Failing child abuse victims

Another legislative session is about to close with justice denied countless New Yorkers molested as children by sexual predators. If the Child Victims Act again fails to become law, blame the callously intransigent Republican-controlled state Senate. New York has long been the worst state in the union for survivors of child abuse: For many crimes, those targeted as minors have only until they turn 23 to bring either a criminal or civil case.

Given that victims typically need decades to emotionally recover from what was done to them, that’s a padlock on the courthouse door.

Wednesday, the Democrat-controlled Assembly is expected to pass, for the fifth time, legislation extending the window for future criminal prosecution to a victim’s 28th birthday for felonies, and to 25 for misdemeanors. Victims would be able to bring civil lawsuits up to age 50. Also crucial, a “lookback” would grant victims of past crimes one year to file civil claims.

That latter provision has been a perennial nonstarter for Senate Republicans — doing the bidding of the Catholic Church and other organizations irrationally afraid of legal and financial exposure.

Enter Sen. Jeff Klein, head of the Senate’s rogue Independent Democratic Conference.

This week, he proposed eliminating statutes of limitation going forward while pursuing a third way on the lookback: A commission appointed by the chief judge of the Court of Appeals would serve as a gatekeeper, determining which claims are credible enough to go to court.

Not the streamlined path to justice we’d prefer, but a sane compromise, far better than nothing.

Senate Republicans must stop stonewalling. And Gov. Cuomo, who’s been awfully quiet on the issue despite expressing full support for the Assembly bill earlier this year, should step up and lead.