Pennsylvania soon could pass a bill nicknamed “Karen’s Law,” which would limit the parole eligibility of criminals convicted of violent sexual assault.

Currently, sexual predators are allowed to go before a parole board once a year after they have completed serving their minimum sentence. Even if the parole board has deemed a criminal unfit to return to society, the criminal has a right to a parole hearing every year.

Pennsylvania’s Senate Judiciary Committee passed Karen’s Law, which is Senate Bill 123, proposed by Sen. John Sabatina, D-Philadelphia.

Sen. Sabatina told CBS local affiliate 21 News, “Senate Bill 123 will allow the Board of Probation and Parole to extend the waiting time for inmates charged with sexually violent crimes from one year to three years, helping decrease the revictimization survivors face year after year under the current parole process.”

In addition to Karen’s law, survivors are also calling for an end to statutes of limitations on sex abuse claims.

Sexual Assault Survivors Dread Reliving Nightmare

Karen’s sexual assault attacker has been eligible for parole since 2009. Every year, she says she has to re-live the horrifying ordeal that nearly left her dead when she was only 16 years old.

She details the relationship she had had with her attacker and the way he ended up leaving her for dead after sexually assaulting her in an interview published by True Crime Daily.

Karen, 13 at the time, said she began dating 17-year-old Leonard Tilton. They broke up when Karen was 15 years old, in part, Karen says, because Leonard was explosively jealous whenever she wanted to hang out with anyone else, even girlfriends, instead of with him.

She said he seemed to take the breakup in stride, and Karen began dating someone else soon after.

Despite his seemingly cool exterior, though, Karen said Leonard began exhibiting troubling behaviors. Karen said Lenoard started calling and hanging up to the point Karen’s mother had their home phone number changed.

Karen said he also lied about moving to California because he stayed in town the entire time and followed Karen home from school a couple of times.

She said one visit to her home, he allegedly told her, “I could kill you, because nobody knows that I’m here.”

Karen claims she was able to make him leave, but felt for sure he was serious about his threat. Still, she said she ignored her gut instinct, and Leonard returned a few days later.

Karen said Leonard barged in the house when she barely opened the door, and he refused to leave. Scared, Karen said she called her grandmother, who lived a few doors down. Her grandmother searched the house and couldn’t find anyone, so the grandma left and Karen fell asleep on her bed. Karen said she remembers she awoke to Leonard stroking her feet under the covers.

Karen said Leonard beat her, raped her, and strangled her to the point he lifted her over his head by the neck. She said he stabbed her in the chest and shoved her under the bed to die. She said she heard him start to leave, but when he heard her cry for help, he allegedly went back, grabbed her by the face and told her to let herself die.

Karen survived the attack even though deep knife wounds cut within one inch of her heart.

Karen said Leonard told her that he was going to jump off a local bridge to kill himself. She told this to police, who found him before he jumped, allegedly gripping a photo of Karen as he stood at the edge of the bridge’s ledge.

Karen said to this day, Leonard continues to write letters to her, which allegedly say he loves her and that he’s going to commit suicide.

Having to face her sexual assaulter every single year at a parole hearing is “a constant torment,” Karen told Harrisburg ABC affiliate 27 News. The law named for her would extend the time to three years instead of annual probation eligibility reviews.

Sadly, sex abuse claims are common, with allegations being lodged against corrections officers, MLB players, doctors, and even daycare workers. Reforms to sexual abuse laws, like Karen’s law, may help protect and provide justice for survivors.

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