Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley is joining local, state, and federal partners in unveiling a new advertising campaign to draw attention to young people exploited through human trafficking.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, with Dr. Barbara Ferrer of the Boston Public Health Commission (left) and Mayor Thomas Menino (right), spoke at the Sept. 28 unveiling of a new ad campaign raising awareness of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation at South Station. The ads mimic posts on websites and newspapers that promote the exploitation of underage boys and girls.

“Sexual trafficking exists because of a demand,” Conley said at a press conference at South Station on September 28 announcing the awareness camapign. “That demand is aided and abetted by websites and newspapers with ads for sexual services. As these posters make clear, those services are all too often coerced out of young teens, both boys and girls, who have been pressured, tricked, and even forced into a life that deprives them of choice and dignity.”

Partners in the effort include US Attorney Carmen Ortiz, Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, Mayor Thomas Menino, Dr. Barbara Ferrer of the Boston Public Health Commission, and Audrey Porter, assistant director and coordinator of survivor services for the My Life My Choice Project, which helps the young victims of commercial sexual exploitation, Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Colonel Frank Matthews, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, and MBTA Transit Police Deputy Chief Joseph O’Connor.

The multi-disciplinary coalition, which is centered largely around the Family Justice Center of Boston, includes scores of service providers from various non-profit and child protection agencies, all of whom lent their support to a series of advertisements that mimic ads found online and in print offering sexual services for a fee.

Under the heading “Seductive Blonde Angel, 19,” one such ad reads, “I’m the girl behind this ad. I’m 15 years old … I don’t know how to get out of this life but I know this – I fear the man who sells me and I hate the men who buy me.”

Ads like this one, that mimic posts on websites and newspapers that exploit underage boys and girls, will appear in city trains and buses to raise awareness about human trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

In 2004, Conley implemented a policy under which juveniles arrested in sex-for-fee cases are treated as victims rather than criminal offenders. Working hand-in-hand with the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County, prosecutors dismiss criminal charges against those young people and instead connect them with medical care, counseling, job training, and other services. Earlier this year, he filed a bill that would expand that policy statewide.

“But changing the law isn’t enough,” Conley said during the press conference. “We have to change public perceptions as well. We need to make self-respect and respect for intimate partners something every adult will talk about when raising, teaching, or mentoring a youngster. That might sound like a tough topic for parents and caregivers to confront, but it can be done – and we’re here to help you do it.”

Click here to read DA Conley’s remarks at the Sept. 28, 2011 press conference announcing the human trafficking awareness campaign.

Safe Harbor Legislation
Children and teenagers coerced into prostitution aren’t criminal offenders: they’re victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Under the direction of District Attorney Conley, the Suffolk County DA’s office is at the forefront of efforts to provide them with the services and care that all child abuse victims deserve.

District Attorney Conley, the Support to End Exploitation Now (SEEN) coalition, and police in Boston, Revere, Chelsea and Winthrop have been working for the past five years to divert prostituted youth away from “the life.” Just as important, they’re working to steer those children toward agencies that will turn their lives around. Across Massachusetts, however, the laws on the books still treat juveniles arrested for prostitution as delinquents, subject to criminal penalties up to and including secure confinement. This juvenile justice response can be re-traumatizing, it doesn’t recognize the child’s victimization, and it doesn’t provide access to services and protection.

With the support of more than 35 public and private agencies, District Attorney Conley and the SEEN Coalition have proposed the Massachusetts Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act, which would create an avenue by which juveniles arrested in prostitution cases would be considered victim of exploitations rather than criminal offenders. The bill would mandate access to services including shelter, food, clothing, medical care, and counseling. If passed by the Legislature, it would further ensure that cases of commercial exploitation would be referred to and investigated by law enforcement and the district attorney’s office.

The bill defines a “sexually exploited child” as a person under the age of 18 who is a victim of sex trafficking as defined under federal law, or who engages in conduct described as sex for a fee, is a victim of being induced into prostitution, or engages in acts of common street walking or common night walking, all as defined under Massachusetts law. It further presumes that a sexually exploited child is not committing a crime, but is a victim of exploitation and is presumed to be a child in need of services (CHINS), or subject to the care and protection of the state.

How the new system will work:

• The bill will allow for “appropriate services” to assist in the planning and care of child victims of sexual exploitation. These services include shelter, advocacy, medical care, and counseling, and aid the child in escaping exploitation;
• It authorizes the court to hold a hearing to determine whether the case should be handled as a delinquency proceeding or whether it should be replaced with a CHINS or care and protection proceeding. If a child is not in compliance with court orders pursuant to a CHINS case or a care and protection case, the court may re-initiate the delinquency case;
• It requires that mandated reporters file a report of suspected abuse and neglect (51A) on behalf of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation;
•  It authorizes the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to provide services to sexually exploited children and;
• Requires DCF to report commercial sexual exploitation of children to the district attorney and law enforcement so that the pimps and johns who exploit youth can be held accountable;
• It also requires a team of professionals, including members of the police department, social service providers, the department of children and families, the district attorney’s office, and others to convene in order to cooperatively assess the needs of the child and recommend a plan for services.

In conjunction with the Safe Harbor legislation, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed An Act Relative to the Commercial Exploitation of People, which creates the crime of trafficking persons for the purpose of sexual servitude, increases the penalties for pimps who exploit underage prostitutes and johns who solicit them, and allows for the forfeiture of funds generated from prostitution to be given to the victim as restitution. To read DA Conley’s testimony to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, click here.

For more information about the AG’s legislation, click here.