Amber Gregory, Project Manager

936-294-3916 • agregory@shsu.edu

Commercially Sexually Exploited Persons Court

Overview

Commercially Sexually Exploited Persons Programs have the following essential characteristics:

  1. The integration of services in the processing of cases in the judicial system;
  2. The use of a nonadversarial approach involving prosecutors and defense attorneys to promote public safety, to reduce the demand for the commercial sex trade and trafficking of persons by educating offenders, and to protect the due process rights of program participants;
  3. Early identification and prompt placement of eligible participants in the program;
  4. Access to information, counseling, and services relating to sex addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, mental health, and substance abuse;
  5. A coordinated strategy to govern program responses to participant compliance;
  6. Monitoring and evaluation of program goals and effectiveness;
  7. Continuing interdisciplinary education to promote effective program planning, implementation, and operations; and
  8. Development of partnerships with public agencies and community organizations.

Court Guiding Principles

  1. We treat exploited youth as victims and survivors, not perpetrators.
  2. We are collaborative.
  3. We are survivor informed.
  4. Our systems and programs prioritize the needs of exploited youth and strive to give equal access to services regardless of system involvement.
  5. We seek to prevent exploitation by educating the public, supporting protective factors for all youth, and by building resiliency of our most vulnerable youth.
  6. Our approaches, systems and services are trauma informed and responsive, and include trust based relationships.
  7. We develop and support community-based, sustainable resources and services.
  8. We are committed to long-term individualized services, including planning for and re-engaging with youth after relapse.
  9. We research the causes of and effective responses to exploitation and we evaluate and continuously improve our activities.
  10. We work to prevent and reduce demand for exploitation and to hold all exploiters, including facilitators and those who benefit from exploitation, accountable.