Safe Harbor Act helps sexually exploited children

Hurray for Governor Paterson of New York! A press release in today's news states Gov. Paterson signed into law the Safe Harbor Act which protects sexually exploited youth. This is part of the press release.

Governor David A. Paterson today signed a package of bills into law which will strengthen consumer protections, enhance child protection services and improve reproductive health care education and outreach.

Among the bills in the package is A.5258-C Scarborough / S.3175-C Volker which creates the “Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act” and requires local districts to provide crisis intervention services and community based programming for exploited youth. Currently, individuals under the age of 18 who are arrested for prostitution or other illegal activities of a sexual nature enter the criminal justice system with the legal presumption that they are juvenile delinquents. This bill would decriminalize child prostitution, recognizing these children as victims, not criminals, and provide them with necessary social services.

“As a society we must do everything in our power to prevent sexual exploitation, but when it does occur we must be prepared to assist our youth with appropriate outreach services. For too long we have been disciplining young children who are the victims of brutal sexual exploitation instead of providing them with the necessary services to reintegrate them into society and ensure they receive adequate crisis intervention,” said Governor Paterson. “This law establishes a Safe Harbor Act which will ensure that sexually exploited youth receive counseling and emergency services as well as long term housing solutions.