If a 13-year-old girl were forced into prostitution, most would call her a victim. But until recently, she would simply be called a criminal.
In fact, that’s what now-22-year-old Leni Johnson (a pseudonym to protect her identity and safety) was labeled for most of her young life. That is, until a New York court expunged her records this week under a new landmark law that treats pimps as sex traffickers and prostitutes who are “pimp-controlled” as victims.
Johnson was only 13 when she was forced to prostitute herself by a 21-year-old man in the Bronx. As she explained to The New York Times, “He told me: ‘Just stand right there. When the car pulls up, just tell them, “You want to have a good time?” You tell them the price, then you go and do whatever.’” And that is how it went for eight long years: She was sold, beaten and abused.
On Wednesday, however, some of that changed when the court — justly — ruled that Johnson’s “criminal” history could not possibly be held against her, or even called criminal, since she was clearly a victim.
Before this New York law passed, young sex workers — even those who were minors, even those who were beaten and forced into prostitution — were arrested and treated as criminals. Unless, of course, they were from another country, in which case they were considered trafficked and were given access to help and resources. Try that logic on for size.
Johnson is the first U.S. citizen whose records have been thrown out thanks to the new law.
Legal Aid attorney Kate Mogulescu told Reuters, “The law says any survivor of sex trafficking can try to have their record expunged if they prove the conviction obtained was the result of having been trafficked … This is the first case that involved pimp-controlled prostitution.” (Full disclosure: Mogulescu is a long-time friend.)
Johnson’s case is part of a project launched by Legal Aid that aims to help victims of trafficking. In addition to getting convictions overturned, the project seeks to ensure that trafficked women aren’t prosecuted at all.
It’s about time! For too long, young women — girls, really — have been prosecuted when they should have been helped. In part this was because of a lack of policy surrounding the issue, but it’s hard to ignore the race and class implications of criminalizing young girls. Low-income girls and girls of color are at an increased risk for sexual exploitation, and thanks to societal bigotry, the justice system looks at a young black girl from the Bronx and sees a typical juvenile delinquent instead of someone in desperate need of help.
According to the Girls Educational and Mentoring Service — a direct service organization in New York City that helps girls and young women who have been victims of domestic trafficking — the average age of a girl who gets recruited into the sex industry is between 12 and 14. Somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000 minors, many of them runaways, are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States every year.
Do we really want to be a country that looks at these girls and dismisses them as criminals? A country that, without a moment’s hesitation, helps girls trafficked from other countries (as we well should) but ignores the abuse right on our doorstep? New York state took a necessary first step in helping these often-ignored children. It’s time for other states and other communities to follow suit.
Today, Johnson lives in Georgia with her daughter and works at a restaurant. And thanks to this groundbreaking new project, she can start to pick up the pieces, and not worry about a criminal record following her for life. It’s the very least we can do for a young woman who was so abused. The next question is: What more can we do?
In fact, that’s what now-22-year-old Leni Johnson (a pseudonym to protect her identity and safety) was labeled for most of her young life. That is, until a New York court expunged her records this week under a new landmark law that treats pimps as sex traffickers and prostitutes who are “pimp-controlled” as victims.
Johnson was only 13 when she was forced to prostitute herself by a 21-year-old man in the Bronx. As she explained to The New York Times, “He told me: ‘Just stand right there. When the car pulls up, just tell them, “You want to have a good time?” You tell them the price, then you go and do whatever.’” And that is how it went for eight long years: She was sold, beaten and abused.
On Wednesday, however, some of that changed when the court — justly — ruled that Johnson’s “criminal” history could not possibly be held against her, or even called criminal, since she was clearly a victim.
Before this New York law passed, young sex workers — even those who were minors, even those who were beaten and forced into prostitution — were arrested and treated as criminals. Unless, of course, they were from another country, in which case they were considered trafficked and were given access to help and resources. Try that logic on for size.
Johnson is the first U.S. citizen whose records have been thrown out thanks to the new law.
Legal Aid attorney Kate Mogulescu told Reuters, “The law says any survivor of sex trafficking can try to have their record expunged if they prove the conviction obtained was the result of having been trafficked … This is the first case that involved pimp-controlled prostitution.” (Full disclosure: Mogulescu is a long-time friend.)
Johnson’s case is part of a project launched by Legal Aid that aims to help victims of trafficking. In addition to getting convictions overturned, the project seeks to ensure that trafficked women aren’t prosecuted at all.
It’s about time! For too long, young women — girls, really — have been prosecuted when they should have been helped. In part this was because of a lack of policy surrounding the issue, but it’s hard to ignore the race and class implications of criminalizing young girls. Low-income girls and girls of color are at an increased risk for sexual exploitation, and thanks to societal bigotry, the justice system looks at a young black girl from the Bronx and sees a typical juvenile delinquent instead of someone in desperate need of help.
According to the Girls Educational and Mentoring Service — a direct service organization in New York City that helps girls and young women who have been victims of domestic trafficking — the average age of a girl who gets recruited into the sex industry is between 12 and 14. Somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000 minors, many of them runaways, are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States every year.
Do we really want to be a country that looks at these girls and dismisses them as criminals? A country that, without a moment’s hesitation, helps girls trafficked from other countries (as we well should) but ignores the abuse right on our doorstep? New York state took a necessary first step in helping these often-ignored children. It’s time for other states and other communities to follow suit.
Today, Johnson lives in Georgia with her daughter and works at a restaurant. And thanks to this groundbreaking new project, she can start to pick up the pieces, and not worry about a criminal record following her for life. It’s the very least we can do for a young woman who was so abused. The next question is: What more can we do?
