WPCNR ADAM IN ALBANY By Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley of the 89th Assembly District. July 31, 2003: Sexual assault is a brutal crime that leaves permanent scars on victims and can traumatize anyone at anytime. If we can prevent one more assault from occurring, help one more victim heal or take one more predator off the street, we will have made a difference.
During this legislative session, I worked to pass a bill that gives more protections and support to victims of sexual assault by strengthening the Sexual Assault Reform Act of 2000 (A.9116). The legislation was passed by both the Senate and Assembly and is awaiting the governor’s signature.
Lending victims a helping hand
The bill creates a Sexual Assault Forensic Payment Program so that victims dealing with an emotional, disturbing and traumatic time in their lives won’t have to deal with bureaucratic paperwork such as insurance forms and information, and ensures that health care providers will keep providing invaluable services to victims in need.
The last thing a sexual assault victim should be forced to do is deal with mountains of paperwork. More importantly, we shouldn’t make a victims inability to pay a barrier to getting the kind of medical attention they need.
Cracking down on sexual assault
To send the message that sexual assault is wrong no matter what the relationship between abuser and victim, the legislation eliminates circumstances under which a defendant could inappropriately use marriage as a defense against rape or other sexual assault charges.
Marriage does not give someone license to sexually assault a spouse. In tightening up these laws, abused spouses will have a greater ability to get out of horrific situations.
The bill also strengthens the statutes dealing with forcible touching and persistent sexual abuse, and SARA also ensures that those who are repeat misdemeanor sexual offenders can be pursued as felons. In addition, the SARA agreement expands the list of crimes that would fall under persistent sexual abuse, and sets tough penalties.
Preventing date rape
The 2000 SARA bill made it a felony to knowingly administer a controlled-drug to an unknowing person to incapacitate, and then sexually assault them. The new amendments to SARA enhance the date rape drug penalties, include prescription medications as date rape drugs when used to incapacitate a victim, and increase felony penalties for the possession or sale of GHB – perhaps the most notorious and dangerous date rape drug.
It’s time sexual predators were dealt with as severely as their crimes. By toughening up New York’s laws to deter sexual predators and better protect victims of sexual assault, we can all feel safer.
