Partially in response to the Catholic Church scandal in Pennsylvania and some of its own dioceses, the state of New York recently weighed the effects of child sexual abuse on adults and passed the Child Victims Act.

The CVA was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in February and promises new avenues for victims to seek justice years after the event in question. This change addresses one of the known effects of child sexual abuse on adults—the tendency to guilt, shame, and blame oneself for the perpetrator’s actions.

According to the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), self-blame is a common reaction that can keep an adult survivor silent for decades about the molestation.

It is especially prevalent in situations where the child involved was near or at the age of puberty at the time and the event in question was their first sexual encounter. They may feel their bodies may have “betrayed” them with a pleasurable physical response that confused and clouded the nature of the incident—whether it was one-time or ongoing.

The long-term silence of victims has inadvertently created barriers to justice which often contributes to a sense of re-victimization. Once an individual has overcome some of the traumatic effects of child sexual abuse on adults and seeks to address the issue in court, New York and other states have had surprising short statutes of limitations preventing adjudication.

According to Verdict, the new CVA allows any current sexual abuse victim that is 22 years and younger as of Feb. 15, 2019 to file criminal charges until they are 28 and civil claims until they are 55. Additionally, six months from this date, a “window of opportunity” will open for a one-year period allowing victims whose claims have previously expired to file civil lawsuits against a perpetrator or enabling person or institution.

Just What is Sexual Abuse?

We tend to think of sexual abuse strictly in terms of rape or violent sexual activity—and yes, it certainly can be. According to the American Psychological Association, however, sexual abuse is any unwanted sexual activity which can be easily solicited from a child due to his/her lack of emotional and physical maturity and knowledge. A perpetrator of sexual abuse can merely coerce an underage victim by using explicit and implicit threats and coercion.

The CVA and Class Action Lawsuits

As indicated by Verdict, while the new CVA has heralded new opportunities for victims to seek justice, there are lawyers who have already filed class action lawsuits that critics say are not tailored to meet individual needs.

Class action lawsuits are designed for situations in which a large number of people suffer nearly identical harm, such as when thousands of consumers pay roughly the same price for a product that turns out to be worthless. The harm caused by child sex abuse, on the other hand, is highly individualized. Critics say that using class action litigation to resolve claims of sexual abuse will only short-change survivors.

There are times and places where class action lawsuits are appropriate. Most often it is when victims have the same range of experiences with a particular drug or device. Trauma, however, doesn’t operate in such a uniform fashion.

A good number of people experience grave effects of child sexual abuse on adults with even inappropriate touching through clothing. Others manage to escape long-standing posttraumatic stress disorder despite gross levels of perpetration.

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