At the Alliance, we help to create policy and support laws, which are crucial in combatting sexual assault in New York City. Over the years, more policy initiatives have emerged as the New York State government has taken steps to further decrease sexual violence in this state. Learn about present and future policy initiative in New York to end sexual assault.
Get involved in supporting policy to end sexual assault in New York. Find our what you can do here: Act Now
Explore the milestone policies and actions that have been put into action to combat the sexual violence and provide help to sexual assault survivors. These Alliance resources will explain the framework of New York State’s legal stance on the issue and provide you with general information on sexual assault.
“…prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex for all educational programs or activities that receive funding from the federal government.” – United States Department of Justice
NYC’s first rape crisis program started providing assistance to survivors in 1974, the same year the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office set up the first Sex Crimes Unit in the United States.
Until 1975, the victim’s sexual history was deemed relevant to the case-. The rape shield law prevented this line of questioning in criminal court.
“Some of our early events include a public protest in San Francisco against pornography in 1973 and a public march held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in October 1975, after the murder of microbiologist Susan Alexander Speeth, who was stabbed to death while walking home alone.” – Take Back the Night Foundation
A minority of women were receiving medical treatment after a sexual assault and it wasn’t until 1976 that first SANE program was established in the U.S.
Until 1982, a victim had to prove her “earnest resistance to her attacker” and until 1984, a woman could not be raped by her husband. New York State had some of the strictest rape laws; prosecutors had to present some form of proof, in addition to the victim’s testimony, for every element of the rape.
“The Crime Victims Fund was created by Congress in 1984 to provide grants to state and local programs that assist victims of crime. Now, Rape crisis centers rely on VOCA funds to provide direct services like crisis intervention, counseling, and court accompaniment to victims of sexual assault.” – United States Department of Justice
The Jeanne Clery Act was passed in 1990 requiring all colleges and universities who receive federal funding to share information about crime on campus and their efforts to improve campus safety.
Judith Herman’s ground breaking book, “Trauma and Recovery” was published
“The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) becomes law providing 1.6 billion dollars for 6 years to provide services for victims of rape and domestic violence. The Act is inclusive of services for women of color, immigrant women and other underserved populations.”
New York State enacted statute that protects victim contact with a certified rape crisis counselor as confidential.
In 2001, the Sexual Assault Reform Act was passed which rewrote rape law including the expansion the definition of force to include a no-means-no standard of coercion.
In 2003, the NYPD created the Special Victims Division.
“The Sexual Assault Services Program (SASP), administered by the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) in the U.S. Department of Justice, was authorized in 2005 through the Violence Against Women Act as the first federal funding stream dedicated to the provision of direct services to victims of sexual violence.” – United States Department of Justice
This statute provides for direct reimbursement to hospitals for sexual assault forensic exams so that a victims do not have to pay or use their insurance coverage.
“The Department of Education issued a policy guidance which made clear that Title IX’s protections against sexual harassment and sexual violence apply to all students.“
“The new “Enough is Enough” legislation requires all colleges to adopt a set of comprehensive procedures and guidelines, including a uniform definition of affirmative consent, a statewide amnesty policy, and expanded access to law enforcement. With this law, we will better protect all of New York’s college students from rape and sexual assault.” – NY.Gov
After state funds for sexual assault services slowly decreased over many years, in 2015, the New York State Legislature decided to act to preserve and expand sexual assault programs that were handling increasing caseloads with diminished resources. In 2016, the Governor’s Office supported this increase by adding 4.6 million to the state budget for intervention and prevention of sexual violence.
On Monday February 14, 2019, Governor Cuomo signed the Child Victims Act into law. There are three components to the law:
1. This legislation allows those who are victims of child sexual assault to bring civil lawsuits up until their 55th birthday (as opposed to 23). If survivors were eligible to file a civil law suit before the passage of this law, it also allows these survivors to file up until age 55, though legal experts recommend filing sooner if possible.
2. This legislation would allow the criminal prosecution of many sexual offenses committed against children, to begin up until the age of 23 rather than by age 18.
3. It also allows childhood survivors of sexual abuse, who could not file a civil lawsuit because they did not start a suit by the time they were 23 years of age, a one-year period to file a civil action for damages. There is no age limit on bringing these actions during this “window”. The “window” is set to commence 6 months from the signing of the law, or August 14, 2019. You can find the full law here.
“…prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex for all educational programs or activities that receive funding from the federal government.” – United States Department of Justice
NYC’s first rape crisis program started providing assistance to survivors in 1974, the same year the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office set up the first Sex Crimes Unit in the United States.
Until 1975, the victim’s sexual history was deemed relevant to the case-. The rape shield law prevented this line of questioning in criminal court.
“Some of our early events include a public protest in San Francisco against pornography in 1973 and a public march held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in October 1975, after the murder of microbiologist Susan Alexander Speeth, who was stabbed to death while walking home alone.” – Take Back the Night Foundation
A minority of women were receiving medical treatment after a sexual assault and it wasn’t until 1976 that first SANE program was established in the U.S.
Until 1982, a victim had to prove her “earnest resistance to her attacker” and until 1984, a woman could not be raped by her husband. New York State had some of the strictest rape laws; prosecutors had to present some form of proof, in addition to the victim’s testimony, for every element of the rape.
“The Crime Victims Fund was created by Congress in 1984 to provide grants to state and local programs that assist victims of crime. Now, Rape crisis centers rely on VOCA funds to provide direct services like crisis intervention, counseling, and court accompaniment to victims of sexual assault.” – United States Department of Justice
The Jeanne Clery Act was passed in 1990 requiring all colleges and universities who receive federal funding to share information about crime on campus and their efforts to improve campus safety.
Judith Herman’s ground breaking book, “Trauma and Recovery” was published
“The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) becomes law providing 1.6 billion dollars for 6 years to provide services for victims of rape and domestic violence. The Act is inclusive of services for women of color, immigrant women and other underserved populations.”
New York State enacted statute that protects victim contact with a certified rape crisis counselor as confidential.
In 2001, the Sexual Assault Reform Act was passed which rewrote rape law including the expansion the definition of force to include a no-means-no standard of coercion.
In 2003, the NYPD created the Special Victims Division.
“The Sexual Assault Services Program (SASP), administered by the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) in the U.S. Department of Justice, was authorized in 2005 through the Violence Against Women Act as the first federal funding stream dedicated to the provision of direct services to victims of sexual violence.” – United States Department of Justice
This statute provides for direct reimbursement to hospitals for sexual assault forensic exams so that a victims do not have to pay or use their insurance coverage.
“The Department of Education issued a policy guidance which made clear that Title IX’s protections against sexual harassment and sexual violence apply to all students.“
“The new “Enough is Enough” legislation requires all colleges to adopt a set of comprehensive procedures and guidelines, including a uniform definition of affirmative consent, a statewide amnesty policy, and expanded access to law enforcement. With this law, we will better protect all of New York’s college students from rape and sexual assault.” – NY.Gov
After state funds for sexual assault services slowly decreased over many years, in 2015, the New York State Legislature decided to act to preserve and expand sexual assault programs that were handling increasing caseloads with diminished resources. In 2016, the Governor’s Office supported this increase by adding 4.6 million to the state budget for intervention and prevention of sexual violence.
On Monday February 14, 2019, Governor Cuomo signed the Child Victims Act into law. There are three components to the law:
1. This legislation allows those who are victims of child sexual assault to bring civil lawsuits up until their 55th birthday (as opposed to 23). If survivors were eligible to file a civil law suit before the passage of this law, it also allows these survivors to file up until age 55, though legal experts recommend filing sooner if possible.
2. This legislation would allow the criminal prosecution of many sexual offenses committed against children, to begin up until the age of 23 rather than by age 18.
3. It also allows childhood survivors of sexual abuse, who could not file a civil lawsuit because they did not start a suit by the time they were 23 years of age, a one-year period to file a civil action for damages. There is no age limit on bringing these actions during this “window”. The “window” is set to commence 6 months from the signing of the law, or August 14, 2019. You can find the full law here.
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The NYPD’s CompStat 2.0 provides an interactive look into crime in New York City and the surrounding areas. This system allows for the public to see crime data listed for any given area in the city. Visit CompStat here.