NEW YORK
Auburn Citizen
The state Senate has again failed the people of New York by refusing to follow the Assembly in approving legislation extending the statute of limitations on civil suits in cases of child sexual abuse.
Changing the rules would add five years to the allowable time people could sue individuals — and entities such as schools and churches — for abuse they suffered as a minor. It would also open a one-time window for people to sue over wrongs committed decades ago.
Statues of limitations, in most cases, make good sense. Nobody should live in fear of being sued over a 30-year-old car accident or a disputed real estate deal.
But we’ve learned that young victims of sexual abuse are often scared, confused or otherwise unprepared to talk about what happened to them for many years, if they come forward at all. And the psychological trauma has shown to be long-term, so it just isn’t fair to have such a short period of time in which to hold abusers accountable.
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