Mostly Plants

Regardless of how you feel about adult prostitution, I think we all agree that child prostitution is a Bad Thing (TM) and is inherently an inherently abusive practice.  If that’s the case, it doesn’t make sense to treat it as a crime and punish the children involved.  They are the victims, not the offenders.  On the other hand, it would be clearly inappropriate for the system not to do something to stop it–every bit as repulsive as sending a battered child back to live with the abusive parents (something that our system does regularly).

And now, a Las Vegas Judge is working on a solution. He’s established a Sexually-Exploited Youth Court, working with police, prosecutors, public defenders, and social workers to find appropriate placements for children trafficked for sex.  Right now he doesn’t have a great solution, and many of them sit in lockup while waiting for a placement.  What’s even more amazing is that he’s already gotten an architect to design a “safe house” for the children, and the Bureau of Land Management (the government holding company for all the desert that nobody wants) has promised him ten acres of desert for it.  Now all he needs is the funds to staff and build it.

This is not a new idea in the sense that we already have various therapeutic courts springing up all over the place–mental health courts, drug courts, domestic violence courts, etc.  What is new here is that the other “problem-solving courts” are therapeutic interventions for people who commit crimes and have other issues, whereas this is a court that recognizes that its wards are not wrongdoers.  Also remarkable is that this is a project spearheaded by a judge.  It’s not unheard of–Orleans District Mental Health Court was the child of Judge Calvin Johnson until he retired–but it’s unusual.  Judges are used to being referees between adversaries, and many of them are wary of getting into these “social worky” courts–either because they see themselves as unqualified or because they think it’s just weird.

So, kudos to Judge Voy, and thanks to Skelly of Arbitrary and Capricious for first blogging this story.