FACTSHEET:
Child Victims and the Law
The law has traditionally treated children differently than other victims. State criminal codes define many crimes against children separately from the same offenses committed against adults.
|
Newsletter: Summer 2004: City Council Women’s Issues Committee HearingOn April 13, 2004, Gifford Miller, the Speaker of the NYC Council held a press conference where he announced the Council’s plans to hold a series of committee meetings on sexual violence in 2004. The series kicked off with a hearing held by the Women’s Issues Committee, chaired by Council Member Tracy Boyland, entitled “Sexual Violence Across the Lifespan.” Other planned hearings will take place in the Health, Mental Health, Youth, General Welfare and Public Safety Committees. The following piece was written by a survivor who testified at the hearing.I would like to thank the City Council’s Committee on Women’s Issues and Chairperson Tracy Boyland for the opportunity to speak about the impact of sexual assault on society. Also, thank you to Harriet Lessel of the NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault for her work in organizing the program. In recent years the public has become more and more aware of a subject that until recently was a taboo subject to discuss. That subject is the sexual, physical and emotional damage that children have suffered as a result of the horror that they have endured in silence until now. That the City of New York has realized the impact to society is great and that it must be addressed is to be commended. These press conferences and hearings should be front page news so that people know that the City of New York is indeed serious about addressing these issues. I am a survivor of childhood incest and domestic violence and it is always difficult for me to speak of those times, times that I would prefer to put behind me. I speak out and will continue to speak out as long as the need is there. Speaking before the City Council Committee was made easier because of Councilwoman Margarita Lopez’s genuine interest in addressing these issues. She not only paid keen attention to the speakers but also shared with us the fact that she was a survivor of childhood incest. Councilwoman Lopez’s suggestion that survivors who have triumphed come together to discuss what it was that helped them not only survive but triumph was I thought an excellent suggestion. It is imperative that we all fight for the right of all children to grow to adulthood in a safe, secure environment. Each of us must demand that perpetrators of crimes against children be made to pay the maximum price with loss of freedom guaranteed. If the legal system enforces strong punishment some would be perpetrators will perhaps thing before acting on their sick needs. It is a beginning. Thank you Harriet and the Alliance. Sincerely, Margaret Pestone ← previous article | next article → |
Voices and Faces:
Nobuko Nagaoka 
"I guess the thing that I am proudest of is that I didn't turn back, that I'm still here all these years later. I kept going because I had no choice, but I'm glad that I did."
Read more about Nobuko at The Voices and Faces Project »
Denise
|
|||||||||||||||
contact | privacy policy | webmanager@nycagainstrape.org
Graphic design: Worksight, Programming: Clever Name Here