NEW YORK
Post-Journal
KATRINA FULLER
County Reporter
kfuller@post-journal.com
The Child Victims Act has not passed this year — but the question remains, what happens next?
The bill was included inside a New York State Assembly budget proposal this year, but was not included in the final spending plan.
Currently, victims of child sex abuse in New York state can only seek civil penalties against their abusers until the age of 18. The Child Victims Act, which aims to extend that age to 50, would also open a “look-back” period of a year for those who were abused at any time. Despite originally being included with the state budget this year, it was removed before the budget passed late last week.
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, bringing awareness to a topic that is usually hidden in the shadows.
However, statistics on child sexual abuse are staggering — the numbers show that one in 10 children will be sexually abused in the county before the age of 18. Ninety percent of the victims will know their perpetrator and 30-40 percent will be related.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.