Editorial: Time is running out to help abuse victims

Times Herald-Record
June 10, 2018

http://www.recordonline.com/opinion/20180610/editorial-time-is-running-out--to-help-abuse-victims

With only days left in this legislative session, the Republican majority in the state Senate seems determined to acknowledge the plight of young victims of sexual abuse only if it can protect those who are responsible.

That’s quite a trick, but it is at the heart of the GOP alternative to the Child Victims Act which has repeatedly passed the Assembly, which has Democratic support but lacks the vote of even one Republican including those retiring at the end of this term who could go out with this humane accomplishment as part of their legacy.

The background is complex but clear. New York is one of a few states that makes it very hard for those subject to sexual abuse as youngsters to bring their assailants to justice. A package of laws awaiting a vote in the Senate would give those victims more time to lodge complaints, would allow more time for those abused in the future and, most important and contentious of all, would establish a one-year period in which anybody who was abused could bring the case to court.

There are reasons other states have passed similar laws. It is well-known that when children are abused, their abusers often are people in authority who inflict trauma that takes many years to overcome. State laws already have recognized the need to do away with statutes of limitation in other serious crimes and in the case of child victims of sexual abuse, a limit would still remain after the one-year period had ended.

The most common talking point concerning the Child Victims Act and the one-year window is that it would create an “evidentiary nightmare,” a difficulty brought about because as time elapses, memories fade and witnesses may not be available.

But the proposed alternative that Senate Republicans are advancing through committees also contains that risk. Instead of having cases heard in court, they would be heard by a special claims administrator with rules yet to be written concerning evidence and witnesses.

In other words, they prefer to create their own court-like setting with vaguely defined rules and regulations rather than rely on the courts we already entrust with other criminal matters.

Worse yet, they would pay any victim who manages to make it through this procedure from state asset forfeiture funds, among other state money.

In other words, if a victim was able to prove that a priest had abused him, the church would not pay but the state would.

The senators are transparent in their hypocrisy, casting aside worries about evidentiary nightmares as long as the institutions fighting this law, including the Catholic Church the Boy Scouts and the insurance industry, do not have to pay.

Victims and their supporters are camping out in Albany these days hoping that they can find at least one Republican senator who sees this for what it is and who will finally break through the wall erected by skilled lobbyists and give victims the chance they deserve to get justice.

If Sen. John Bonacic or Bill Larkin want to put an exclamation point on their long legislative careers, now is the time.