The Child Victims Act has empowered New York’s victims and educated the public. In the last twenty years, brave individuals and reporters have exposed the worldwide epidemic of child sexual abuse. We now know that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 13 boys are sexually abused before they turn 18 years-old.
Sexual abuse has life-long, traumatic impacts on victims, and it often takes decades for victims to realize or understand they were abused and to take action. Many victims never come forward, and when they do, it has been too late to access justice because of the statutes of limitations. In fact, the average age of disclosure is 52 years-old. Statutes of limitations (SOLs) set the deadline for pressing criminal charges or filing a civil lawsuit for child sex abuse.
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