Cardozo Community Focuses on Children’s Rights

Joel Yacoob, 1L

Contributor

The latter half of the 20th century witnessed a remarkable surge of concern for the rights and welfare of children. Parallel to this concern there has been unprecedented scholarly research into the history of this subject. Though not as extensive as one would expect, the scholarship has revealed that children’s rights and the very comprehension of the emotional, psychological, and moral development of the child has been severely limited. The innocence of children and young adolescents was not presumed; in fact, there is evidence that the canonists, perhaps the most significant group of lawyers in the middle ages, presumed that children and minors were always prone to do wrong.

Western society looks with pride on the many sources of proof that we are indeed enlightened about children and do, in fact, put into practice the often heard saying that children are our most important resource because they are our future.

A few months ago, Cardozo Professor Marci Hamilton, the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law, held a press event for her new book Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Children. In attendance were two students who by the end of the evening were inspired and looked to take action. It became clear to them that in spite of our society’s sense of self-satisfaction, in some ways we have not advanced that far from the middle ages when it comes to one of the most horrendous offenses against children: sexual abuse.

A chasm exists between the lofty sentiments expressed by civil and religious leaders when it comes to the rights of children, and the dark reality of a court system that still reflects ignorance about both the devastating nature of sexual abuse and the compulsive nature of sexual perversity. Prof. Hamilton’s book explores the most effective roadblock to justice for victims and a surprising enabler for perpetrators: the statute of limitations.

Envisioned as a needed source of protection for the rights of the accused and an assurance against judgments based on little or no evidence, the statute of limitations has a distinctly opposite effect in the area of sexual abuse of children. In most states it ignores the complex effects of rape and abuse on children and minors and the solid body of scientific evidence that tells us that the majority of victims (70%) never publicly disclose and those who do are often prevented, by their own fears, shame, and guilt, from coming forward for years if not decades.

Enter Amol Sinha and Danielle Moriber, 2Ls who attended the press event and are students of Professor Hamilton’s First Amendment class. (In the interests of full disclosure, Sinha is an associate copy editor for The Cardozo Jurist.) As of last week, Cardozo has a new club, Cardozo Advocates for Kids (CAKids), which will be lead by the duo. Clearly motivated by an issue that previously had no voice on campus, they are also interested in the interdisciplinary of academic discourse behind the issue.

For instance, they will be holding panel discussions on March 3 about sexual abuse in religious communities and its legal responses. At play will be a rich debate involving substantive and procedural constitutional law, public policy, psychology, family law, religious studies, and cultural anthropology. “The interplay of academic fields and the conversation that is created satisfies my intellectual curiosity,” said Sinha. Simultaneously, they will be trying to rally for significant policy changes that will help stop and/or find accountability for the phenomenon of abuse that spans across religious institutions, namely the statute of limitations. Through the interaction of academia and grassroots work, CAKids will attempt to solve the grievous problem of sexual abuse that children face.

The last sentence of Prof. Hamilton’s book sums up the cause and motto of the club quite well: “It is an either/or choice: we can either protect the predators or the children.” Information regarding statute of limitations reform can be found on

SOL-Reform.com, a website set up by Prof. Hamilton.