Weprin educates Queens residents on landmark Child Victims Act

Assemblymember David Weprin speaks about the Child Victims Act at the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Queens. Photos courtesy of David Weprin’s office.

By Victoria Merlino

Assemblymember David Weprin hosted an informational meeting on Wednesday to educate Queen residents about the Child Victims Act, which increases the statute of limitations that those sexually abused as children can seek criminal or civil charges for their abuser. 

“It is my hope that local community members will be able to use the information from this seminar to seek justice for themselves or help others in their community seek justice,” Weprin said in a statement. “The Child Victims Act is a historic victory for child sex abuse survivors and we need to make sure that people know how to use it to hold their victimizers accountable.”

The legislation increases the statute of limitations on criminal cases from age 23 to 28, and on civil from age 23 to 55. It also enacts a year-long “look back” period on Aug. 14, where survivors of child sexual abuse can sue their abusers or the institutions that enabled them, regardless of when the crime was committed. 

New York state’s statute of limitations around the sexual abuse of children was until recently one of the least forgiving in the nation, with most other states allowing for much longer limits, or no limits at all.

The bill, which kicked around Albany for 13 years before being passed, was co-prime sponsored by Weprin since 2015. Former Queens Assemblymember Margaret Markey was a longtime advocate for the measure.

“Because of this work, under the Child Victims Act, survivors of child sexual abuse can now seek justice and hold predators and the institutions that covered for them accountable for decades of abuse,” Jeffery Dion, executive director of the Zero Abuse Project, said in a statement. 

“Moving forward, the new law also removes the perverse incentives for institutions to cover abuse as they can no longer just wait out a short statute of limitations to protect their reputation. The Child Victims Act is in fact our most powerful tool to stop abuse and protect kids,” he continued.