Child Abuse and Neglect
Volume 51, 2016, Pages 249-262

Identifying best practices for "Safe Harbor" legislation to protect child sex trafficking victims: Decriminalization alone is not sufficient (Article)

Barnert E.S.* , Abrams S. , Azzi V.F. , Ryan G. , Brook R. , Chung P.J.
  • a Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States, Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA, 757 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
  • b Children's Law Center of California, 201 Centre Plaza Dr #10, Monterey Park, CA, United States
  • c Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA, 757 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
  • d RAND Health, RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90401, United States
  • e RAND Health, RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90401, United States, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
  • f Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States, Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA, 757 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States, RAND Health, RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90401, United States, Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, 640 Charles E Young Dr S, Los Angeles, CA 90024, United States

Abstract

Several states have recently enacted "Safe Harbor" laws to redirect child victims of commercial sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking from the criminal justice system and into the child welfare system. No comprehensive studies of Safe Harbor law implementation exist. The nine state Safe Harbor laws enacted by 2012 were analyzed to guide state legislators, health professionals, law enforcement agents, child welfare providers, and other responders to the commercial sexual exploitation of children on the development and implementation of state Safe Harbor laws. The authors conducted 32 semi-structured interviews with Safe Harbor experts in these states. Participants conveyed that Safe Harbor legislation signified a critical paradigm shift, treating commercially sexually exploited youth not as criminals but as vulnerable children in need of services. However, Safe Harbor legislation varied widely and significant gaps in laws exist. Such laws alone were considered insufficient without adequate funding for necessary services. As a result, many well-meaning providers were going around the Safe Harbor laws by continuing to incarcerate commercially sexually exploited youth in the juvenile justice system regardless of Safe Harbor laws in place. This was done, to act, in their view, in what was the best interest of the victimized children. With imperfect laws and implementation, these findings suggest an important role for local and state responders to act together to protect victims from unnecessary criminalization and potential further traumatization. © 2015.

Author Keywords

Safe Harbor laws Commercial sexual exploitation of children Child sex trafficking Human trafficking Sexual abuse

Index Keywords

Child Abuse, Sexual law human Child Protective Services funding child protection sex trafficking United States Humans Adolescent male semi structured interview female Child Welfare sexual exploitation prostitution victim child sexual abuse prevention and control human trafficking organization and management legislation and jurisprudence Sex Work crime victim crime law enforcement Crime Victims Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84952862322&doi=10.1016%2fj.chiabu.2015.10.002&partnerID=40&md5=19b8feb13604959e6bf9292e719bf70b
DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.10.002
ISSN: 01452134
Cited by: 17
Original Language: English