Link to video here.

On Monday, Safe Horizon leaders, survivors, lawmakers and advocates stood together to call for the federal government to incentivize states to pass statute of limitation reform for adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Any such reform must include a "lookback window" that allows adult survivors of any age the chance to file civil lawsuits justice in the courts, regardless of when and where they were abused.

In New York State, the Child Victims Act one year "lookback window" opened in August and since then nearly 1,000 civil lawsuits have been filed. However, in the last decade instances of child pornography have exploded. As the New York Times reported, a decade ago 100,000 reports of abusive images were filed; that number has grown to 18.4 million reports containing over 45 million images and videos in the last year alone. Clear evidence of abuse may be found years and decades after it took place so the need for further reform is even more urgent. That coupled with interstate abuse like in the Epstein case, make the patchwork of state laws across the country insufficient to deal with the reality of childhood sexual abuse.

"I believe survivors everywhere deserve that chance. It's likely that Jeffrey Epstein did not only victimize girls in New York State. It's deeply unjust that a girl who was victimized here has the opportunity to file civil charges, while one victimized in Florida or Nevada does not. The federal government should incentivize states across the country to enact statute of limitations reform similar to New York state's," said Ariel Zwang CEO of Safe Horizon.

While ten months remain in the look back window, it may not be enough time for survivors who might just be coming to terms with their abuse. To ensure that survivors are educated about how the new law applies to them, Safe Horizon has launched a wide ranging public awareness campaign with a video PSA. The video features survivors, including four New York State lawmakers, and has been seen over 30 thousand times. The video is also in Spanish, Mandarin and Haitian Creole. In addition, Safe Horizon also launched a webpage specifically to provide detailed and unbiased information about the Child Victims Act. The page has had 14,000 unique page views overall and averages 350-400 views a day.

New York is not the only state to pursue statute of limitation reforms. On October 13th California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law that will, in part, suspend the statute of limitations entirely for three years, starting January 2020. This law re-opens California's initial lookback window from 2003, which lead to around 1,000 cases being filed and the Los Angeles clergy paying a $660 Million dollar settlement. Laws like this give survivors of any age the chance to pursue justice against their abuser in civil court.

Yet only six states, New York, New Jersey, California, Delaware, Hawaii and Minnesota, have enacted lookback windows for survivors in recent years. Safe Horizon believes it is time for states across the country to reform their statutes of limitations and give all survivors a chance to pursue justice in the courts.

"The fact that survivors in one state can access the judicial system while survivors in another state cannot is absurd and entirely unacceptable. We need legislators from both sides of the aisle to partner for legislation that ensures all survivors of child sexual abuse can come forward when they are able," said Mary Ellen O'Loughlin, Survivor and Member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Survivors of Abuse.

"Sexual harassment and assault are pervasive problems in the modeling industry, which has long relied on a vulnerable workforce of minors," said Sara Ziff, the founder and executive director of the Model Alliance. "Many working and former models have not yet been made aware of their rights under the Child Victims Act, and most models who report abuse fear being blacklisted or retaliated against by their agencies or clients. Victims in New York and across the United States need adequate time to process their experiences, understand their options, and seek justice."

"Access to justice for the thousands of survivors whose lives have been decimated by the sex abuse they suffered should not be based on the state in which you live," said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan), prime sponsor of New York's Child Victim's Act. "People like Jeffrey Epstein, who abused children in plain sight for years, should not feel relief because they live in a state with weak laws on childhood sexual assault. Here in New York, predators can run but they can no longer hide now that the CVA will reveal them to the light of day. The residents of every state in the nation deserve the same level of protection."

State Senator Hoylman said, "More than 80 women survived the horrific abuse of Jeffrey Epstein--justice is long overdue for them and the thousands of other survivors of sexual abuse across New York. Under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and my co-sponsor Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal, the New York State Legislature finally passed the Child Victims Act which gives survivors the opportunity to have their day in court. The work to seek justice for survivors will continue, which is why I am honored to stand with Sara Ziff, Rory Forrestal and the CVA survivor community in support of national look-back window legislation."

"In this the digital age any Criminal of Statute of Limitations regarding child exploitation matters is ridiculous. During investigations it wasn't unusual to recover VCR tapes popularized in the mid 80's. If you were a teen victim on those tapes you're now in your mid 40's. If you were a victim in the early 90's when digital cameras became the rage and the chat phenomenon took off, you're now in your mid to late 30's. Today investigators work digital magic on a daily basis recovering text messages, deleted pictures and videos and new victims are being identified daily. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed over 200 million recovered images of child abuse victims and identified over 17,000 children. Will the unidentified ever see justice?" said Rory Forrestal, Ret. Suffolk County Sex Crimes Detective.