Durbin, Alvarez tour new treatment center for prostitution victims
A Chicago-area treatment center is being heralded as the first in Illinois to help teens and young adults escape prostitution.
U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez toured the center Friday to see first-hand how it provides treatment to survivors of sex-trafficking.
Anne's House, run by the Salvation Army's Promise Program, offers psychological and medical treatment, educational services and vocational training for girls and women ages 12 to 21 years, who are being or have been victimized by the sex trade. It is underwritten by various sources, including federal funding.
"It's a signature moment for us," said one of the center's managers, whose names are protected due to the sensitive nature of Anne's House.
"Promise does a lot of things," he said. "We make people aware. We intervene with police. We present in schools. But the catalyst for change is: What do you do with the girls after all of that?"
"Anne's House is that solution," he said.
So sensitive are the personal issues and fears of retribution involved in escaping human sex trafficking that officials asked that no information about the Anne's House location be published.
Sitting in the quiet and comfortable sun-lit dining area of Anne's House, Durbin and Alvarez asked questions of two young women who were formerly forced into prostitution. They both now are speaking out about their experiences to prevent the same thing happening to other young women.
Durbin and Alvarez were highly supportive of treatment services, and they stressed the need to prosecute those forced women into prostitution and those seeking it.
Durbin said he is working to get changes in federal law, as well as increased funding for both treatment and enforcement. That enforcement, he stressed, should not be aimed at those forced into the sex trade.
"These girls, in some places, were being prosecuted for prostitution," Durbin noted. "They're victims, they're not criminals."
"Also, we'll be much tougher in going after the guys that are exploiting them," Durbin said. "Those who are guilty of human trafficking now, even in other countries, can be prosecuted in the United States. What we're trying to do is make sure the United States is not a safe haven for these folks involved in human trafficking in other countries."
Alvarez pointed to new state laws passed in August that will give her investigators and prosecutors greater leverage against those who exploit girl's bodies for profit.
"We're changing the ways we're looking at these types of cases and working them differently," Alvarez said. "With these new tools, we'll be able to do a long-term investigation. Our goal is to be able to get the bad guy and get him where it hurts. He's making money off this crime."
Alvarez also wants to go after those patronizing the sex trade, with "demand suppression" operations aimed at making clients think twice.
Under the new law, those arrested and convicted of soliciting prostitutes will face both a $500 fee that goes to social service agencies like Salvation Army, and another $500 fee that goes to law enforcement.