Judge Lippman leads initiative to aid exploited prostitutes
New York is creating the nation’s first statewide system of courts to help prostitutes escape a life of exploitation and violence and move on to “productive lives,” Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said Wednesday.
“We have come to recognize that the vast majority of children and adults charged with prostitution offenses are commercially exploited or at risk of exploitation,” Lippman said in an announcement made with legal, law enforcement, service providers and advocacy groups.
“Human trafficking is a crime that inflicts terrible harm on the most vulnerable members of society: victims of abuse, the poor, children, runaways, immigrants,” he said. “It is in every sense a form of modern-day slavery. We cannot tolerate this practice in a civilized society, nor can we afford to let victims of trafficking slip between the cracks of our justice system.”