Our Three Sites
The Work of a Pilot Site
Assessing the response
The AEquitas Just Exits Team works with each pilot site to assess their current response to sexually exploited women and girls. This includes case reviews; roundtables; an in-depth examination of the jurisdiction’s policies and practices related to arrest, charging, plea agreements, and criminal records relief; current methods for identifying survivors; and trauma-informed interviewing techniques, among other things. The team also examines the strength of the jurisdiction’s existing partnerships within the criminal justice system and with community-based service providers.
Implementing new strategies
The AEquitas Just Exits Team works with a local leadership team of prosecutors, police, advocates, and other system and community leaders to develop a strategic plan to enhance the jurisdiction’s response to exploited women and girls. Through the implementation of the plan, the site develops and refines policies and practices while expanding its network of service providers, with help from the AEquitas Just Exits Team at each step. Through this work, the group aims to identify more survivors, connect survivors—as well as women and girls vulnerable to exploitation— to needed services, make more informed prosecution decisions, and implement criminal records relief for survivors who have been unjustly charged or convicted.
Measuring the impact
With help from the AEquitas Just Exits Team, the pilot site identifies specific, measurable goals that track meaningful outcomes of its practices. The Leadership Team then consistently assesses data to monitor progress, receiving customized support from experts in information technology, data management systems, and performance management along the way.