable, religious and educational organizations that serve our communities the best means to that end, particularly when so much of the money involved in filing and settling legal claims never reaches a victim?

In considering the best path to justice, the Legislature need not be limited to a referendum vote on civil lawsuits as our only choice. There are other options that can provide compensation for victims and restore the institutions on which our communities rely. Pennsylvania can be the example of how to bring about justice through healing, but that will never happen if we limit our options by opening the statute of limitations and callously telling victims that their sole remedy lies in the courts. These lawsuits damage our communities. Put simply, what justice comes when a young Boy Scout of today must pay for the long-ago actions of adults he never met?

Paul Schemel is a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives representing a portion of Franklin County.

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