WASHINGTON–Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez testified Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary panel hearing on titled “In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States” <\/p>\n
There is “no more heart breaking problem than the sexual exploitation of children,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a member of the panel.<\/p>\n
Alvarez highlighted a new approach her office is taking on human trafficking crimes.<\/p>\n
She told the panel, “I created an Organized Crime \/ Human Trafficking initiative last July as part of the Special Prosecutions Bureau within my office. Along with our Additionally, I have taken advantage of the size of my office – the second largest in the nation – and developed new methods for collection and centralization of intelligence regarding human trafficking offenders. Given the daily interaction between local law enforcement and those forced to work in the sex industry, crucial leads arise on a recurring basis within the various parts of my office, including misdemeanor cases, domestic violence, auto theft, sex crimes, felony review, cold case murder and financial crimes and public corruption. PREPARED TESTIMONY OF COOK COUNTY STATE’S ATTORNEY ANITA ALVAREZ Thank you Senator Durbin and members of the Committee for inviting me to be As all of you know, human trafficking is an increasing problem in the United Last year the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority funded a study of One survey respondent related that she turned to prostitution as a freshman in Cases such as this also demonstrate the challenges that we face on the local level in prosecuting juvenile prostitution and sex crimes.<\/p>\n First and foremost — from the perspective of the criminal offender — the Another challenge that law enforcement faces in prosecuting these cases is All of which makes this crime a potential “perfect storm” for street gangs or As a career prosecutor who has tried countless gang-related homicide cases An extremely disturbing example of this occurred in the state of Illinois in an My office assisted in the investigation and helped to prepare the conspiracy When it comes to prosecuting child prostitution, my office, in practice, does not All too often, making them safe has proved to be As a career prosecutor and a newly elected State’s Attorney, it has occurred to With this in mind, I created an Organized Crime \/ Human Trafficking initiative last Additionally, I have taken advantage of the size of my office – the second As part of this coordinated approach against human trafficking, my prosecutors WASHINGTON–Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez testified Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary panel hearing on titled “In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States” There is “no more heart breaking problem than the sexual exploitation of children,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a member of the panel. Alvarez highlighted a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-364519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nlaw enforcement partners, both state and federal, my human trafficking prosecutors have been conducting long-term, proactive investigations into these organized crime targets. Suffice to say, this covert work is proving fruitful, even though I cannot, of course discuss any details of these pending investigations. <\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nSENATE JUDICIARY SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE LAW
\nFEBRUARY 24, 2010 <\/p>\n
\nhere with you today to discuss this extremely important issue. <\/p>\n
\nStates and the sex trade is one of the most lucrative areas of the trafficking
\nindustry. Over the years, criminal enterprises have made a fortune in my county
\nand in states across the nation exploiting women and children and destroying
\nlives and communities in the process. <\/p>\n
\nyoung women involved in the sex trade industry in the Chicago area. Seventy-
\nthree percent of participants surveyed reported that they had started in the sex
\ntrade before the age of 18. Almost one-third of those surveyed stated that the
\nreason they started in the sex trade industry was because they owed the
\nindividual who had recruited them because of the provision of food, clothing or
\ngifts. <\/p>\n
\nhigh school and that she would turn tricks after school because her mother was
\naddicted to drugs and she needed the money to buy food and clothing. In a
\nprostitution case that my office handled recently, one juvenile related that she
\ndid not wish to pursue criminal charges against her pimp because, and I quote,
\n“He gets me a Subway sandwich whenever I want one.”
\nIt’s clear that when vulnerable young women are equating the trade of sex for
\na deli sandwich, we all must realize the agonizing human toll this problem is
\ntaking on our young generation and potentially generations to come. These
\njuveniles are engaging in “survival sex,” —- exchanging sex for food, clothing or a safe place to sleep. <\/p>\n
\neconomic gain of child prostitution or trafficking greatly outweighs the risks.
\nThere is very low overhead in terms of cost for offenders and this crime is rarely
\ndetected because it is difficult for law enforcement to identify minors engaged
\nin juvenile prostitution or trafficking. <\/p>\n
\nthat most children will not self identify or cooperate with police and they identify
\nwith their pimp or purveyor as someone who they rely on and even love. They
\nare typically young girls from troubled backgrounds who have been sexually
\nvictimized, have low self esteem and essentially a total lack of options in their
\nlives. <\/p>\n
\nother organized crime entities. <\/p>\n
\nthat have occurred on the streets of Chicago, I understand fully the nature,
\nscope and influence of street gangs. They are increasingly sophisticated and
\nprofit oriented and human trafficking fits well into their criminal repertoire. In
\naddition to being able to intimidate the victim and her family, the gang
\nmember can also control the victim through sex and drugs. <\/p>\n
\ninvestigation that originated out of Ottawa, Illinois, in LaSalle County. The
\nLaSalle County State’s Attorney tried and convicted four people in 2008 on
\ncriminal drug conspiracy charges in connection with a gang controlled heroin
\nand crack cocaine distribution ring that was operating between Chicago and
\nthe LaSalle – Peru area in our state. <\/p>\n
\nindictment as well as the search warrant executed at a Chicago home where
\nthe drugs were being cooked, cut and prepared for distribution. In this
\nparticular case the gang leaders were using 17 and 18 year old girls to “body
\npack” the narcotics for smuggling from Chicago to LaSalle County. During the
\ncourse of their involvement the girls became addicted to heroin and were
\nvideotaped having sex with the gang leaders. In a particularly disturbing and
\nchilling video seized in the investigation, one of the gang leaders is shown
\nremoving a bag of heroin from the vagina of one of the teenaged victims.<\/p>\n
\ncharge juveniles who are arrested on prostitution-related charges. We
\nunderstand this child is not a criminal but rather a victim who needs support,
\nservices and a safe future. <\/p>\n
\nparticularly challenging because, in the past, the traditional prosecution of
\njuvenile sex trafficking was reactive and far too dependent upon victim
\ntestimony. <\/p>\n
\nme that the traditional approach we have taken with juvenile prostitution has
\nsimply not been effective on many levels. We are not convicting the organized
\ngroups of individuals who are perpetuating this industry and – even more
\nimportantly – we are not able to effectively offer the services that these young
\nwomen need to help them, keep them safe, and empower them to leave the
\nsex trade industry once and for all. It seems to me that the premise of removing
\none child from the situation only to have another step in and fill her place is not
\na good one. <\/p>\n
\nJuly as part of the Special Prosecutions Bureau within my office. Along with our
\nlaw enforcement partners, both state and federal, my human trafficking
\nprosecutors have been conducting long-term, proactive investigations into
\nthese organized crime targets. Suffice to say, this covert work is proving fruitful,
\neven though I cannot, of course discuss any details of these pending
\ninvestigations. <\/p>\n
\nlargest in the nation – and developed new methods for collection and
\ncentralization of intelligence regarding human trafficking offenders. Given the
\ndaily interaction between local law enforcement and those forced to work in
\nthe sex industry, crucial leads arise on a recurring basis within the various parts of
\nmy office, including misdemeanor cases, domestic violence, auto theft, sex
\ncrimes, felony review, cold case murder and financial crimes and public
\ncorruption. In many cases, the defendants or victims in simple sexual assault or
\ndomestic violence cases possess key information concerning human trafficking
\noperations. Under my HT initiative, we are now working to develop and funnel
\nthis intelligence to a dedicated team of prosecutors, allowing us to “connect
\nthe dots” and focus our resources in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\nhave also continued to work with the Chicago Police Department and other
\nagencies to reorganize the regional HT task force and specifically train officers
\nworking “vice” to identify and investigate human trafficking – especially those
\noperations involving the exploitation of children. With the assistance of Chicago
\nPolice, these ongoing efforts will not only view prostituted children as victims,
\nrather than criminal defendants, but also hold accountable the individuals and
\ngroups truly responsible for these horrific offenses.
\nEqually as important, my human trafficking team is building direct coalitions with
\nsocial service providers and other NGO’s, thus enabling such groups to assist
\npolice during HT takedowns and share their investigative leads with law
\nenforcement. With due regard for client confidentiality and consent, we are
\nfostering the lines of communication necessary for social service providers to
\nshare their information with us, not just about human traffickers, but also
\nconcerning potentially corrupt public officials who protect them and their
\noperations.
\nSince the formation of this initiative, this networking plan has cast a wide net,
\nincluding simple things, such as attending breakfast meetings, to participation in
\nmore formal events, such as the launch of the “End Demand Campaign of the
\nChicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation,” as well as the recent human
\ntrafficking summit held in San Francisco last November by the U.S. Justice
\nDepartment, “Building Collaboration to Address Human Trafficking in Domestic
\nViolence and Sexual Assault Cases.”
\nThrough our HT initiative, my office has also been able to share our expertise and
\nour NGO connections with federal agencies, including the Department of
\nHomeland Security, I.C.E., and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In one very recent
\ncase, we helped to provide information that was instrumental in having a
\nhuman trafficking offender detained pending trial in a federal case, and further
\nhelped agents connect victims with temporary housing and social services.
\nI doubt anyone here would be surprised to hear that our greatest setback to
\ndate has not been a lack of vision or resolve, but rather a lack of funding. Due
\nto severe financial cutbacks on the county level, our HT initiative currently lacks
\nthe scale needed for true success. As such, we have been and will continue to
\npursue new sources of funding.
\nOur social service partners face the same challenges as we do when it comes
\nto funding but we all clearly understand and see the need for safe and long-
\nterm shelter, therapeutic intervention and educational development.
\nProsecutors cannot solve this problem in isolation and it is my intention to
\ncontinue to work in partnership so that we can achieve success together. I think
\nit is clear to all of us at the local, state and federal levels that this problem is vast
\nand the need is immediate. Nevertheless, I remain optimistic and I believe we
\nare on the right track and turning a corner in our efforts to meet these
\nchallenges head-on. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"