A Safe Harbor Is Temporary Shelter, Not A Pathway Forward: How Court-Mandated Sex Trafficking Intervention Fails to Help Girls Quit the Sex Trade

Balancing clinical needs and probation requirements within CSEC specialty courts

“…Depending on where youth are in their recovery process, it may not be realistic to expect that they will have completely disengaged from "the life" or be ready to address their trauma. Similar to questions raised by evaluations of other CSEC specialty courts (Luminais et al, 2019), is a lack of disengagement considered part of successful or unsuccessful program completion? Is linkage to community-based services that will support their complex trauma needs sufficient or is active participation in treatment also required?…”

“…With these challenges in mind, CSEC specialty courts' definitions of successful program completion, as well as the framing of conversations about healing and recovery, may need to be adjusted in light of youths' histories of complex trauma. In line with Luminais et al (2019)'s ideas regarding "incremental progress," for example, our team has also had conversations when staffing cases about what success means as youth come to the end of their probation terms and participation in our CSEC specialty court. Such discussions have included exploring whether success may be better measured in terms of interpersonal growth, such as increases in open communication and the development of trusting relationships with court professionals and providers.…”

“…Qualitative investigations into some of these courts have highlighted strengths and challenges; for example, in the CSEC specialty docket in Sacramento, CA, the majority of the team recognized its multidisciplinary framework as a program strength and identified the need for more appropriate out-of-home-placements as an ongoing challenge (Liles et al, 2016). Other studies, such as the evaluation of the specialized docket for youth in Cuyahoga County, OH, have illuminated conceptual challenges of the "victim-delinquent" dichotomy often present in CSEC specialty courts, the need for clearer program goals and different markers of success, and the fact that participation in the specialized docket did not decrease youths' involvement in trafficking (Luminais et al, 2019).…”

“…From our experience working in a CSEC specialty court (CARE Court in Harris County, Texas), this dichotomy often poses philosophical and practical challenges for specialty court professionals seeking to best serve youth who have experienced sexual exploitation. As the implementation of CSEC specialty courts expands in jurisdictions across the country, the current paper adds to the emerging discussion (e.g., Luminais et al, 2019) by highlighting some of the clinical-probation tensions that programs may experience. Although we do not have the answers to many of the challenges we explore in this paper, we hope that raising these important questions will further the conversation around working with youth involved in the juvenile justice system who have experienced sexual exploitation.…”

Quitting the Sex Trade: Keeping Narratives inside the Debates on Prostitution Policy and Legislation

“…These problem-solving courts are well-meaning, but there are not quantitative studies showing that they work. In this special issue, Luminais & Lovell (2019) conduct qualitative research on a juvenile HTIC in Ohio, and they find that court staff discusses poor success rates and successive admissions. According to Luminais and Lovell (2019), the court's idea of "success" should be re-assessed.…”