URGENT WE NEED ONE MINUTE OF YOUR TIME TO SAVE THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL ABUSE

URGENT ACTION NEEDED NOW. PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT AND WRITE TO GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO TO SUPPORT 'THE CHILD VICTIMS ACT 'AND HELP SAVE OUR CHILDREN FROM ABUSE

 

                                                          GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO

NOW IS  THE TIME TO GET THE STATUE OF LIMITATIONS EXTENDED  100,000 PETITIONS NEEDED

WE NOW HAVE THE MOMENTUM TO GET THIS HISTORIC BILL PASSED.THE PENN STATE SCANDAL HAS SHOCKED OUR NATION.LIMITING PROSECUTION TILL THE AGE  OF 23 IS UNACCEPTABLE TO THE COMMUNITY  AND PUTS ALL OF OUR CHILDREN AT RISK OF SEXUAL ABUSE 

                                        

    Please share this news report with all our friends and supporters.

To sign an on line petition to support the CVA legislation go to                  www.nychildvictimsact.org  OR CALL THE VOICE OF JUSTICE AT 1 800 621 8551

For information about CVA Lobby Day in Albany and how you can get involved to help, contact the New York Coalition to Protect Children at NYProtectChildren@gmail.com   

The Child Victims Act and why we need it.  The Child Victims Act attacks childhood sexual abuse on several fronts. It will expose predators, protect vulnerable children, and help victims. It will make two significant changes to the statutes of limitation for child sexual abuse in New York: An Extension: The Act extends to age 28 the limitation for a victim to bring a claim.   Currently a victim must bring a claim by the age of 23, and rarely are victims strong enough to come forth so soon into adulthood. A Window: The Act creates a one-year, one time suspension of the current statute of limitations. During this period, adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse may sue the abuser as well as anyone who protected or covered up for the predator—even if the statute of limitations has already expired. The threat is greater than we think. Predators do not commit a single crime against a single child. They move on to additional generations. Sometimes they infiltrate a family. On average a sexual predator commits over 300 acts on over 100 children in a lifetime. In New York State, there are over 26,000 known convicted predators on a state registry. Given the low rate of reports on abuse to law enforcement, we can only imagine the number of predators still free and the children currently in danger. How justice has been denied.Childhood sexual abuse is by its nature secret. The abuse is often the end result of a grooming process through which the predators pressures the victim to keep the abuse secret or carefully select victims whom the predator believes will not tell others about the abuse. The predator is usually in a position of power—parent, priest, teacher, etc.--and has power to enforce silence. It's not until the child has gone well into adulthood is he or she able to recover strength and move out from under the sway of the predator. By then the statute of limitations most likely has expired. This leaves the victim frustrated, weakened, and without hope. What is wrong with the current law?The time period currently allowed by New York law is so short that it ensures that most predators are not caught, and are not held accountable for their crimes. Predators have an opportunity to “run out the clock” while the victim and family may suffer for a lifetime. The law also does not reflect current knowledge in the mental health profession, where it is widely understood that victims, with all their trauma, do not have the strength to come forth publicly with their claims until they are well into adulthood. By then, the current limitation has often expired. When predators are not held accountable, they are more likely to continue to sexually abuse other children. The window offers an opportunity for justice to those who were denied their day in court because of the current short statute of limitations. Equally important, it offers justice to those who were denied in previous years when little was known about the scope of child sexual abuse, and when predators and insensitive institutions could more readily intimidate and silence victims. What about criminal prosecution?Most child molesters are not prosecuted in criminal court because their victims are too young and confused to realize they are being harmed by an abuser, and most predators can successfully silence victims through intimidation. By the time the victims are old enough and strong enough to testify in court, the criminal statute of limitations has expired, and a civil suit is the only option. The Child Victims Act, however, can be helpful in putting predators behind bars. First, it can help simply by exposing a predator who is still abusing within the statute of limitations. Second, once a predator is exposed, other victims often come forward. Third, as civil cases proceed in the discovery process, new information that comes to light may be sufficient for prosecutors to bring indictments.			Victims in Law    by Margaret Markey and Marci Hamilton “...New York law, as currently structured, favors child predators over their victims.... It does so by arbitrarily setting the statute of limitations so that survivors are locked out of the courthouse. Survivors typically need decades to come forward but, in New York, the statute of limitations is unduly complicated and short. Since the survivors cannot get their claims into the legal system, their predators are not named to the public and, therefore, can continue to operate under the cloak of anonymity. That is precisely what they do, into old age.”--Assemblywoman Margaret Markey and Marci Hamilton, who holds the Paul R. Verkull Chair in Public Law at Yeshiva University's Cardoza School of Law. Read more.
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