Safe Horizon CEO Liz Roberts alongside advocates from partner organizations to urge lawmakers to pass the Adult Survivors Act (ASA) which would help expand pathways to justice for adult survivors of sexual assault
June 4, 2021
Excerpt:
NEW YORK-(readMedia)- On Friday, Safe Horizon, survivors and lawmakers called on Speaker Heastie to pass the Adult Survivors Act before the legislative session ends next week. Lawmakers have only four session days left to pass the bill. The Sexual Harassment Working Group, Model Alliance, and other advocates joined to rally for legislators to open a lookback window to time-barred survivors who were over the age of 18 at the time of their abuse. The Adult Survivors Act is based on the Child Victims Act.
The bill passed the Senate yesterday with bipartisan support of 62 votes.
WATCH HERE.
Safe Horizon launched a PSA in support of the Adult Survivors Act last month, available to watch here.
“We work with survivors of sexual assault every single day and know first-hand that it is only very recently that our laws have begun to catch up with the realities of trauma. Because of that, too many survivors were denied the chance to seek justice in the courts. Passage of the Adult Survivors Act will finally give these survivors an important path to justice and healing,” said Liz Roberts, CEO, Safe Horizon.
“Safe Horizon is extremely grateful for the leadership of Senator Brad Hoylman in advancing the Adult Survivors Act, a bill to create a one-year civil window for time-barred individuals who were sexually assaulted as adults. Over the last two years, the legislature has recognized that New York’s statutes of limitations for survivors of sexual violence were not aligned with how survivors process trauma. By passing the Child Victims Act and the prospective extension of the civil and criminal statute of limitations for most felony sex offenses, the legislature made New York’s laws more reflective of survivors’ experiences. The Adult Survivor Act would expand pathways to justice for the one category of survivors currently left out by these reforms. We thank Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and every member of the Senate who voted for this bill, and we urge the Assembly to pass the ASA, sponsored by M/A Linda B. Rosenthal, immediately,” said Michael Polenberg, VP of Government Affairs for Safe Horizon.
“People with disabilities have experienced abuse by doctors or therapists. They have been silent because they needed treatment and had a limited number of practitioners available to them. They feared rejection and retaliation by the practitioners they turned to for help. The Adult Survivors Act provides an extension of the statute of limitation. This allows more time to process the ordeal and overcome fears of coming forward. We are grateful for the Senate’s leadership on this issue and ask the Assembly to also move the bill to the floor for a vote,” said Center for the Independence of the Disabled Executive Director Susan Dooha.
“The Downstate Coalition for Crime Victims, a consortium of over 100 survivors, service providers, advocates, prosecutors, law enforcement and government agencies from NYC, Long Island, and Westchester & Rockland Counties, is grateful to Sen. Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Senator Brad Hoylman, and their colleagues for voting to pass the Adult Survivors Act. This bill will create a one-year lookback period to allow time-barred individuals who were sexually assaulted as adults to sue their abuser and, where applicable, a negligent institution, in civil court. We know the ways that trauma resulting from sexual violence can delay when a survivor discloses an assault, and we thank the Senate for voting to create expanded paths to civil justice, no matter how long ago the assault took place. We urge Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to immediately move this important bill forward before session ends,” said Downstate Coalition co-chairs Anne Patterson & Michael Polenberg.
About the Adult Survivors Act (ASA)
The ASA – (A.648 Rosenthal/S.66 Hoylman) – is the next important step that the New York State legislature must take to reform the State’s long-outdated statute of limitations for survivors of sexual violence. Modeled on the Child Victims Act, the ASA would provide a one-year lookback window to survivors who were abused when they were 18 years old or over. If passed, adult survivors would have one year in which to file a civil claim — no matter how long ago the abuse happened — even if the statute of limitations has expired.
Recognizing that the constrained time limits in NY’s statutes were not in line with what experts understand about trauma, the legislature in 2019 passed the CVA, which has allowed over 5,000 survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits to date. That same year, the Legislature extended the civil and criminal statute of limitations for several felony offenses — including extending the civil statute of limitations for Rape in the second and third degrees prospectively up to 20 years. However, the law does not apply retroactively, meaning that certain survivors who were abused prior to 2019, still have only between 1-5 years to file a civil lawsuit.
The ASA applies to Article 130 crimes, including Rape 2 and 3, criminal sex acts, among others and incest offenses in Section 255. Just like the Child Victims Act, the ASA would also waive the 90 day notice of claim requirement to bring a case against a public institution.
According to the science of trauma, it can take survivors years — even decades — to process sexual abuse. When those survivors are ready to come forward, it may be too late due to restrictive statute of limitations on sex crimes. For some survivors who may have reported within the statute of limitation, but failed to get a resolution in the criminal justice system the ASA provides a further pathway to justice.
The ASA will create new paths to justice for survivors who were denied access to our courts because of an artificially narrow statute of limitations. The bill will give all survivors, including people who were formerly incarcerated, individuals abused by an intimate partner, and disabled survivors, a much needed chance to hold their abusers accountable.