Bronx judge tosses 450 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse in NY juvenile detention centers

"A Bronx judge has tossed more than 450 lawsuits filed by people who claim city officials failed to protect them from sexual abuse while they were held in juvenile detention centers between the 1960s and 2010s, saying the plaintiffs did not have the legal right to sue. Hundreds of New Yorkers who were detained as kids and teens have accused jail staff of groping them, raping them, forcing them to perform oral sex or otherwise sexually abusing them while they were held at Rikers Island"

"A bill is pending in the City Council that would provide a legal path forward for the juvenile detention cases and other allegations of gender-based violence. If it passes, people whose lawsuits have been tossed would need to either appeal their dismissals or refile their lawsuits. "We want to make sure that no judge will continue to dismiss these cases," said City Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, the bill's sponsor."

"The hundreds of plaintiffs filed their cases under a recent update to a city law that opened a two-year window for alleged victims of gender-motivated violence to seek justice in civil court, even if the statute of limitations had passed. The measure also added new language to the law allowing plaintiffs to sue not just the people they say perpetrated the abuse, but also the individuals, institutions and government agencies they say enabled gender-motivated violence."

More than 450 lawsuits by people who say they were sexually abused while detained in juvenile facilities were tossed by a Bronx judge for lack of legal standing. Allegations include groping, rape, coerced oral sex and other abuse at Rikers Island, Horizon Juvenile Center and the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center. Plaintiffs targeted institutions and agencies for allegedly enabling a culture of abuse rather than naming only individual perpetrators. A pending City Council bill would reopen civil pathways for gender-based violence claims, requiring appeals or refilings if the law passes.

Read at Gothamist