Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley this week delivered $5,000 in seized drug money to a program that works with girls to prevent commercial sexual exploitation, shining a light on a crime he said “thrives in the shadows.”

Conley delivered the money on Nov. 12 to Lisa Goldblatt Grace and the My Life My Choice Program, a non-profit service continuum operated by Justice Resource Institute and aimed specifically at preventing teenage girls from being exploited through prostitution. The funds will go toward deterring teens and young women from entering “the Life” and build their skills as leaders to help their peers.

The presentation at the John W. McCormick Middle School was part of Conley’s annual Asset Forfeiture Reinvestment Program, which delivers cash and assets seized from drug traffickers to non-profit agencies in Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop.

“Research suggests that the average age of entry into prostitution is between 13 and 16 years old,” Conley said. “At that age, it’s not a choice – it’s an involuntary recruitment by predators. Pimps target young girls whose families are unstable or abusive and present them with a glamorous image of a life that will only hurt them.”

Since 2002, My Life My Choice has reached more than 500 girls and trained thousands of service providers to recognize the signs of sexual exploitation, intervene on behalf of its young victims, and act as mentors to those at risk. The program and similar efforts prompted Conley to overhaul his office’s policies on prostitution cases so that young defendants are treated as victims, not criminal offenders.

“The prostitution of girls and young women thrives in the shadows,” Conley said. “Once you confront the chilling reality that there are 300,000 children exploited through prostitution in the U.S. alone, you have no moral choice but to fight it.”

Money distributed annually through the Asset Forfeiture Reinvestment Program reflects a portion of drug dealers’ cash and assets seized by the Suffolk DA’s office, State Police, and local law enforcement agencies during the past year. Massachusetts law allows up to 10% of those monies to be redistributed to non-profit community groups within the district attorney’s jurisdiction.

This year’s awards total $50,000, or $32,500 more than the funds distributed in the first round of reinvestment grants 17 years ago. The program has been in existence since 1992, when the awards totaled $17,500.

The annual grant application is available in June and awards are distributed to eligible groups in the fall.