We’re not quite there yet on bill

To the editor:

Did you know that, in New York, the law prevents prosecutions for sexual assault if the victim was voluntarily intoxicated?

We need to end this “voluntary intoxication loophole” to obtain justice for crime victims. Fourteen states — including Arkansas, California, Maryland and South Carolina — already have laws that protect these victims.

A bill to fix the loophole, which is modeled on the best of these other states’ laws passed the state senate last year. But Jeff Dinowitz, chair of the assembly codes committee, pushed a weaker version of the bill through on May 10.

Please contact Assemblyman Dinowitz at dinowitzj@nyassembly.gov, or (718) 796-5345, to tell him to support the senate version of this important legislation so that crime victims will be protected!

Sue Ellen Dodell