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Read the press release here.

Manhattan 'Special Victims' to Be Serviced by New DA Bureau

By DNAinfo Staff on September 24, 2010 7:09pm

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. at a press conference Wednesday.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. at a press conference Wednesday.
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DNAinfo/Shayna Jacobs

By Shayna Jacobs

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

ONE HOGAN PLACE — Some of Manhattan's most sensitive criminal cases will be overseen by the District Attorney's new "Special Victims Bureau," which combines several units that already service sex crime, elder abuse, child and domestic abuse victims.

The shift is meant to combine resources and see that the office's "highly sensitive cases" involving "some of our most vulnerable victims" will have a larger support system, Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr. said.

“The consolidation of our resources in one bureau will ensure that the Office better supports the victims whose lives are often upended due to the nature of these types of crimes," Vance said.

Members of the bureau will also help Vance push for stricter domestic violence laws in New York State.

Vance hopes lawmakers will pass legislation allowing for the felony prosecution of repeat domestic violence offenders. Under his proposed law, someone who has committed more than two acts of domestic violence in five years will face felony charges.