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Today, Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of a criminal sex act in the first degree and on rape in the third degree. Tina Tchen, president and CEO of the TIME’S UP Foundation, issued the following statement:

“This trial — and the jury’s decision today — marks a new era of justice, not just for the Silence Breakers, who spoke out at great personal risk, but for all survivors of harassment, abuse, and assault at work. We owe a debt of gratitude to Mimi Haleyi, Jessica Mann, Annabella Sciorra, Dawn Dunning, Tarale Wulff, Lauren Young, and all the Silence Breakers for their bravery and resolve as they faced this man in court. We continue to believe them — all of them — and continue to be in solidarity with them.

“The jury’s verdict sends a powerful message to the world of just how much progress has been made since the Weinstein Silence Breakers ignited an unstoppable movement.  In two short years, TIME’S UP helped pass new laws to help survivors achieve justice, helped thousands of individuals take on harassers and abusers in court, and changed the game when it comes to how matters of safety and equity in the workplace are understood. 

“While we celebrate this historic moment, our fight to fix the broken system that has allowed serial abusers like Harvey Weinstein to abuse women in the first place continues. Abusers everywhere and the powerful forces that protect them should be on notice: There’s no going back.” 

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND

A CBS News poll released in January 2020 found that the majority of U.S. adults, including men and women, have favorable opinions of TIME’S UP and #MeToo and show the movements are changing how men and women view, talk about, and respond to incidents of sexual misconduct. 

• According to the poll, more than half (52 percent) of young men 18-29 say these movements have made them rethink how men behave toward women; and 
• 29 percent of working women say they’re more likely to report sexual harassment in the workplace than they were before #MeToo and TIME’S UP.

Proceeding separately against Harvey Weinstein are: 

• a criminal case brought by the Los Angeles District Attorney involving charges of “forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force, and sexual battery;” 
• federal sex trafficking charges; 
• an ongoing investigation by British authorities, and 
• about a dozen civil lawsuits related to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and retaliation.

The vast majority of sexual assaults are never reported to authorities in the first place and only a fraction of those that are reported result in conviction

• RAINN estimates that out of every 1,000 sexual assault cases, 995 perpetrators will walk free.

New York’s previously short statute of limitations laws shielded many Weinstein cases from prosecution

• Over 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault, yet prosecutors were only able to bring charges in a couple of cases due to New York State’s extremely short, five-year statute of limitations on Rape in the Third Degree (sex without consent).
• TIME’S UP and other advocates successfully worked with state lawmakers to lengthen the statute of limitations for rape in the third degree in 2019. However, the change is not retroactive, so New York State prosecutors were limited in the number of charges they could file.

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TIME’S UP Foundation