New York (Washington Insider Magazine) —The State of New York has launched different fronts of struggle to put an end to sexual abuse and assault, and in order to bring justice to hundreds of victims who in the past, before these crimes gained the force that they currently have before their eyes From the authorities, New York passed a special regulation, called the Adult Survivors Act, which allowed lawsuits to be filed even when the events mentioned occurred a long time ago.
The piece of legislation helped all types of alleged victims of sexual assault, not only famous personalities such as former President Donald Trump, but ordinary people and even inmates of jails and penitentiaries, be able to file legal actions for sexual misconduct, but this Thursday , right at the end of Thanksgiving, will expire.
According to court data, the law allowed more than 2,500 lawsuits to be filed not only against individuals but also against municipal and state institutions and agencies, because it lifted the deadline to sue for alleged sexual assault.
The legislation, which was signed by the state’s governor, Kathy Hochul, last year, allowed several victims to not only have their voices and stories heard but to have some justice.
It is estimated that at least half of the complaints filed were filed by inmates who were in the custody of state or prison authorities, but after Thursday, victims of events that occurred long ago will not be able to file legal action against their alleged attackers.
Liz Roberts, executive director of Safe Horizon, said the law allowed many victims to manage their trauma and come forward to sue their attackers.
“The reason we fought so hard for this bill is because trauma takes time,” Ella Roberts said.
Although the number of lawsuits has been close to 2,500, it is estimated that the number of alleged victims is higher, as several legal actions have been filed with the law, inspired by another previous norm that allowed those who suffered abuse for two years. When they were children, they filed legal actions, they were filed on behalf of multiple people. There are precisely those who still consider that the special law for adult survivors fell short in terms of its validity period.
This is according to attorney Anthony DiPietro, who has handled hundreds of cases on behalf of alleged victims of abuse, and who stressed that the rule’s one-year period does not allow more people to bring their cases to light.
“It is completely unfair to tell a sexual abuse survivor that they have one year to physically recover from the abuse, mentally recover from the abuse, find a lawyer, share that story of abuse with a lawyer, who they don’t know, and have the lawyer come forward the case within a period of 12 months,” said the jurist.
Lawyers Susan Crumiller and Carrie Goldberg, from the organization Survivors Law Project, who presented some 24 cases, however, stated that they will try to advocate so that once the law is passed, it can be reopened for at least one more year.
“A lot of people didn’t know about this window and still don’t know about it,” Crumiller said. “Unlike other types of wrongs, sexual abuse and trauma is something that takes time to heal and it takes time for survivors to even identify what happened to them and make the decision to litigate.”
Mallory Allen, an attorney who has filed 194 lawsuits against urologist Darius Paduch, accused of abusing hundreds of male patients, lamented that the years-old time period for filing lawsuits is expiring so soon.
“I know that the news about Dr. Paduch has not reached the vast majority of his patients. And I am sure that we will hear about his patients for years to come and unfortunately we will have to tell them that the window is closed,” the lawyer said. “That is a real tragedy. I hope there will be more legal reforms.”
And regarding the impact that the end of the rule will have on victims of sexual acts in New York prisons, lawyers like Adam Slater, who has handled more than 1,200 cases, almost 500 of them occurring at Rikers Island, described sexual acts behind bars as a “generalized and systemic” problem of attacks on prisoners, which many will not be able to report.
This article is originally published on eldiariony.com
