Biaggi calls for law change to protect abuse victims who were drinking or drugged

State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi says she is using her painful experience of childhood sexual assault to push a what could be a revolutionary law to the floor.

News 12 Staff

Sep 8, 2019, 8:26 PM

Updated 1,863 days ago

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State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi says she is using her painful experience of childhood sexual assault to push a what could be a revolutionary law to the floor.
Biaggi represents the 34th District, which encompasses the Bronx and parts of Westchester.
She tells News 12 that according to state law, a person who drinks alcohol on their own free will isn't protected in the same way as a person who becomes intoxicated after being drugged for forced to drink – saying, the state cannot bring a case of sexual abuse against the accused.

"There's no real difference between your mental state if you're involuntarily intoxicated or voluntarily intoxicated. The law, especially as it relates to sex crimes, should be treated the same,” she says.
The senator says she wants to close the loophole and add explicit language in the penal code that protects victims who freely drink alcohol. She tells News 12 that current law points the finger of blame at the victims, not the abuser.

"To eliminate that and to stop making it the victim's fault for being attacked, harassed, abused, raped....the law has to change,” she says.