{"id":268784,"date":"2025-10-01T09:12:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T09:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/268784\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T09:12:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T09:12:45","slug":"judge-nixes-hundreds-of-sexual-abuse-lawsuits-involving-nyc-juvenile-jails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/268784\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge nixes hundreds of sexual-abuse lawsuits involving NYC juvenile jails"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Bronx judge has dismissed hundreds of cases brought by former detainees<\/a> who say New York City failed to protect them from sexual abuse in juvenile jails \u2014 including about 20 people whose claims involve one serial offender<\/a> at Horizon Juvenile Center.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, City Council members joined survivors and their lawyers on the City Hall steps to demand Council Speaker Adrienne Adams advance a bill<\/a> in a bid to reinstate more than 450 lawsuits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we brought this case, we believed the law was meant to give survivors like us a chance to be heard,\u201d said Rashawn Jones, whose 2012 allegations against Horizon counselor Natalie Medford were the subject of a Daily News investigation last year<\/a>. \u201cInstead, our cases were dismissed. Not because we lied, not because what happened didn\u2019t matter \u2014 but because of unclear language in the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RashawnRashawn Jones is pictured Friday, June 28, 2024, in the Bronx. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

That law is the city\u2019s Gender-Motivated Violence Act<\/a>, which under a recent amendment created a two-year, \u201clookback window,\u201d until March 2025, for victims to bring civil cases against institutions or city agencies they say enabled such abuse.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, an appeals court ruled in a case involving a hospital network that parties accused of enabling violence before the updated law should not be held liable, because the amendment did not explicitly apply retroactively.<\/p>\n

Bronx Justice Mitchell Danziger then dismissed the 450 juvenile detention cases based on the appellate decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s despicable. It\u2019s deplorable,\u201d Jones told The News after the press conference. \u201cI was home in the house, cleaning up. Someone told me just to go check.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I went and looked. I read the short order form, and I couldn\u2019t believe what I was reading. This might be stupid, but I asked ChatGPT five to 10 times, what\u2019s the likelihood of this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RashawnRashawn Jones speaks during a rally Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in support of a bill that would clarify a legal pathway for victims of sexual abuse in New York City\u2019s juvenile detention facilities. (Cayla Bamberger \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Currently, 35 Council members have signed onto a bill that would amend the law again to clear up any ambiguity about it being retroactive. But Speaker Adams has yet to schedule a vote, despite it having the support of more than two-thirds of the Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey deserve the chance to hold both abusers and institutions responsible,\u201d said Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers (D-Queens), the measure\u2019s lead sponsor. \u201cThis bill will address the recent decision by the courts and make it clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council spokesperson Lindsey Bach said,\u00a0\u201cSurvivors of gender-based violence deserve justice and accountability. Int. 1297 was introduced in May and is currently going through the legislative process, which is deliberative and allows for thorough input from all stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marisa Kaufman, a spokeswoman for the city\u2019s Administration for Children\u2019s Services, said, \u201cSexual abuse and harassment is abhorrent and unacceptable, and although many of the incidents predated this administration or ACS\u2019s involvement with juvenile justice, we take any allegation very seriously. We have implemented a robust prevention strategy and have zero tolerance for misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CouncilwomanCouncilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers (D-Queens) speaks during a rally Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in support of a bill that would clarify a legal pathway for victims of sexual abuse in New York City\u2019s juvenile detention facilities. (Cayla Bamberger \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s Law Department reiterated the Gender-Motivated Violence Act does not authorize claims against the city before the law was enacted or expanded.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs are being represented by Jerome Block, a partner at Levy Konigsberg LLP.<\/p>\n

Jones remains optimistic: \u201cIt\u2019s not over, it\u2019s not over, it\u2019s not over,\u201d he repeated. \u201cIt\u2019s just \u2014 there\u2019s no way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy how this agency, ACS, can come and take your kids from you if they deem that you\u2019re not fit to take care of them. I was in their custody when I was molested by one of their staff members. And I don\u2019t know what world we live in, where the [agency] that takes your kids from you, can have your kids in their custody and your kids be molested by their staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an oxymoron. It\u2019s very paradoxical. I don\u2019t even know the word\u2026 But I have faith in my lawyers and the team that we\u2019ll be able to have the next judge see things in our way, especially after this law. Once this law is fixed, there\u2019s no way for them to shrivel out of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 30, 2025 at 5:52 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Bronx judge has dismissed hundreds of cases brought by former detainees who say New York City failed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":268785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1370,728,405,403,5294,5296,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-268784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-county","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115298143474136219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}