The beatification of Pope John Paul II
in Vatican City has caused much fanfare around the globe, yet for many
people it stirred painful memories of the clergy sex abuse scandal that
occurred under his leadership.
Child sex abuse is not limited to the Catholic Church or to any other organized religion.
A child or teenager can be molested by any adult in a position of authority or trust.
It
is also true that those molested at an early age do not come to terms
with what has happened to them until much later in life.
I have spoken
to many survivors and the pattern of delayed reaction, and pain, is
always the same.
In the case of institutional sexual abuse, the pain is
magnified when it becomes clear that officials knew about the proclivity
of abusers and did nothing.
Survivors deserve justice. Because
transparency so rarely occurs voluntarily, the criminal and civil
justice systems are the only way to seek relief. Tragically, New York is
one of the worst places in the United States for sexual abuse survivors
seeking justice.
New York relies on an antiquated statute of
limitations.
As a result, many abusers escape conviction unless they
went across state lines to abuse a child in a state with a rational
state of limitations.
The conviction of New York priest Gary Mercure in
Massachusetts is a recent example.
It is too late to prosecute
abusers who ran out the statute of limitations clock in New York.
The
only hope for justice lies in New York's civil courts.
Regrettably,
an abused child only has to the age of 21 to bring a lawsuit. Yet most
survivors don't come to terms with their abuse until decades later, according to Marci Hamilton of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
In
2002, California, facing a similar problem, enacted a one-year window
allowing time-barred survivors the ability to file a lawsuit.
These
lawsuits are not solely about money.
A lawsuit allows a survivor to
review documents that show what institutions knew about an abuser and
when they knew it -- a discovery process that is validating
and powerful.
The window works.
In jurisdictions that have created
a retroactive window, the Catholic Church has quickly entered into a
closed settlement agreement with survivors to prevent records from being
disclosed.
In New York, no settlements are offered because institutions
are protected from document disclosure and the sunlight of the courts.
The
church also uses bankruptcy as a tool.
Bankruptcy is not caused by
damages paid to victims. This is a common misconception.
Bankruptcy is
declared to delay or avoid disclosure and prevent fair payment of
economic damages.
Since 2003, I have introduced legislation in the
state Senate that would create a one-year window for time-barred
survivors of sexual abuse.
It ensures that both private and public
entities are subject to the same liability. Church and state, religious
and secular, public and private are all treated equally under
my legislation.
The legislation is aggressively lobbied against by
many of the powerful institutions it would affect and has never made it
to the Senate floor for a vote.
Lobbyists hired to fight this
legislation are like a who's who of the most connected in Albany.
Survivors feel betrayed by officials who care more about appeasing
powerful and well-funded interests than creating a path to justice.
It is time the Senate and Assembly pass this legislation to provide relief to survivors and make our communities safer.