Fund idea won’t give sex victims justice: Dem report

ALBANY — State Senate Democrats, in a report to be released this week, say a bill that would create a $300 million fund to help adults who were victims of child abuse is woefully inadequate, while it protects the predators themselves.

Sen. Catharine Young (RChautauqua County, photo inset) recently proposed an alternative to a Democratic-favored bill known as the Child Victims Act that would create the fund. It would be run out of the state controller’s office using asset forfeiture money currently controlled by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

The Senate Democratic report estimates there are 2,000 child sex abuse survivors who could come forward to sue their attackers and the institutions they work for.

With the average settlement nationally set at $350,000, the $300 million proposed by Young would fall $400 million short. That could lead to capped settlements by the fund’s administrator, the Dems fear, even though the bill’s supporters say the fund would be replenished each year with another 5% taken from the asset forfeiture money.

The report also says using asset-forfeiture money on child sex abuse settlements would divert the funds from other important criminal justice initiatives while letting abusers and the institutions they are connected to off the hook and denying victims legal discovery that comes with lawsuits that could shed more light on the problem.

“Though this approach may have superficial appeal, it suffers from several flaws, explaining why no other state has used this method of compensation,” the report says.

Senate Democrats support a Child Victims Act that has already overwhelming passed the Assembly with broad bipartisan support. That bill gives victims more time to to bring criminal and civil cases and creates a one-year window to revive cases that are currently time-barred.

The bill has been routinely blocked by Senate Republicans and is vehemently opposed by the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Jewish community, the Boy Scouts of America and insurance companies, who fear it could cause financial hardships.

“The only way to ensure justice for survivors is through passage of the Child Victims Act, which will allow survivors their day in court and hold abusers accountable for their actions,” said Sen. Brad Hoylman, the Manhattan Democrat sponsoring the act.

The Senate Democrats on Tuesday will — for the second time this year — try to force a vote on the law by attaching it as a hostile amendment to a different piece of legislation.

Young accused the Senate Dems of playing partisan politics rather than trying to find a solution to help all victims.

“The sad reality is that most victims of childhood sexual abuse would be left with nothing under Sen. Hoylman’s Child Victims Act bill,” she said. “It would benefit a small minority of victims who suffered institutional sexual abuse, at the expense of the other 80% who were victimized by family members, acquaintances and other individuals who lack the financial means to pay civil damages. This is a fact that he has conveniently ignored.”