Why I Champion Just Exits

It is a deeply-held commitment that is inextricably tied to my very personal decision to dedicate my career to countering sexual violence, abuse, and exploitation. The voices of survivors have led me to where I am today.

Through volunteer opportunities, internships, and part-time jobs in college and law school, I had the immense privilege of learning from victims/survivors¹ and child witnesses of domestic and sexual violence and exploitation. These survivors—some of whom were living in shelters or poverty—spoke often about the impact of violence on their day-to-day lives. They and their advocates provided insight into the far-reaching effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (or ACE Factors) long before these were integrated into the public health and criminal justice lexicons. Survivors also described their encounters with the “good” and “bad” prosecutors they interacted with in the criminal justice system. Learning about the impact of the prosecutor, whose practices could heal or harm, inspired me to become one myself.

In the late 1990s, I served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit. It was there that I witnessed the intensity of the violence directed at sexually exploited women and girls. No matter how many cases I handled or victims I met, or how much evidence I reviewed, I was always jarred by the vicious, intentional violence and abuse hurled against sexually exploited women and girls. This abuse came not only from traffickers, but from defense attorneys who stigmatized and blamed survivors as the foundation of their case strategies. These attorneys argued that survivors weren't credible because they were involved in the sex trade. They insinuated and sometimes outright argued that sexually exploited women and girls weren't deserving of justice. In doing so, they justified and otherwise excused assailants at the expense of survivors' dignity and healing. Elevating survivors’ voices in the course of dismantling these unjust defenses was as much an honor as it was a duty.

When I look back at my time as a prosecutor, though, I am consumed by the countless survivors I missed when they needed to be seen. Most sexually exploited women and girls came into contact with us as defendants charged with crimes, but at the time we lacked the knowledge and the training we needed to recognize them as survivors. So instead of creating off ramps from sexual exploitation by connecting survivors with needed services, we reinforced on ramps into the Life² by allowing survivors to cycle through the system unidentified, unsupported, and often criminalized for crimes committed under duress from their trafficker.

Over the last 25+ years, the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, increased federal funding and support for criminal justice professionals and service providers, and the implementation of new state laws have all led to increased public awareness of sexual exploitation and improved investigative and prosecutorial practices. Despite this progress, however, we have a long way left to go. Through the experiences of survivors, and the experiences of AEquitas’ staff assisting prosecutors in the field, we know sexually exploited women and girls continue to be misunderstood, criminalized, and pushed further into sexual exploitation rather than supported to exit the Life. Historically marginalized groups—including survivors who are Black and African American, Indigenous, Latin@, Asian, members of immigrant populations, or LGBTQ+ persons—are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and are least likely to receive justice. As Just Exits Advisory Council Member Shamere McKenzie noted in Assessing Culpability: Context Before Conviction: