DePaul Researcher Co-authors Study On Chicago Sex Trafficking

On May 7 The Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center at the DePaul University College of Law held a press conference at the downtown campus to announce the release of an important research study on  Domestic sex trafficking of Chicago women and girls, by Jody Raphael, Senior Research Fellow DePaul University College of Law and  Jessica Ashley, Senior Research Analyst Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.

The press release says the study, “was conducted in conjunction with the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and funded by a grant from the Chicago Foundation for Women. It examined the strategies used to recruit young women; the levels of coercion involved in their recruitment; and the control and violence used to keep women in the trade. The research also examined the geographical areas in which women are forced to work, including the distances they are transported and whether state lines are crossed in the process. One of the goals of the investigation was to explore parallels between young women in the local sex trade and those internationally trafficked to Chicago.

“This new information raises serious issues that Chicago communities must confront about the exploitation of needy girls within their midst to meet the sexual needs of male customers,” said Jody Raphael, an attorney and senior research fellow at the Family Law Center who led the investigation. “Like the responses provided to victims of international trafficking, alternatives to charging, sentencing and incarceration need to be implemented in a way that offers needed social service programming and housing, all supported with adequate resources.”

Link to the study from DePaul, From the ICJIA

Excellent article on the study and the issues it raises, Satisfied Sex Worker or Domestic Trafficking Victim? By Kari Lydersen, AlterNet.  May 8, 2008.