Survivors describe harm that pushed lawmakers to change the law

At the State House ceremony, three survivors gave personal statements about how the prior law failed them and why the new statute matters. Caitlin Scammon said she approached Representative Adam Scanlon more than five years ago to seek a legislative change so DNA evidence could allow prosecutions even decades later. "When DNA identifies a perpetrator, justice should still have a chance," she said.

Hillary Simon described being groomed at 15 and said the old law "treated me as though I could consent to the man who had power over me." Melissa Farris named a former teacher, saying she was raped in a classroom closet at 17 and called the law change a closure of a loophole that had failed children. Each survivor thanked advocates and lawmakers who supported the bill, and speakers at the ceremony credited survivors' persistent public testimony for getting the measure over the finish line.

Organizers and legislators framed the survivors' accounts as the central moral force behind the multi-year effort. Senator Joan Lovely said the law "belongs to all of you" and highlighted years of committee testimony, while Representative John Long and other lawmakers repeatedly thanked survivors for sharing painful experiences that shifted legislative will.

The transcript captures detailed personal allegations made at the event; this article reports those statements as testimony from the named speakers. The signing and the survivors' statements were presented as part of a public ceremony; no courtroom findings or trial outcomes related to the named allegations were included in the transcript.