On the Front battle to combat Child Sexual Abuse in the Jewish Community OP-ED BY MARK MEYER APPEL

                                   

An interview with  Mark Meyer Appel, the founder of  The Voice of Justice

WEDNESDAY, 18 MAY 2016 07:16 ARIELLA HAVIV

There is no doubt to anyone who has eyes to see and ears that hear that the myriad headlines that dominate the media reveal egregious corruption amongst trusted officials and the kind of moral turpitude that causes a collective cringe.

For decades, the seemingly at peace Orthodox Jewish world has had its share of shocking publicity when facts emerged about horrific child sexual abuse; perpetrated not by circumspect types in the outside world but by respected adult members of the community.

Raising one’s voice in outrage and indignation and thusly confronting the dense wall of silence that has been erected by the Orthodox Community in shielding perpetrators has been a most daunting venture. Given the community’s resistance to speaking openly about this terrifying phenomenon, those who would entertain the notion of crossing this invisible line are readily shunned; threatened and even ostracized.

Enter Mark Meyer Appel, founder of the Voice of Justice. Mr. Appel’s name has come to personify those victims of abuse whose voices have been drowned out in this continuing and painful conversation. Mr. Appel , however, cannot claim neophyte status in terms of acquiring knowledge on child sexual abuse.

Having started the organization “Voice of Justice” many years ago, New York City resident Mr. Appel has been an advocate for youth and children’s services and served on the mayor’s task force on mental health. Under the administrations of both Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg, Mr. Appel also served on the board of directors of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation as a mayoral appointee

Moreover, Mr. Appel’s dedication also stretched to those children with special needs who had been previously ignored or neglected by the system that was created to serve them. In 1990, Mr. Appel worked with both city and state agencies to establish an early intervention program for special needs kids, kids at risk and learning disabled kids.

Mr. Appel also played a major role in finding jobs for marginalized kids, providing them with an appropriate education and offering them a substantial amount of financial support.

“When I worked with youth at risk during programs at my home, I discovered that many of them had been horribly abused, “ Mr. Appel ruefully recalled.

“The abuse had a major impact on their lives. It really hurt these kids and the family structure. When kids are abused they have tremendous difficulty trusting anyone anymore. Tragically, the leadership of the Orthodox world has not been in the forefront of helping them and that sense of abandonment triggers anger within these victims,” explained Mr. Appel

Having witnessed the emotional scars and trauma of child sexual abuse among those he worked with, Mr. Appel was driven from a source within himself to help expose this otherwise surreptitious phenomenon.

MARK APPEL.RABBI YOSEF BLAU,RABBI GERSHON TANNENBAUM ZTL
PROCLAMATION  NY STATE CAPITOL

“Over the years, we became involved in major cases of those charged with child molestation. We spent many years attending court proceedings and trials to show our constant support. We want these victims and survivors to know that we have their backs,” said Mr. Appel.

For the last eight years, Mr. Appel has devoted the lion’s share of his time to conducting well organized lobbying efforts in Albany to call for a major reform in the statute of limitations. The proposed modification in the law would grant victims of child sexual abuse a sufficient amount of time to file criminal charges against the person or persons who perpetrated the heinous acts against them.

“It is our moral responsibility as Orthodox Jews, as upright citizens of this country, to make it our business to eliminate these predators, “ intoned Mr. Appel. “Because child sexual abuse gets swept under the proverbial rug in Orthodox circles , it very often comes out many years later. I worked with victims who were abused over 20 years ago, and who never pursued their cases out of fear and always remained mum about it. One day, without warning, a trigger will go off in their brain and all the nightmarish memories will surface and they will be reliving the abuse. Now, however, as adults they do want to redress their grievances in a court of law and that right should be afforded to them,” he said with palpable emotion reverberating in this voice.        

ALBANY LOBBY DAY

Known as the Child Victims Act (Bill # A2872A – in the assembly) and initiated by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, (D-Queens), the legislation, if passed, would eliminate these time constraints in criminal and civil cases of child sexual abuse.

At the beginning of May, Mr. Appel was joined by more than 130 Jewish leaders who have also signed the petition backing the bill. Among those rabbis and advocates are Jewish Community Watch, Kol v”oz, The Voice of Justice, Mageinu, United Support Network, Jewish Board of Advocates, and The Bridge Project.

New York’s archaic statute of limitations sharply limits the time victims have to bring charges against a molester. A victim must come forward within five years after the age of 18 to bring criminal or civil charges against their abuser or any agency or organization that should have reported the crime.

As was reported in the Daily News, New York City lags behind states like Georgia, Massachusetts, Florida and Utah, all of which in the past several years have passed bills that lengthened the time victims have to bring their cases to court.

Some victims are unable to come to grips with the abuse they endured until middle age or even later in life but certainly not before the age of 23. Furthermore, in religious communities, by limiting the right to sue and prosecute to the age of 23 has created a situation where victims of abuse may have lost a chance for closure to come forward with charges regarding the abuse suffered.

“Our biggest impediments in having this bill pass are the extensive influence of the Catholic church, the opposition of the Agudas Yisroel of America and the abject silence of Governor Cuomo, Senate GOP leader John Flanagan and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, “ explained Mr. Appel.

“What I can say is that the statement released to the media by Rabbi Avi Shafran of the Agudah (an organization that represents haredei Orthodox yeshivas and shuls), along with the backing of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and other yeshivas such as Chaim Berlin and Torah V’Daas only serves to further infuriate the victims of child sexual abuse because what they are essentially saying is that they don’t want to be held accountable for the abuse that took place on their premises. They don’t want to confess as to whether they knew or did not know that such abuse was happening, “ said Mr. Appel.

For its part, the Agudah has said the bill would open up institutions to “ancient claims and capricious litigation,” as they had written in a 2009 statement it had issued in conjunction with the haredi schools network Torah Umesorah.

Speaking to the JTA, Agudah director of public affairs and regular newspaper columnist Rabbi Avi Shafran declared, “We do not oppose extending or even eliminating the criminal statute of limitations for cases of abuse. Our concern is simply protecting the economic viability of Jewish schools. Yeshivas operate on shoestring budgets.”

Because of his stalwart efforts to challenge the status quo, Mr. Appel has been branded anti-haredi by his detractors, but he says, “I am not at war with Agudath Israel. They have many wonderful programs including Daf Yomi and I very much respect Rabbi Dovid Zweibel. He is an exceptionally decent person. But having said this, I must also say that the Agudah and Torah Mesorah should have been in the forefront of this campaign to have this legislation passed.”

Recalling that he attended an event about three years ago that was operated by “Sacred Lives” ( a group dedicated to helping abuse victims), Mr. Appel said that many Jewish summer camp directors were present including Rabbi Ronnie Greenwald, zt’l of Camp Sternberg for girls in upstate New York and Rabbi Zweibel of the Agudah. He had also donated tens of thousands of dollars to ensure it success as he has done throughout his career working with abused children. “These rabbonim have to agree unanimously that abuse will no longer be tolerated. The good news is that there are many who are very supportive of abuse victims,” said Mr. Appel.

He adds that such culpability on the part of the Agudah and the yeshivas where the abuse took place would have done much in the way of promoting emotional and mental healing of the victims. “It would have graphically illustrated the fact that the yeshiva took responsibility for the reprehensible acts that took place under their bailiwick,” said Mr. Appel.

He added that because victims have been filing abuse charges in other states, it is beyond shocking that not one yeshiva in California has been shut down. “The Catholic Archdiocese was sued and there was $1 billion in claims,” he said.

Mr. Appel says that the likelihood of yeshivos falling into an insolvent state of affairs if lawsuits from victims were brought against them were slim to none because “yeshivas have good insurance policies that prevent lawsuits and judges are obligated to sign off on a lawsuit in order to proceed.”

He said that the only way that a case against a yeshiva can have legal legs to stand on is if it can be proven in a court of law that teachers and administrators were involved in covering up the abuse. He added that there is a possibility that this precise point that has placed the Agudah and its attendant yeshivas in a defensive posture, but many variables remain to be seen.

Ariella Haviv

Share this post

JULY 1894 -THE DREYFUS TRIAL JULY 2013- THE KELLNER TRIAL

              THE TRIAL OF A FATHER OF A              
              VICTIM GETS INDICTED  BY THE
               CORRUPT AND DISHONEST
              CHARLES J HYNES AND HIS STAFF OF VICIOUS            
               LIARS  AND CORRUPT THUGS  

AND THINKS  THEY WILL GET  AWAY    WITH THIS HEINOUS ACT  OF DISGUST

   SHAME ON YOU  CHARLES  HYNES

     Trial   is scheduled to start  tomorrow,  9:30  a.m    sharp               Monday, July 8th, in Kings County NYS Supreme Court Criminal Term, 320 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY11201 in front of Judge A. M. Donnelly.

 New Evidence Appears To Show That He Likely Did The Brooklyn DA Suborn Perjury?Did, And Sam Kellner's Defense Attorneys Are Demanding An "Outside Investigation" To Find Out

“There is overwhelming evidence of blatant and concerted efforts by Lebovits and his associates to pervert the course of justice and cover up his appalling crimes. What is profoundly disturbing is that none of these efforts would have been successful without the active cooperation of the district attorney. Clearly, an outside investigation is now required to ensure that those ultimately responsible are held to account for this travesty of justice.”                        BY FAILED MESSIAH

Rabbi Baruch Lebovits

Writing in the Jewish Week, Hella Winston reports that the key prosecution witness against Sam Kellner, who is charged with extorting the family of accused pedophile Rabbi Baruch Lebovits, has – again – radically changed his version of events, this time in response to inquiries made by the DA in recent days after it became clear that Kellner's defense team had knowledge of information exculpatory to Kellner that the DA had allegedly illegally withheld from it.

Kellner is the father of an alleged abuse victim and the man who brought several victims of Rabbi Baruch Lebovits to the District Attorney, thereby making the case against Lebovits possible.

Kellner was later charged with extortion and bribery, apparently based on clearly false information given to the District Attorney ny Lebovits' attorneys.

Here are the key quotes in Winston's report:

…[W]hile Yoel [the main witness against Kellner] testified in the Kellner grand jury that he knew Lebovits from synagogue, in a July 1 interview with Nicholas Batsidis and Joseph Alexis, two assistant district attorneys, and Rackets Division Chief Michael Vecchione, he claimed that he had “never seen Baruch Lebovits in his life.” In the same interview, Yoel also denied picking Lebovits out of a photo array, which, along with Yoel’s statements to a detective, led to Lebovits’ arrest. However, five days earlier, on June 26, he told prosecutors that Lebovits “could have molested me. [I] can’t really say.”…

…According to former Manhattan prosecutor and defense attorney Mark Bederow, “This witness has self-immolated. First, he swears to a pattern of years-long abuse by Lebovits. Then he reverses course and claims that he lied under oath and that although he knows Lebovits, he fabricated the abuse claims against him because Kellner paid him to do so. Then, on the eve of [Kellner’s] trial, he contradicts both prior sworn statements by bizarrely claiming he has never met Lebovits, but that [Lebovits] ‘may’ have molested him. He then alters his sworn testimony by claiming that he had not been paid by Kellner before perjuring himself at Kellner’s request.

“I don’t see any set of circumstances under which the DA can proceed with Yoel as a witness against Kellner.”…

…[T]he fact that the DA apparently unquestioningly took these allegations against Kellner from Lebovits’ defense attorneys and failed to investigate — until finally forced to do so by the prospect of the truth being revealed at Kellner’s trial — the possibility that Yoel was a victim of intimidation and witness tampering has also convinced them of the need for an independent investigation.

“There is overwhelming evidence of blatant and concerted efforts by Lebovits and his associates to pervert the course of justice and cover up his appalling crimes,” one of Kellner’s attorneys, Niall MacGiollabhui, told The Jewish Week.

“What is profoundly disturbing is that none of these efforts would have been successful without the active cooperation of the district attorney,” MacGiollabhui continued.

“Clearly, an outside investigation is now required to ensure that those ultimately responsible are held to account for this travesty of justice.”…

But that is not all Kellner's defense team managed to drag out of the DA's office.

Yoel, the main witness against Kellner, is being financially supported by haredi community activist Zalmen Ashkenazi. Yoel first told prosecutors he did not know Ashkenazi. Now he admits that, not only does he know Ashkenazi, Ashkenazi pays for his flights to and from his home in Israel.

Ashkenazi also pays his school fees, his rent, and for his attorney.

Yoel also said that he needs Ashkenazi’s “permission to return to the U.S. when he’s in Israel.”

Credit card and travel records obtained by the DA's office confirm much of this.

Ashkenazi is close to Lebovits and has actively been working to destroy the case against him in any way he could.

Lebovits' attorneys also made several unsuccessful attempts to get a plea deal on charges related to Yoel.

Lebovits's attorneys reportedly believe that, in essense, the DA and Lebovits' legal team colluded to suborn perjury by having Yoel testify against Sam Kellner in a grand jury.

That likely-suborned perjury led to Kellner's indictment.

And when did the Brooklyn DA turn any of this information over to the defense as required by law?

Friday, only three days before Kellner's trial is set to begin, the Friday of the holiday Fourth of July weekend.

Truly despicable.

                                                     

CHARLES J HYNES.... TIME TO RETIRE AND BRING TRUE JUSTICE AND HONOR BACK TO THE CITIZENS OF KINGS COUNTY

                                 

KINGS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY

DISTRICT ATTORNEY  CHARLES HYNES 

CHASES VICTIMS NOT MOLESTER'S

 Haredi Abuse Whistleblower Was Set Up By Powerful Haredim

                                                                                                                          by failed messiah
The Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes continues to prosecute Sam Kellner, despite the mounting evidence that Kellner was set up by the family and friends of accused pedophile Rabbi Baruch Lebovits. Now The Jewish Week has discovered more evidence that exonerates Kellner – evidence the DA allegedly was given but chose (probably illegally) to disregard.

http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new-york-news/new-evidence-could-harm-case-against-abuse-whistleblower

by  Hella Winston

New evidence has emerged that could deal a serious blow to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ case against Sam Kellner, a chasidic Borough Park resident who was charged with extortion and perjury after he helped to convict a fellow chasid, Baruch Lebovits, on sex abuse charges.

The evidence, obtained by The Jewish Week, is an audiotape on which a young man makes statements that undermine his previous claims that Kellner paid him to fabricate allegations of sex abuse. The young man also makes statements indicating that powerful members of his own community pressured him to accuse Kellner of perjury.

“This tape should make clear what should be clear to any reasonable person — that Sam Kellner is not guilty of these charges,” Kellner’s attorney, Michael Dowd, told The Jewish Week.

Kellner, whose ordeal was the subject of a Jewish Week story in January, played an indirect but key role in the 2010 sex abuse conviction of Lebovits, a cantor and prominent member of the Munkacs chasidic community.

After learning in 2008 that his son had been inappropriately touched by Lebovits, Kellner obtained rabbinic permission to report the incident to the police. When a detective told him that his son’s case was a misdemeanor and thus unlikely to be prosecuted unless additional victims came forward, Kellner obtained the names of two men — “Yoel” and “Zev” (not their real names) —who had previously disclosed their abuse at the hands of Lebovits to the Vaad HaTznius, or modesty committee. (The Vaad is an unofficial community watchdog group that deals with abuse allegations and alleged molesters, typically without involving law enforcement.)

After meeting each of these men, Kellner secured rabbinic permission for both to make police reports. Along with Kellner’s son, both also testified before grand juries, resulting in indictments against Lebovits.

While Yoel, the young man on the newly uncovered audio tape, ultimately backed out of testifying against Lebovits at trial, Zev went forward, and in March of 2010, Lebovits was convicted and sentenced to 10 to 32 years in jail. (The verdict was overturned on a technicality and a new trial ordered; that trial has yet to occur).

Then, in a stunning turn of events, a year after Lebovits’ conviction, Kellner was arrested. He was charged with trying to extort money from Lebovits’ son Meyer prior to Lebovits’ trial, in exchange for persuading the witnesses against Lebovits to drop their charges. Kellner was also charged with perjury for paying Yoel to falsely testify before a grand jury that Lebovits had molested him. At the time, Lebovits’ lawyers expressed confidence to reporters that Kellner’s alleged acts would fatally undermine the integrity of their client’s conviction.

Kellner’s case, which is set to go to trial on July 8, is being handled by the Rackets Bureau, headed by Senior Assistant District Attorney Michael Vecchione.

In its January story, The Jewish Week challenged the validity of the charges against Kellner on a number of grounds, including the timing, sources and quality of the DA’s evidence — all of which, experts were quoted as saying, should have raised serious red flags in the Rackets Bureau.

The new audiotape, made by an acquaintance of Yoel after Kellner’s arrest, not only further supports Kellner’s claims of innocence, but raises additional questions about the DA’s handling of the allegations against him. The acquaintance, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, had been told repeatedly by Yoel about his abuse at the hands of Lebovits, and made the tape after trying unsuccessfully to alert the DA that Yoel was falsely accusing Kellner.

“I called the DA’s office — I didn’t give my name but said I had information that Kellner was innocent of these charges,” the friend told The Jewish Week.

“I was transferred from one place to another, and finally I got someone who told me, ‘We’re not interested. We are the prosecution; we are prosecuting Kellner. Go talk to his lawyer.”

Asked about this person’s account, a spokesman for the district attorney told The Jewish Week, “We know nothing about this.”

Yoel’s acquaintance turned over the recording to Rabbi Chaim Flohr and his beit din, the same religious court that had given Kellner permission to report his son’s abuse to the police. The tape was then shared with The Jewish Week.

During the conversation, which is in Yiddish and was translated by a native Yiddish speaker for the paper, Yoel makes statements that indicate he first disclosed his abuse by Lebovits to people within his community around the time he was 16 or 17 — several years before he ever met Kellner. This is consistent with information obtained by The Jewish Week that Yoel first sought help around this same time from Rabbi Shraga Hager, also known as the Kosover Rebbe, for depression related to his abuse by Lebovits. (Rabbi Hager is the rabbi who ultimately gave Yoel permission to make a police report about Lebovits several years later). It also comports with an account by the Vaad that Yoel first approached them around this same time with these allegations, and even e-mailed them a photo of Lebovits to positively identify him as his abuser. These statements seem to undermine Yoel’s claims that Kellner paid him to lie about being abused by Lebovits.

At another point on the tape, Yoel says that a powerful community activist named Zalmen Ashkenazi “got him out” of testifying against Lebovits. He also states that Ashkenazi hired an attorney for him and “made him” go against Kellner. (Zalmen’s brother, Berel, was a character witness for Lebovits at trial, where it emerged that Berel was also an alleged child molester). Yoel’s story comports with DA records that note that when Yoel made allegations against Kellner, he did so in the presence of an attorney. At another point on the tape, Yoel says that if Zalmen ever “turns on him,” he would accuse Zalmen of molesting him.

The Jewish Week tried, unsuccessfully, to reach Zalmen Ashkenazi several times by phone and was unable to independently confirm Yoel’s claims.

The Jewish Week contacted Yoel, but he declined to comment.

According to defense attorney and former prosecutor Mark Bederow, the tape is likely to hurt the prosecution’s case against Kellner.

“If it is true that the witness testified emphatically under oath that he was not abused by Lebovits, and then told an acquaintance that he was in fact molested by Lebovits, and also was recorded admitting that he disclosed such abuse years before, then the witness has severely damaged his own credibility,” he said.

“Even worse,” Bederow continued, “not only has the witness harmed the prosecution, he may have exposed himself to perjury charges.  If the recording and other statements that he has made contradict his sworn testimony as alleged, it is hard to fathom how the prosecution could possibly call him as a witness. If they do call him as a witness under these circumstances, by testifying, the witness likely will incriminate himself.”

Dowd, Kellner’s attorney, is not in possession of the tape, but is familiar with its contents and has alerted prosecutors to its existence. He and his associate, Niall MacGiollabhui, are concerned, however, about turning it over to prosecutors out of concern that they will not be able to protect the identity of the person who recorded it, possibly exposing the individual to intimidation and threats.

“The person who made the tape did so in good faith, to help prevent an injustice,” MacGiollabhui told The Jewish Week. “Prosecutors want to meet with this individual and hear the tape. However, this individual is concerned about what might happen as a result. Unfortunately, this concern is not unfounded. After all, Sam Kellner cooperated with the Brooklyn District Attorney to expose the truth about child abuse within his community. And look what happened to him.”

That said, both Dowd and MacGiollabhui believe that it should have been obvious to prosecutors in the Rackets Bureau, given information in the office’s possession, that Yoel could have been pressured to make false allegations against Kellner.

“What troubles me the most,” Dowd said, “is that Sam Kellner could have been spared the agony of this indictment, as this information was available from inside the DA’s office for a long time.”

For one, an experienced sex crimes detective, Steve Litwin, and the district attorney’s own sex crimes prosecutors had found Yoel to be a credible witness against Lebovits. Further, a close friend of Yoel’s gave a statement, obtained by The Jewish Week, to a DA investigator indicating that Lebovits’ eldest daughter had intimidated Yoel into backing out of the Lebovits prosecution by threatening to have him arrested for molesting boys.

Rackets Bureau prosecutors are also in possession of a videotape on which Zev claims that Yoel was “terrorized” by members of the Lebovits family after he decided to press charges against Lebovits. And then there are notes, written by Litwin, detailing attempts by Berel Ashkenazi and another man to persuade Zev to drop his charges in exchange for money. Sex crimes prosecutors also have a psak, or rabbinical ruling, made at the behest of Berel Ashkenazi and signed by a rabbi, prohibiting Zev from adjudicating his case against Lebovits in secular court. (This document was used to impeach Berel’s credibility as a witness for Lebovits at trial, but was not used by the DA’s office to charge Berel with witness tampering).

All of this, says Dowd, should certainly have raised serious questions about whether these same people who tried (and in Yoel’s case, succeeded) to intimidate both Yoel and Zev into withdrawing their charges against Lebovits may have manipulated Yoel into making false allegations against Kellner to help Lebovits’ cause after he was convicted.

That prosecutors have not acted on this evidence of witness tampering in the Lebovits case has soured many victims’ advocates on cooperating with the DA. Hynes’ public statements about having no tolerance for those who would intimidate witnesses to the contrary, these advocates believe that while the he may be willing to prosecute individual molesters, Hynes has no stomach for cracking down on powerful members of the religious community who intimidate victims.

In the Lebovits and Kellner cases they see a disturbing irony wherein the DA appears to have shielded from prosecution those who intimidated victims while pursuing questionable charges against one of the few people who has cooperated with his office in bringing molesters to justice: Sam Kellner.

“As an advocate for justice, the DA’s [conduct in this case] is extremely disconcerting to me,” sex abuse survivor, advocate and writer Chaim Levin told The Jewish Week.

Recalling a recent meeting he had with sex crimes prosecutors who were hoping he might help them find additional Lebovits victims, Levin recounted that “I did my best to make sure they understood why, aside from the existing pressures religious communities [place] on victims [not] to come forward, the DA’s behavior in charging Sam Kellner as Lebovits roamed free because of [their mistake], is another really good reason for victims not to want to come forward.

“The fact that the DA’s office is telling people like me to bring them more victims, and yet Sam Kellner did just that and he’s now facing 21 years in jail because of forces more powerful than him,” Levin said, “is just another reason not to want to trust the DA’s office.”

editor@jewishweek.org

Last Update:

05/23/2013 - 14:45

Br

HUNDREDS AT ALBANY "PRESS CONFERENCE" URGE THE GOVERNOR, AND THE LEGISLATURE, TO ENACT THE "CHILD VICTIMS ACT" ( MARKEY BILL) WHICH WILL INCREASE THE "STATUE OF LIMITATIONS" FOR SEX PREDATORS......... SURVIVORS AND ADVOCATES APPEAL TO "AGUDATH ISRAEL" AND THE "CATHOLIC LEAGUE" TO OPEN THEIR HEARTS TO VICTIMS AND REVERSE THERE OPPOSITION TO THE "MARKEY BILL" THAT WILL GET PAST ABUSERS OFF OUR STREETS!!!

 A  Survivor Of Child Sex Abuse Speaks In Albany

Activists and pols gather in support of the Child Victims Act ( MARKEY BILL)which would extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases. Agudath Israel of America and Satmar, along with the Catholic Church, oppose the bill.

SCHNEUR , ASSEMBLYPERSON MARKEY  . MARK MEYER APPEL

                                             

Assemblywoman Markey and  Mark Meyer Appel introduces a survivor schneur  

http://www.youtube.com/user/voiceoff4?feature=watch

ALBANY, NY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 --- Assemblywoman Margaret Markey held a press conference here today to present first-person account of abuse survivors who were victimized at the hands of members of religious organizations. The program was held in conjunction with a Lobby Day by supporters of her Child Victims Act of New York (A5488).



“Childhood sexual abuse is society’s dirty little secret,” Markey said. “We know that 20 percent of our youngsters grow up as victims of these crimes. Through these programs this week I want to shed light on the different areas of life and society where abuse occurs and help my colleagues to understand how important it is that we adopt this bill in 2012.”
Speakers on February 29th included Professor Marci Hamilton of Yeshiva University’s Cardozo Law School, a nationally-recognized authority of statutes of limitations across America.

EXPERT SAYS NY IS ONE OF WORST: “New York is one of the worst states in the country in the protection of children, and that stems from inadequate reporting laws and shockingly short statutes of limitations,” said Professor Hamilton,  “and it appears that the members of the Legislature are now giving the statutes of limitation the serious attention they deserve.”
She added, “At a minimum, there are two reforms needed: extend (and even eliminate) the civil and criminal SOLs and enact a civil window, which would permit victims currently shut out of the justice system to bring their cases against the perpetrators and the institutions that enabled the perpetrators with easy access to children.. As I document in, my book, Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Children, these reforms will protect today's children, prevent abuse in the future, and give a measure of justice to victims.  The New York state courts have repeatedly held that they are not the place to get these laws corrected -- it is up to the legislature. The Markey bill is the best first step for New York, because it provides a window and an extension (5 years).  I would hope in future that extension would be extended again.”

Hamilton continued, “It is well-known that the primary opponent to protecting New York's children is the Catholic Conference, the lobbying organization for New York's Catholic bishops.  The bishops, led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, are sinking hundreds of thousands of their parishioners' dollars to fight child sex abuse victims in New York.  They are joined by Agudath Israel, which means that 2 religious organizations are the political enemies of New York's children. They have chosen the side of the perpetrators.” 

HAD TO GO TO MASSACHUSETTS TO GET JUSTICE: Also speaking was attorney Tina Weber and one of her clients who was among the victims who successfully took their case against a pedophile priest to neighboring Massachusetts courts when they couldn’t get justice in New York.    Tina Weber said, “It’s been a year since the conviction of Father Mecure and his sentencing, but in my dealing with church officials on behalf of the men who testified against him, I think the church may have lost its focus.  As the single biggest charitable institution in the world, which has provided for so many over the decades, it cannot now step forward when the most vulnerable members need it the most.”

Mark Meyer Appel said, “Passing  the Child Victims Act is the only way we can ensure that past predators are taken off our streets and bring closure to survivors like Joel Engelman, Schneur Bornstein and others. 2012 is our year of hope to ensure that students of Penn State, Syracuse and children around the state in parochial schools and yeshivas are safe in our communities and past abusers taken off the street.”

Also speaking on the program was Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum, Director of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, an organization that represents more than 850 synagogue Rabbis. Rabbi Tannenbaum continues as a vigorous advocate for the Child Victims Act .

A EMOTIONAL  CONVERSATION WITH RABBI DAVID ZWEIBEL OF AGUDAH TO SUPPORT OUR BILL AND SAVE OUR CHILDREN

                                                     
CONCEALED MY SECRET UNTIL I WAS OVERWHELMED: Award-winning journalist and television producer Steve Jimenez was another speaker on the program. Mr. Jimenez said,  “My abuse began when I was 10 and continued until shortly before my 14th birthday. It occurred on school grounds, in Prospect Park, at city beaches, in bathhouses, and during class outings. Like most abuse victims, I concealed my secret and shame until the symptoms of post-traumatic stress overwhelmed my life and I was forced to seek decades of treatment.”

According to Jimenez, he has had several meetings with officials of the Brooklyn Diocese including the most recent two bishops. "I've tried talking with them since 2002 and they've done absolutely nothing, other than acting as if they're the ones that have been victimized rather than the other way around," Jimenez said. "It's upsetting to see other communities around the nation taking the lead for years in offering reparation and healing to abuse victims, while New York State has lagged so far behind."
The Lobby Day activity for the Child Victims Act of New York was coordinated by the New York Coalition to Protect Children (www.nyprotectchildren.org).  The group has an active on-line petition available so that the general public can reach out to their own local legislators as well as the Governor and the top leaders of the Assembly and the State Senate. It is at nychildvictimsact.org   An earlier on-line initiative on behalf of the bill in a previous session of the Legislature resulted in sending more than 70,000 petitions to the Governor and legislative leaders.

PROVEN WAY TO FIND PREDATORS: Robert Kristan, who heads the Coalition said: “Studies that show 90% of child sexual abuse is not reported. That can mean only one thing--that the thousands of unknown abusers in New York puts tens of thousands of children in jeopardy every day. The only proven way to find these predators is to allow their victims to identify them whenever they are able to do so, not when an arbitrary law says they can. Only the reforms of the Child Victims Act will makes this possible. We're here to carry that message to New York's legislators.”

Markey’s Child Victims Act has been adopted by the Assembly four times, in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. However it has failed to succeed in the State Senate. The bill will extend the current statute of limitations for child sex abuse crimes by five years, to age 28, and will also completely suspend the civil statute of limitations for one year. This will help expose older crimes and make it possible to identify previously hidden abusers through the discovery process in court, exposing them and those who have shielded them to ensure they can never abuse a child again.
 “Laws in New York are so lax that many perpetrators evade exposure by waiting out the short statute of limitations. I want to change that because pedophiles who are not exposed will continue to abuse yet more children in the future,” the Assemblywoman said.

WITH ASSEMBLYMAN DOV HIKIND

WITH ASSEMBLYMAN ALEC BROOK KRASNY  A VITO LOPEZ  FRIEND AND IS ANTI THE MARKEY BILL

WITH ASSEMBLYWOMAN RHODA JACOBS