The average age of a girl who enters prostitution is 14. In the years following, she may face sexual abuse, addiction and other forms of exploitation.
To cut short that trauma, if not prevent it entirely, Phoenix law enforcement and nonprofits are increasingly teaming up to get victims of sex trafficking off the streets permanently.
Law enforcement has made progress in the past decade. Maricopa County arrest rates for prostitution have fallen for females under 18 from 38 in 2002 to three in 2012, according to reports by the Arizona Department for Public Safety.
However, an arrest is no guarantee that the person will not re-enter sex trafficking. Many victims do not learn the life skills or receive the counseling they need to make a new start.
That’s where nonprofits like StreetLightUSA and Catholic Charities step in.
Organizations receive victims from the Phoenix court system or Child Protective Services. If the girls agree to enter the program as an alternative to jail time, they then go through rigorous classes and therapy. They also receive housing, medical treatment and other resources.
“There are nonprofit and some faith-based organizations, which can help with counseling, resources and training, which can be provided to individuals to help them out of their high-risk lifestyle,” Phoenix Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Steve Martos said in an email.
StreetLightUSA was founded in 2009 and accepted its first girl in 2011. They can currently serve 48 girls at a time and have helped over 100 in the past four years.
The unofficial first step in StreetLightUSA’s program is to gain the girls’ trust.
“The first few days are just to show the girls the capacity for trust,” spokesperson Norma Salas said. “They’ve been lied to, tricked, constantly been abused. So here we help them get to the point where they feel safe.”
Girls that come to the program can receive dental care, as well as medical care for malnourishment and sexually transmitted diseases, Salas said. StreetLightUSA also provides therapy for PTSD and other mental illnesses, teaching the girls how to cope with trauma.
There is also legal help, and specialized education to receive high school diplomas or GEDs are available.
The girls allowed to stay at the nonprofit’s facilities are usually between the ages of 11-17, Salas said. However, if they are working or pursuing a community college education, they can stay until they are 22.
StreetLightUSA works with law enforcement to teach first responders the symptoms of sex trafficking, an important skill as many victims are too afraid to admit to or are unable to recognize their situation.
“Some don’t realize they’ve been trafficked and are victims until they come here,” Salas said.
Teaching girls to lead a normal life, such as viewing a mall as a place to shop, not to pick-up “Johns”, is the most difficult but also the most rewarding part of the job, according to Salas.
“They have a destroyed image of life,” she said. “So getting them around and showing them what a regular lifestyle should look like, how they can go have a normal life, it makes you feel passionate about it. It makes you feel like you can make a difference.”
The DIGNITY service, founded within the nonprofit Catholic Charities in 1997, has similar aims.
“It’s a positive alternative to arrest, to just putting people in jail,” said Cathy Bauer, the supervisor for the Diversion programs within DIGNITY.
The DIGNITY Diversion program works in tandem with the Phoenix City Prosecutor’s Office to prevent future offenses and reduce prostitution. It is a shorter option at 36 hours compared to the DIGNITY house program, which is a year long.
However, that does not make it easier.
“It’s not a walk in the park,” Bauer said of the program.
The core of the service is a one-week class, running eight and a half hours a day for five days, Bauer said. The classes cover STDs, domestic violence, relationships, addiction, self-esteem issues and other topics.
In that time students will also receive STD testing and listen to speakers, including city officials and sex trafficking survivors.
In the following weeks, girls will attend groups that deal with issues ranging from addiction to job preparation to trauma support.
If a girl successfully completes the Diversion program, all charges are dropped.
Even after the girls finish the legal process, the Diversion program will keep working with them.
“Just because somebody’s case is closed, it doesn’t mean they’re closed with us,” Bauer said. “It’s a longstanding relationship. This is a contract.”
Even victims who only partially complete the program are better off. A 2011 study from the School of Social Work at Arizona State University and the City of Phoenix Prosecutor’s Office tested the effectiveness of the program.
Those who successfully completed Diversion were the least likely to be rearrested within 12 months, at just 6.4 percent. Those who partially completed the program stood at 19 percent, and those who only completed the entrance interview were at 27.1 percent.
Between July 1997 and June 2011, the program saved Phoenix over $3 million in jail costs, according to the same study.
“We would always encourage partnerships with nonprofit or faith-based organizations if we believe they can help reduce criminal activity,” Martos said in an email.
But both programs make sure to do more than just reduce the numbers.
At DIGNITY, Bauer and other Diversion programmers make sure to repeat one mantra over and over, day after day to every girl – “What you did is not who you are.”
Contact the reporter at ascovill@asu.edu
