Mar 11, 2009 -- Cardozo Advocates for Kids, a student organization at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, has launched a Web site, www.sol-reform.com, to aid victims of childhood sexual abuse and be a resource in the national grassroots movement to eliminate the statutes of limitations for childhood sexual abuse. The effort to pass legislation in every state that eliminates the statues of limitations for victims is responding to the now well-documented scientific fact that childhood sexual abuse victims typically take years to tell others about the abuse, especially authorities. The students’ Web site raises awareness about reforming the statutes of limitations on child sexual abuse and underscores the national prevalence of the crime. It encourages interested people to contact their local, state, and national representatives to help bring about reform throughout the country. Prof. Marci Hamilton, the Paul R. Verkuil Professor of Public Law at Cardozo and a national expert in the field, advises the student organization. New York State is on the verge of voting on the Child Victims Act (A02596), or what might be named the Predator Identity Act, which extends the civil and criminal statutes of limitations for child sex abuse. The bill opens a one-year “window”—a year when victims of child sex abuse can file civil claims even if their statute of limitations previously expired—for the many victims who have been locked out of the courthouse by arbitrarily short statutes of limitations.