GARDEN CITY (NY)
L.I. Herald
October 25, 2018
More and more survivors of sexual abuse are sharing their horror stories, often decades after they were molested or raped, or both. In the past, their stories were often covered up. Today, however, their pain and suffering are increasingly being recognized, including by the institutions responsible for the abuse.
The Democratic-led State Assembly has drafted and passed legislation, known as the Child Victims Act, which would make it easier for abuse victims to file lawsuits and seek criminal charges against perpetrators. The Republican-led State Senate, though, is yet to pass a companion bill. It should.
Current law gives abuse victims the option to file civil cases or seek criminal charges until age 23. Under the act, victims could file civil suits up to age 50 and seek criminal charges until they are 28. The bill would also allow a one-year window for older victims to file suits for alleged abuse now blocked by the state’s statute of limitations.
The issue has been thrown into the spotlight in recent months, with new cases of sexual abuse by members of the clergy surfacing with increased regularity. The Boston Globe’s series of stories in 2002 detailing the allegations against hundreds of predator priests no longer stands alone as a chronicle of widespread abuse.
The Pennsylvania attorney general released a grand jury report in August that identified more than 300 priests in six Pennsylvania dioceses accused of molesting a thousand children, and detailed a subsequent alleged cover-up by other clergy members.
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