Editorial: Do the right thing, Senator Phillips

The Island Now

New York currently gives child sex-abuse victims until age 23 to file criminal charges for offenses that don’t include the top felony rape charges, and until age 21 to file civil claims against institutions.

The average age at which child sex-abuse victims report their abuse is 42 – 19 years after the statute of limitations expires for criminal charges.

This places New York among the states with the least victim-friendly reporting laws in the country, ignoring the reality that victims of pedophilia often need decades to come to grips with the effects of their trauma.

It also gives hundreds if not thousands of sexual predators, and those who may have enabled them, a get-out-of-jail-free card.

The solution to this outrage has been before the state Legislature for more than a decade in the form of the Child Victims Act.

The legislation would extend the statute of limitations to age 50 in civil cases, and to age 28 in criminal cases. It would also establish a one-year window in which anyone would be permitted to bring a lawsuit, even if the statute of limitations had expired.

Public support for the legislation crosses political and geographic lines, including 77 percent of both Republicans and Catholics.

The bill also enjoys widespread and bipartisan support in Albany, where in 2017 it passed the state Assembly for the fifth time, this time by a vote of 139-7, and from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

So why hasn’t the legislation been approved? One person.

State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, a Republican, has refused to let the bill come to the floor for a vote.

Flanagan is not without support.

Opponents that include the Catholic Church, Orthodox Jewish groups and the Boy Scouts of America express concerns with the one-year window. They say the window would cause a wave of claims that could drive churches, schools and hospitals into bankruptcy.

This is a strange argument in that the opponents are tacitly admitting a likelihood that many sex crimes against children have not been reported. And should not be reported.

There are also two problems with the argument.

The first is that the opponents’ fears of a lawsuit are unfounded. The many states that have provided a one-year window have not seen a flood of legal actions.

In Minnesota, which created a three-year window for a population a little more than a quarter of New York’s, just under 1,000 civil claims have been filed. With a population almost twice New York’s, California saw just 1,150 cases filed in the one-year window it granted.

The second problem with the opponents’ argument of financial liability is that it is irrelevant.

This is a too-big-to-fail argument for sex crimes. We should not place the financial concerns of institutions that might harbor sexual predators over bringing justice to their victims. If an institution harbored sexual predators, it should pay the price just the same as any other criminal.

New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators, a victims-rights advocacy group, has in recent months launched a campaign in the home districts of Republican state senators, including Elaine Phillips, urging them to state their position on the Child Victims Act.

Phillips was twice asked about her position in recent months and twice gave the same carefully crafted statement: “It is time the Legislature works to find solutions to support those who have been abused. Recognizing that most children do not disclose the abuse until they are much older, we need to lengthen the statute of limitations to protect any future victims.”

Unsaid was her position on the Child Victims Act, the one-year window, punishment for past crimes and whether she supported allowing a vote on the Child Victims Act in the Senate.

Cuomo recently gave supporters of the legislation a large boost when he included the Child Victims Act in his proposed 2018 state budget. And the #MeToo movement has helped many people recognize how painful and risky it is for victims of sexual harassment or assault to speak out when they are adults.

The question is what Republican state senators like Phillips will do.

The former Flower Hill mayor faces an election year at a time that the political winds are blowing against Republicans, particularly in blue states like New York.

And Flanagan and the Republican leadership have many tools to punish those in their caucus who do not support the leadership. Campaign funds, committee assignments and millions of dollars in money to spend on groups in their district are among the many ways legislative leaders can control members.

On the other hand, there are children, victims of sexual assaults whose attackers remain free.

Phillips and other Republican legislators could publicly endorse the Child Victims Act.

They could also call for the removal of Flanagan or any other Republican leader who refuses to allow the legislation to come to a vote.

And, if the legislation comes to the floor of the Senate, they could vote for it. Or, in this case, a budget that includes it.

Every elected official talks about his or her love of children.

The question is whether Phillips and others in her caucus would risk their positions to defend these children.

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