The new law is intended to remove some of the legal barriers to bringing civil and criminal charges against perpetrators of child sexual abuse. But critics say it does little to help put pedophiles behind bars, which would protect children most.

Though the law moves the statute of limitations for pressing criminal charges for child sex abuse by five years, giving child victims until age 28 to press felony charges and until 25 to press misdemeanor charges, it can take decades for adults to come to terms with abuse they experienced as children.

For this reason, many other states have altogether eliminated statutes of limitations for bringing criminal charges against perpetrators of child sex abuse, though the changes are not retroactive and only affect cases going forward , said Ms. Hamilton of Child U.S.A.

In that sense, the Child Victims Act “is a victory for perpetrators,” she said. “They might be sued and named publicly, so the world will learn they are perpetrators. But they won’t be behind bars.”

The women who want to sue Mr. Copperman know that he won’t go to jail, and they say it’s not really money that they seek.

Lynn Barnett Seigerman, 5 2, a project manager in San Diego, said she was abused by Mr. Copperman at her annual physicals every year when she was a teenager.

“I want my day in court,” she said. “I want justice to be served, and I don’t think it was. I want him to pay, not necessarily monetarily — I want him to feel the shame that I felt.”

Roni Caryn Rabin is a science and health reporter at The Times. Reach her at roni.rabin@nytimes.com.