‘Fearless’ plea for kid vics act
CHILD SEX ABUSE advocates in New York City and Albany on Tuesday made a last-minute plea to Gov. Cuomo to prioritize passage of a bill to help victims seek justice as adults.
The two sets of advocates in separate news conferences called on Cuomo to include the Child Victims Act in his State of the State address, set to be delivered Wednesday afternoon, and in his upcoming 2018-19 state budget proposal.
“Gov. Cuomo, we are looking to you for your leadership to move this forward,” Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said at an event in front of the “Fearless Girl” statue in the Financial District with other elected officials, sex abuse survivors and religious leaders.
“I believe . . . that this is the year it will happen,” Vance said.
In Albany, a different group of advocates led by Gary Greenberg, who was sexually abused as a kid in the mid 1960s, said Cuomo this year must do more than just say he backs the bill.
“The governor needs to send a message to the Senate that he wants the Child Victims Act passed . . . and he wants to be able to sign a law that will finally give justice to victims and take predators off the street,” Greenberg said.
The Child Victims Act would extend the timeframe a victim has to bring a civil or criminal case against his or her abuser.