In an op-ed published in City Limits, ECBAWM partner Debbie Greenberger and co-author Andrew Shubin of Shubin Law argue that New York State must overhaul the statute of limitations for sexual abuse “to ensure that victims, no matter their age, have continuing access to the courts.”

Although the New York Child Victims Act created a two-year “window” for civil sexual assault claims that would otherwise be time-barred, this window closes on August 14, 2021. As Ms. Greenberger and Mr. Shubin point out, because of the trauma survivors experience and the actions perpetrators and their institutional enablers purposefully take to silence victims, the average age to report childhood sexual abuse is 52 years old – far after the applicable statute of limitations before the Child Victims Act.

“Continuing legal reform is urgent to prevent the statute of limitations from offering refuge to sexual abusers and the institutions—schools, health care providers, camps, athletic, and religious organizations—who protect perpetrators who present ongoing and potent dangers,” write the authors. “Victims must be able to hold institutions accountable for facilitating and covering up their employee’s sexual abuse and for their indifference to the wellbeing, and suffering, of the children in their care.”

You can read more about the closure of the New York Child Victims Act in Insider‘s article “Lawyers are rushing to file child sexual abuse lawsuits before New York’s statute of limitations goes back into effect.“