NY Fails to Protect Women and Children as Top Law Enforcer Resigns

NEW YORK - May 8, 2018 - PRLog -- New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigns amidst allegations of a history of violence against woman as New York is revealed to have some of the most defective laws in the country protecting women and children against violence.

Emblematic of the alleged two faces of Eric Schneiderman is New York State's most egregious lapses in justice, it's human trafficking law.  In human trafficking cases in NY, a child is required to prove that he or she was coerced into human trafficking (though a child cannot otherwise legally consent to sex in NY).  New York courts require that child victims prove that they were coerced by traffickers to be exploited in the sex industry.  In practical terms, this can only be done if the child takes the stand to testify against his or her trafficker.  Prosecutors and experts say that child victims are emotionally unable to testify against their exploiters, which leads to their trafficker's acquittal.

Though Schneiderman cast himself as a champion of women and the #ME TOO movement and was thought to be a candidate for Governor in a progressive state,  he is indicative of a legal system that has a reputation for being progressive, but in fact has some of the most dangerous laws for women and children.  In the case of  human trafficking laws, NY is one of only two states that has a coercion requirement. Federal Law does not require child victims to prove that they were coerced, nor do the laws of 48 other states.  The only state other than NY that requires that a child prove coercion is Alabama.

Right now there is a bill in the NY state legislature (A-6823-B) to correct this shocking oversight in the law.  Though it was passed unanimously in the NY State Senate,  it is stuck in the Assembly's Codes Committee where observers predict the bill will likely die.

While New York grapples with leaders with violent personal lives, it is still working to create a legal system that protects the most vulnerable members of their community.

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