In a lot of these cases, the "original offense" may have taken place a long time ago (as though that's supposed to make some difference) but how about when the abuse also WENT ON for years too? It's an irrelevant point to even bring up, much less try to use as a mitigating factor. The abused kids who later committed suicide over it - and don't kid yourself there weren't any - stay dead. Yep, even twenty whole years later. Still dead.