{"id":362098,"date":"2026-10-01T19:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T19:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/362098\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T19:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T19:24:10","slug":"new-york-lawmakers-push-for-sex-assault-bill-amid-cornell-seven-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/362098\/","title":{"rendered":"New York lawmakers push for sex assault bill amid \u2018Cornell Seven\u2019 case"},"content":{"rendered":"

A proposed New York law introduced in the wake of the \u201cCornell Seven\u201d case<\/a> would make it easier to prosecute certain sexual assault<\/a> cases when a victim is too impaired by drugs, including alcohol, to understand what is happening or consent to sexual activity.<\/p>\n

Bronx lawmakers and survivors of sexual violence held a press conference outside Bronx County Courthouse on Thursday to renew the call for passage of S.10632\/A.101<\/a>, a bill that addresses a specific gap in the Empire State\u2019s sexual assault laws that can limit prosecution when a victim becomes voluntarily intoxicated\u2014 thus, incapable of consenting, the group explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtections for survivors of sexual assault are virtually non-existent when an individual voluntarily consumes an intoxicating substance,\u201d Bronx Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz, a sponsor of the bill, said. \u201c[S.10632\/A.101] would help close this gap by allowing prosecutors to focus on the central question of whether a person was capable of consenting, rather than how they became intoxicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill, lawmakers explained, would also focus on whether the individual or individuals accused of the assault knew, or reasonably should have known, that the victim was unable to consent.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to demand justice for the survivors of sexual assault because in New York, all too often, they do not get justice,\u201d Dinowitz said. \u201cIf you went to a party, you just drank too much, took drugs or whatever, you will not get justice in New York because of the way our law is written.\u201d<\/p>\n

The press conference was held in response to the \u201cCornell Seven\u201d allegations that have made national headlines this week. The case centers around seven current and former Ithaca-based Cornell University students named in a civil lawsuit involving allegations of a sexual assault at a frat house in October 2024. The county\u2019s district attorney later reopened the criminal investigation into the matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Protecting victims and providing evidence\u00a0
\n\"BronxBronx DA Darcel ClarkPhoto by Ramy Mahmoud<\/p>\n

Lawmakers said many survivors of sexual violence face challenges to proving a lack of consent when they are under the influence, especially when they were unconscious or partially unconscious during an alleged assault.<\/p>\n

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, who spoke at the event, reminded attendees that they had gathered in the same place a year ago to urge the state to close the same voluntary intoxication loophole in the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, as the law is written, lack of consent can be established when a person is forced, physically helpless, mentally incapacitated, or drugged without their knowledge by someone else, or when they say \u2018no,\u2019\u201d the DA explained. \u201cBut if a person is out with friends and voluntarily consumes alcohol or drugs and becomes intoxicated, so they are unable to say \u2018no,\u2019 and they are sexually assaulted, that scenario is not covered by the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a prosecutor, she urged protecting the victims by closing the loophole while underscoring the importance of evidence showing intoxication.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law should recognize when someone is simply incapable of consenting,\u201d Clark said. \u201cIf a reasonable person in this situation would have understood that the victim was unable to consent, and we can corroborate it with other evidence like video of someone not being able to walk or witnesses who saw the victim slurring their words or falling asleep or anything like that to help us establish the victim\u2019s inability to consent, then that would be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe bill was introduced in response to the \u201cCornell Seven\u201d allegations that have made national headlines this week. The case centers around seven current and former Ithaca-based Cornell University students named in a civil lawsuit involving allegations of a sexual assault at a frat house in October 2024. The county\u2019s district attorney later reopened the criminal investigation into the matter.REUTERS\/Lauren Petracca<\/p>\n

Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, who represents parts of Manhattan, crossed district lines to show support for the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve finally had enough in this society to say we are no longer women-shaming. We are no longer victim-blaming. We are no longer tolerating infantile boys who say, \u2018Is the shop still open?,\u2019\u201d Rosenthal said, referencing the vulgar Snapchat messages made public between the men accused of the alleged Cornell University rape.<\/p>\n

Currently, S.10632\/A.101 is moving through the legislative process. It has passed the State Senate, but is still in the Assembly Committee and needs the governor\u2019s approval before it goes into law.<\/p>\n

Rape statistics in NYC<\/p>\n

According to the NYPD, rape declined for the second consecutive month in August.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

However, year-to-date, rapes increased 3.2% (1,423 vs. 1,379) compared to 2025, which the NYPD said it attributes in large part to reports of crimes that occurred in prior years. The department said 26% of all rapes reported in 2026 occurred in previous years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rape continues to be underreported. The NYPD asks victims of sexual assault to come forward. To make a report of a sex crime, call the department\u2019s 24-hour hotline at 646-610-7272 or 212-267-7273.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A proposed New York law introduced in the wake of the \u201cCornell Seven\u201d case would make it easier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[45679,134498,128,13462,9,11,10,87,134499],"class_list":["post-362098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-assembly-member-linda-rosenthal","tag-assemblymember-jeffrey-dinowitz","tag-bronx","tag-bronx-district-attorney-darcel-clark","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-sex-assault-laws"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}