New York Adult Survivors Act: Examining the impact, future, and path to justice for survivors of sexual abuse – By Elizabeth Vulaj (Law and Crime) / Nov 30, 2023
For many, the week of Nov. 24 marked Thanksgiving, holiday traveling to see loved ones, and a brief respite from the busy day-to-day responsibilities of careers, school, and more. Yet for countless people across New York, that date is significant for an entirely other reason: the New York Adult Survivors Act — a state law implemented in November 2022 that allowed a one-year window for adult survivors of sexual violence to sue their alleged attackers — expired.
The act, which was signed in New York in May 2022 and went into effect that November, was created to allow survivors of sexual assault that occurred when they were over the age of 18 to sue, regardless of when the abuse occurred. The act has resulted in over 2,500 suits filed as of last week, and many of them against high-profile figures, including Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, rocker Marilyn Manson, and even the May 2023 civil verdict against former President Donald Trump.
The act came as part of a slew of legislation implemented in the years following the #MeToo movement, affording survivors a new opportunity to come forward with their claims. The 2019 Child Victims Act, for example, created a one-year window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file claims regardless of how long ago the acts occurred, as well as the 20-year extension of the statute of limitations in New York for adults filing civil lawsuits for sex crimes moving forward. Many have applauded the act for creating room for survivors to pursue justice, and New York courts have seen a significant uptick in the amount of civil cases filed within this past year regarding claims of sexual violence.
