This petition was submitted during the 2017-2019 parliament
Rejected petition Make historical physical and emotional child abuse a criminal offence
Historical Physical child abuse can not be put forward as a crime. A perpertrator can only be convicted of assaults taken place in the last 6 month of an assault happening. This leaves victims traumatised and vulnerable and allows perpertrators to hide away from history of abusing their victims.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
Petitions need to call on the Government or Parliament to take a specific action.
People can be prosecuted for historical child abuse. The six month time limit you refer to only applies to "summary only offences", such as common assault. It does not apply to "either way offences" or "indictable offences" such as more serious forms of physical assault and the child sex offences set out in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, or the child cruelty offence under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.
We're therefore not sure what further action you want the UK Government or Parliament to take.
You could start a new petition explaining clearly what you would like the Government or Parliament to do.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.