Assemblymember Harry B. Bronson (D-Rochester/Chili/Riga/Rush/Wheatland) helped pass a package of bills aimed at protecting crime victims and their families. The passage of these bills recognizes the 30th anniversary of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, which falls on April 6-12 this year.

“Crime victims and their families may suffer devastating long term effects as a result of their experience,” Assemblymember Bronson said. “In honor of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the Assembly took broad steps to increase aid and assistance so that these victims can move forward with their lives.”

Assemblymember Bronson sponsored one of the bills in the package that would allow individuals with significant long term relationships that are not formalized by marriage to be eligible for compensation from the Crime Victims Board for actual out-of-pocket losses and counseling expenses (A.4024).

“The loss of a partner can take an extreme emotional toll on a person. Compounding that pain by not recognizing the legitimacy of their relationship is just unnecessary,” Assemblymember Bronson said. “This legislation not only helps a surviving partner cope with the loss of a loved one, but it also ends a form of legal discrimination by providing those in committed, long term relationships the same rights afforded to married couples.”

The crime victim package includes bills that would:

• Authorize courts to direct certain fines to the Office of Victim Services, putting more funds into the programs that help victims (A.9028);
• Allow victims to receive compensation for transportation costs associated with court appearances (A.5916A);
• Protect the right of tenants to report criminal acts, including acts of domestic violence, without the fear of losing their housing as the result (A.9056);
• Change the reporting requirements for restitution and fair treatment standards for the Office of Victims Services from annual to every two years (A.9025); and
• Redefine rape by removing the penetration requirement and including other forms of nonconsensual sexual conduct that are currently recognized by the law only as “criminal sexual acts” (A.3339-A).

“This package of bills strives to restore normalcy back to the lives of crime victims, while also providing them with the protection they need in the future,” Assemblymember Bronson said. “Part of protecting the rights of crime victims is ensuring that what they had to experience does not happen to another person.”