Add Art 66 §66.00, amd §65.00, CP L; amd §642-a, Exec L
Enacts the "child survivor privacy act"; provides protections for child victims and child witnesses; restricts information to the public regarding a child witness or child victim's identity or proceeding; defines child witness; provides that whenever practical, the same prosecutor, advocate, and/or social worker shall handle all aspects of a case involving an alleged child victim.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
22
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. TEDISCO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law and the executive law, in
relation to enacting the "child survivor privacy act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "child
2 survivor privacy act".
3 § 2. The criminal procedure law is amended by adding a new article 66
4 to read as follows:
5 ARTICLE 66
6 PROTECTIONS FOR CHILD VICTIMS AND CHILD WITNESSES
7 Section 66.00 Protections for child victims and child witnesses.
8 § 66.00 Protections for child victims and child witnesses.
9 1. The records of any proceeding in the criminal court involving a
10 child victim and/or child witness shall not be open to indiscriminate
11 public inspection. Provided, however, the court in its discretion in any
12 case may permit the inspection of any papers or records. Any duly
13 authorized agency, association, society or institution to which a child
14 is committed may cause an inspection of the record of investigation to
15 be had and may in the discretion of the court obtain a copy of the whole
16 or part of such record.
17 2. Any criminal proceeding where the victim is a child shall be a
18 closed proceeding upon request made by the child victim and/or such
19 child victim's parent, guardian, or advocate. For purposes of this
20 section, "closed proceeding" means that court records may not be
21 perused, examined, disclosed, taken or copied by any other person than a
22 party, the attorney or counsel of a party, the guardian, the court eval-
23 uator or the court examiner except by order of the court.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00175-01-5
S. 22 2
1 3. The identity of the child victim shall be made anonymous throughout
2 the proceeding unless a request is made to identify the child victim.
3 Such request may be made by the child victim, and/or such child victim's
4 parent, guardian, or advocate.
5 4. No audio-visual coverage shall be permitted in a criminal proceed-
6 ing in which there is a child victim of a crime, or the child victim is
7 a child witness as such term is defined in section 65.00 of this title,
8 or vulnerable as such term is defined in section 65.10 of the this
9 title.
10 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 65.00 of the criminal procedure law, as
11 amended by chapter 320 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as
12 follows:
13 1. "Child witness" means a person fourteen years old or less who is or
14 will be called to testify in a criminal proceeding, other than a grand
15 jury proceeding, concerning an offense defined in article one hundred
16 thirty of the penal law or section 255.25, 255.26 or 255.27 of such law
17 which is the subject of such criminal proceeding, or a person eighteen
18 years of age or less who is the victim of any crime and who is or will
19 be called to testify in a criminal proceeding.
20 § 4. Section 642-a of the executive law, as added by chapter 263 of
21 the laws of 1986, the section heading and subdivision 1 as amended by
22 chapter 574 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
23 § 642-a. Fair treatment of child victims as witnesses. To the extent
24 permitted by law, criminal justice agencies, crime victim-related agen-
25 cies, social services agencies and the courts shall comply with the
26 following guidelines in their treatment of child victims:
27 1. (a) To minimize the number of times a child victim is called upon
28 to recite the events of the case and to foster a feeling of trust and
29 confidence in the child victim, whenever practicable and where one
30 exists, a multi-disciplinary team as established pursuant to subdivision
31 six of section four hundred twenty-three of the social services law
32 and/or a child advocacy center shall be used for the investigation and
33 prosecution of child abuse cases involving abuse of a child, as
34 described in paragraph (i), (ii) or (iii) of subdivision (e) of section
35 one thousand twelve of the family court act, sexual abuse of a child or
36 the death of a child, or where the child is the victim of or witness to
37 any crime.
38 (b) When it is not practicable for a multi-disciplinary team as estab-
39 lished pursuant to subdivision six of section four hundred twenty-three
40 of the social services law and/or a child advocacy center to be used,
41 the child victim and/or such child victim's family or guardian shall be
42 provided with informational materials on local resources for counseling,
43 advocacy, and social services.
44 2. Whenever practicable, the same prosecutor should handle all aspects
45 of a case involving an alleged child victim. Whenever practicable, the
46 same prosecutor, advocate, and/or social worker shall handle all aspects
47 of a case involving an alleged child victim. Whenever practicable, the
48 prosecutor, advocate, and/or social worker shall collaborate with one
49 another to minimize the child victim's stress of recounting events of
50 the case during interviews and throughout the course of the proceeding.
51 3. To minimize the time during which a child victim must endure the
52 stress of [his] such child victim's involvement in the proceedings, the
53 court should take appropriate action to ensure a speedy trial in all
54 proceedings involving an alleged child victim. In ruling on any motion
55 or request for a delay or continuance of a proceeding involving an
56 alleged child victim, the court [should] shall consider and give weight
S. 22 3
1 to any potential adverse impact the delay or continuance may have on the
2 well-being of the child.
3 4. The judge presiding [should] shall be sensitive to the psycholog-
4 ical and emotional stress a child witness may undergo when testifying.
5 5. In accordance with the provisions of article sixty-five of the
6 criminal procedure law, when appropriate, a child witness as defined in
7 subdivision one of section 65.00 of such law [should] shall be permitted
8 to testify via live, two-way closed-circuit television.
9 6. In accordance with the provisions of section 190.32 of the criminal
10 procedure law, a person supportive of the "child witness" or "special
11 witness" as defined in such section [should] shall be permitted to be
12 present and accessible to a child witness at all times during [his] such
13 child witness's testimony, although the person supportive of the child
14 witness [should] shall not be permitted to influence the child's testi-
15 mony.
16 7. A child witness should be permitted in the discretion of the court
17 to use anatomically correct dolls and drawings during [his] such child
18 witness's testimony.
19 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, the
20 amendments to section 65.00 of the criminal procedure law made by
21 section three of this act shall not affect the repeal of such section
22 and shall be deemed repealed therewith.
