New Jersey Sexual Abuse Lawyer

Representing Victims of Sexual Assault

Sexual abuse can happen to anyone, of any age, in any setting. Some of our clients have experienced it in:

• The workplace: Co-workers and supervisors can threaten people with professional retaliation in order to keep them quiet about unwanted sexual contact at work.
• Religious activities: Sexual abuse scandals have rocked many different religious groups, and the number keeps growing.
• Medical facilities: Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals can use their power to abuse patients.
• Educational and caregiving settings: Children are especially vulnerable while in school, on sports teams, and in day cares.
• Seemingly private settings: Perpetrators can sometimes leave hidden cameras in restrooms, changing rooms, hotel rooms, and other places that are supposed to be private.

Beyond the obvious criminal liability of these scenarios, our lawyers can also hold companies and institutions liable if their negligence contributed to your abuse. It often takes people years to process what happened to them, so even if you were abused as a child, you may still have legal options.

Religious Sexual Abuse

People put a huge amount of trust in the religious figures in their lives: priests, rabbis, and others. Unfortunately, some leaders exploit that trust and use it to cover up sexual predation. While this abuse happens most often to children, it can happen to adults as well. The shame and guilt victims feel often is often combined with institutional protections to keep the truth from coming out. If you have been preyed upon by a religious figure at any point in your life you may have legal options available to you. Beyond the criminal charges against the person who abused you, we can also pursue civil charges against the institution that protected them.

While Christian denominations have received an outsized share of coverage for ongoing sexual abuse scandals, these issues are not restricted to a single faith. Our attorneys have handled sexual abuse involving:

• Systematic cover-ups from the Catholic Church, including dioceses and archdioceses
• Rabbis and school leaders in Orthodox Judaism
• Protestant religious groups and evangelical churches
• Mormon missionary groups
• Jehovah’s Witnesses

The dynamics within each religion are different, but the unacceptability of sexual abuse is the same. Our attorneys will fully investigate the institutional structures that allowed the abuse to happen and advocate for justice on your behalf.

Caregiver Sexual Abuse

The reality of modern life is that children are often outside of their parents’ care. Without proper safety measures in place, predators can infiltrate institutions and assume positions of authority over their victims. Our attorneys have dealt with childhood sexual assault cases involving:

• Schools and educational programs
• Sports teams and athletic camps
• Daycare providers
• Scouting organizations

We are familiar with the manipulative tactics that these abusers often use to secure the silence of their victims. By connecting you with the proper psychological professionals and other support, we will lay the foundation to eradicate this abuse and secure justice for your family. Organizations that serve children have a heightened responsibility to ensure that their staff members are safe. When background checks and sexual abuse policies are missing, kids are the ones who pay the price.

Our experienced lawyers will fully examine the circumstances that enabled your child’s abuse. If an institution was negligent – and they frequently are – we will use every avenue available to secure compensation for your family. While this will not undo what happened to your child, it can lead to changes that will protect other people’s children in the future.

Healthcare Sexual Abuse

People put tremendous trust in health care providers such as doctors, nurses, and nursing home staff. When dealing with someone’s medical health, the authority and access they need to make decisions is considerable. Unfortunately, they can also exploit this access for sexual reasons, and some of them do.

Health care professionals frequently inspect a person’s most intimate areas in the course of normal care. Knowing this, sexual predators will sometimes gravitate toward these professions. If they are not caught, the damage can be lasting and extreme. Our attorneys have represented clients who have experienced abuse at the hands of:

• Hospital and ER doctors
• Clinic staff
• Nursing home assistants
• School nurses
• Psychiatric or residential treatment staff
• Drug and alcohol rehab staff

Serial abusers will often use their position to shame or frighten their victims into silence, enabled by workplace policies that prioritize the institution over the victim. You do not have to stand for this kind of treatment. The law is on your side, and our lawyers will use it to hold these individuals and organizations accountable.

Workplace Sexual Abuse

Your workplace is supposed to be somewhere that you are valued for your talents and treated as a professional. Unfortunately, far too many people face the exact opposite: sexual predation from co-workers or superiors. You may know the excruciating choice all too well: Should you endure the abuse or suffer the consequences of reporting it?

The person who abused you should face criminal charges for their actions. However, employers can be held liable as well if they have deficient hiring practices or failed to act. Some of these scenarios can include:

• Failing to conduct background checks on prospective employees
• Taking insufficient disciplinary action after an abuse report or not acting at all
• Blaming you or otherwise pressuring you not to come forward with your allegations
• Bureaucratic shielding of abusers to protect the corporate brand

These actions are inappropriate and wrong. An experienced sexual abuse lawyer at our firm will meet with you to examine the exact circumstances that allowed the abuse to take place. Afterward, we will lay out your legal options and walk you through all the steps involved in each one. Our goal is to pursue legal action that you are comfortable with.

Hidden Cameras

Hidden cameras are more common than people realize. While many of them have legitimate security uses, other cameras are intended for more sinister purposes. Sexual predators and other voyeurs place hidden cameras in a variety of locations. These can include:

• Hotel rooms
• Airbnbs
• Rental properties
• Restrooms
• Locker rooms
• Changing rooms

Hidden cameras are often disguised to look like other objects. They can take the form of an alarm clock, a smoke detector, a USB charger, or something else innocuous. Be on the lookout for items that seem out of place. There will usually be a pinhole opening through which you can see the glint of a camera lens. Smartphone apps are also available that will allow you to scan the area for hidden cameras that transmit video wirelessly.

Contact a Sexual Abuse Lawyer at our Firm

At Rubenstein, Berliner, & Shinrod, LLC, we know that this may be the hardest thing you have ever dealt with in your entire life. That is why we offer free consultations, with absolutely no obligations afterward. We just want you to be informed. The rest is up to you. To find out what your options are, contact an experienced New Jersey sexual abuse lawyer at our firm today.