New York Legal Blog

In approximately six weeks (on Aug. 15), New York's Child Victims Act will take effect -- just months after being signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The purpose of the law is to deal with our state's statutes of limitations on civil and criminal legal accountability for these crimes -- which are among the most restrictive in the country. Let's take a look at what this law means for survivors of child sex abuse.

The Child Victims Act first provides a one-year window (beginning Aug. 15) that allows child sex abuse survivors to file a lawsuit against their alleged perpetrator as well as any institution (such as a church or school) that knew about the perpetrator's actions and helped cover them up and/or did nothing to stop them. During this window, there will be no restrictions regarding when the abuse occurred or how old the survivor is currently.

As the push to legalize recreational marijuana gains traction in New York, with help from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, several prosecutors throughout the state have announced that they'll no longer prosecute low-level marijuana possession cases. Things like smoking or burning marijuana in public are now considered violations instead of misdemeanors. That means they won't give someone a criminal record that can impact their chances of getting a job or housing.

However, these changes haven't stopped state and local police from arresting people -- some more than others -- on these charges. In Westchester County, 163 people were arrested in the first quarter of this year, even though the DA announced the changes in his office in mid-January. Most of those arrested were black or Hispanic, and most of the arrests were in Yonkers.

Last year, former patients of a once-esteemed endocrinologist who had practiced at Rockefeller University Hospital received a letter stating that the hospital had evidence of multiple cases of sexual molestation by the growth specialist, who worked at the New York City research hospital from the 1940s until 1982.

According to the hospital, it had learned that the doctor had engaged in "inappropriate" behavior with a number of his patients -- mostly boys. Many patients were brought to him by parents concerned that they weren't growing at a normal rate. Among his treatments were growth hormones. However, there are numerous reports that the doctor touched boys in a sexual manner and took nude photos -- some of which were close-ups of their genitals.

Many people would assume that firehouses are among the safest workplaces around. However, last year, one veteran firefighter with the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) noted that the building where he worked in Queens had no automated external defibrillator (AED). He believed it should, so he submitted a request to management and the AED was installed.

Several months later, in September, that AED likely saved his life. The 63-year-old firefighter went into cardiac arrest. His colleagues used the AED to resuscitate him and then got him to the hospital.