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AUTHOR of ‘great Is the Truth’ Decries New York’s Weak Statute of Limitations, Which Allowed Horace Mann to Cover up Sexual Abuse

By Michael O'keeffe
New York Daily News
November 3, 2015

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/horace-mann-author-rips-satute-limitations-sex-abuse-article-1.2422067

There are plenty of bad guys in Amos Kamil's powerful and disturbing new book on the Horace Mann sexual-abuse scandal, "Great is the Truth."

There are the coaches, teachers and administrators accused of raping and assaulting scores of students for three decades, men such as baseball coach/headmaster Inky Clark, football coach Mark Wright and swimming coach Stanley Kops. There are also the officials at the prestigious Riverdale prep school who allegedly ignored and covered up complaints of abuse, leaders such as former headmaster Eileen Mullady and ex-Board of Trustees chairman Michael Hess, the powerhouse New York attorney and a close associate of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Then there are the unnamed villains: The New York legislators and policy makers who have refused to reform the stingy statute of limitations that makes it almost impossible for adult survivors of abuse to pursue criminal charges and civil litigation in the Empire State against sexual predators and the institutions that protect them.

"It's a joke," says Kamil, the playwright, investigative journalist and 1982 Horace Mann graduate whose 2012 New York Times Magazine article shoved Horace Mann's sex-abuse scandal into the public spotlight. "It's an arcane law that needs to change. The fact that New York does not have the political will to change this is sickening. Where is Gov. Cuomo on this?"

The most important — and infuriating — chapters of "Great is the Truth," which Kamil co-authored with Sean Elder, follow the aftermath of Kamil's 8,700-word Times magazine article, when dozens of survivors band together to seek justice and acknowledgment of the horrifying abuse they endured.

The survivors and their supporters' demands included an independent investigation that would look into how nearly two dozen faculty members were able to rape and assault more than 60 students over three decades, as well as assistance and compensation for the sexual abuse survivors, some of whom struggled with depression and other emotional damage years after they left the Bronx prep school.

The survivors also urged the school to lobby New York lawmakers to change the statute of limitations so victims of sexual abuse could seek redress in the courts. But why would Horace Mann officials work to reform the statute of limitations when it shielded them from liability and allowed them to low-ball victims during negotiations over compensation?

Victim advocates say New York is one of the worst states in the nation for survivors of childhood sexual abuse because of its stringent statute of limitations. As Kamil points out in "Great is the Truth," there are not statutes of limitations for murder, kidnapping or even fraud.

"But in New York at least," he writes, "sexual abusers of children get a free pass after the victim turns 23."

In New York, victims have only five years from the time their abuse is reported to police, or until they turn 23 years old — whatever comes first — to file a lawsuit against their abusers and institutions that employed them. The law, victim advocates say, encourages churches, schools and other institutions linked to sex abuse to remain silent to escape legal liability.

For administrators who fear how a sex-abuse scandal will impact their schools' reputation and fund-raising efforts, New York's statute of limitations provides a "playbook" on how to cover up sexual abuse, attorney Kevin Mulhearn told Kamil and Elder.

The New York statute of limitations discourages schools and organizations from taking steps to make victims whole and prevent future abuse, says Mulhearn, who represented sex abuse victims from Horace Mann, Poly Prep and Yeshiva University High School. It encourages institutions to do nothing until the statute of limitations runs out — which happens all too frequently.

"The young victim is expected to share their shame with an adult and in many cases go above their abuser's head or to the police in order to pursue justice," Mulhearn says in "Great is the Truth.”

"That's a tall order for any minor but almost unfathomable for someone who just had their world and confidence shaken, their sexuality called into question, and their trust in both teacher and school pulled from them," Mulhearn adds.

State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey has been working since the 2006-2007 legislative session to reform the SOL. The Queens Democrat's Child Victims Act would allow victims to report crimes until they reach the age of 28. It would also open a one-year window for victims previously stifled by the SOL to file civil lawsuits.

As Kamil points out, the bill has passed the Assembly but not the State Senate, in part due to stiff opposition from the Catholic Church and Orthodox Jewish groups who fear an onslaught of lawsuits if Markey's bill passes. Advocates for sexual abuse victims privately speculate that Cuomo has remained silent on the issue because he is afraid to further rile the church and conservatives after he signed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in 2011.

"Someone needs to stand up to these powerful forces opposing this bill," Kamil says. "I point the finger at Gov. Cuomo."

There were some leaders within the Horace Mann community that hoped to take a compassionate approach to the survivors' demands — they wanted the school to acknowledge the abuse, investigate and report on how it went unchecked for so long, provide compensation to make the victims whole and make the Riverdale school a role model in how institutions handle sexual abuse allegations. But the school ultimately chose a get-tough path endorsed by hedge fund honcho and board chairman Steven Friedman. Shielded by New York's statute of limitations, Horace Mann officials played hardball with victims, offering them a fraction of what they thought they deserved while refusing to investigate decades of abuse. Many survivors called it the 'retraumatization."

According to "Great is the Truth," Poly Prep paid nearly $10 million to 12 survivors, while Penn State paid almost $60 million to 26 victims of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Horace Mann paid survivors of its abuse scandal between $4 million and $5 million. "It was shocking to those of us who thought they would come from a more compassionate place," Kamil says.

Kamil says Horace Mann's tough-guy approach reflects the trustees' career paths. Many have made fortunes on Wall Street or in real estate and they approach the negotiations hoping to give as little as possible and get as much as they can. It is not the kind of approach that makes victims feel whole or healed.

But Kamil warns that it's dangerous to generalize. "Great is the Truth" notes that there were many billionaires who expressed disgust at Horace Mann's clumsy attempts to brush off the sex scandal that will haunt it for decades to come.

"Not everyone with money," Kamil says, "is an a--hole."

 

 

 

 

 




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