CBA Record Feb-March 2017

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING AWARENESS WEEK 2017
YLS Initiative Puts Spotlight on Chicago
By Clifford Gately, Editorial Board Member
By all reports, Chicago is a major
national hub for human traf-
ficking, including the pernicious
market for underage prostitutes. In Chi-
cago, 16,000-25,000 women and girls are
involved in the commercial sex trade annu-
ally, with one-third of them first getting
involved by the age of 15. Raphael, J., &
Ashley, J (2008) Domestic sex trafficking of
Chicago women and girls. Chicago: Illinois
Criminal Justice Information Authority &
DePaul University College of Law
Two individuals who are trying to make
a difference by helping to rescue minor vic-
tims of sex trafficking spoke at a program
entitled “A Spotlight on Child Trafficking
in Chicago,”--Rohit Chandra, senior attor-
ney with the Juvenile Division of the Office
of the Cook County Public Guardian, and
Queona Whitfield, the Assistant Direc-
tor of Salvation Army Promise Program’s
Anne’s House. The program was put on by
the CBA’s Young Lawyers Section as part
of Human Trafficking Awareness Week.
In 2005, the FBI designated Chicago as
one of the nation’s “High Intensity Child
Prostitution” locations. In his role as the
Public Guardian Office’s Human Traffick-
ing Coordinator, Chandra consults on all
cases where a youth has been the subject
of commercial sexual exploitation. His
presentation focused on how the Public
Guardian’s Office works to identify and
protect victims of sex trafficking, and how
such cases are handled in the Cook County
legal system.
Whitfield talked about the therapeutic
and vocational programs that are provided
to residents of Anne’s House–which was
Illinois’ first long-term trauma-based resi-
dential program for girls and young women
who are victims of sex trafficking. She also
discussed programs that Anne’s House
For more information on Anne’s
House, go to
promise.
conducts at schools and elsewhere in the
community that are aimed at prevention
and intervention of sex trafficking.
10 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017