Sex-abuse Survivor, Avenel Resident Awarded for Victims" Advocacy

By Brian Amaral
NJ.com
April 14, 2014

http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2014/04/sex-abuse_survivor_avenel_resident_awarded_for_victims_advocacy.html

Photo provided by the office of state Sen. Joseph Vitale. Pictured: Linda Burkett, Mark Crawford, Romesh Sukhdeo, Acting Attorney General John Jay Hoffman, Barbara Carter, Kathy Friess, Elie Honig.

Mark Crawford, a resident of Avenel, was honored last week by the state attorney general for his work advocating for victims of sexual abuse.

Crawford, the state director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, was selected for the first-ever Ronald W. Reagan award by acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman.

"Because of Mark's efforts, many individuals, after living in years of silence and shame, learned of the predators' crimes and came forward themselves, finally getting help and holding their offender accountable," state Sen. Joseph Vitale, who represents Woodbridge and nominated Crawford for the award, said in a news release today.

When he was a child, Crawford was abused by his parish priest. Since 1987, he's been advocating for victims of sex abuse, helping reform the state's charitable immunity laws and visiting the White House in 2010 to discuss sexual violence, according to Vitale.

Crawford and Vitale are now working eliminating the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse, Vitale said. Such rules prevent prosecutions or lawsuits for certain crimes after a number of years have passed, but some crimes don't have statutes of limitations. The law currently gives victims of child sex abuse two years to sue after linking the crime to other problems, like addiction, divorce and depression, according to The Star-Ledger.