Helping children who witness domestic violence

This is a great article written by Kate Nyquist, project coordinator of the Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence at the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office. The article was written for CharlestonCurrents.com.

A group of community members have joined together in a new initiative to collectively address children who have been exposed to and affected by domestic violence.


Nyquist

Last month, in honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month, Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson and Dr. Elizabeth Ralston from the Dee Norton Lowcountry Children’s Center, announced the initiative, which unveiled 30 community recommendations for action to be addressed by a newly established multi-disciplinary committee.

Research shows that as many as 15 million children witness domestic violence each year. Not only do these children experience significant physical, mental, and emotional harm, they also are more likely to become involved with the criminal justice system in the future.


Wilson

“Violence breeds violence. We must take action to protect our youth and help them grow to be healthier, responsible adults,” Wilson said.

Domestic abuse tears apart the family unit through violence, power and control and children often are innocent pawns in the dynamics of these relationships. We as a community must recognize the criminal nature of these acts when children are involved and we must work to identify solutions that will address the needs of these families.


Ralston

The newly formed committee, ranging from health care providers to social service case workers, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, victim advocates and service providers, will develop guiding principles and plans of action to improve the response by agencies when children are involved in, witnesses to, or exposed to incidents of domestic violence.

“This is an issue that deserves our community’s full attention and we plan to facilitate successful change through this focused committee of professionals,” Ralston, executive director of the Lowcountry Children’s Center, said.

We hope this initiative will help stop the vicious cycle of domestic abuse, and together we plan to take a stand against this invasive community problem.


May 24th, 2011 | Category: Avocacy, Zonta Supporters | Leave a comment

SC House Schedules a Hearing on H3757/Human Trafficking May 11

In South Carolina, the SC House has scheduled a hearing on H3757 regarding Human Trafficking.  Human Trafficking organizations and anyone who cares about this cause are encouraged to attend or at least send a letter in support of better legislation in SC. As of today, the Judiciary Criminal Laws Subcommittee scheduled a hearing for H3757 on Wednesday, May 11, at 9:00 AM, in the Blatt Building of the Statehouse campus, Room 516.
For your interest, the Subcommittee members are as follows:
Hon. Bruce Bannister, Chairman
Hon. Peter McCoy
Hon. Eddie Tallon
Hon. Leon Stavrinakis
Hon. Todd Rutherford
Included is a document about the proposed legislation.  This is the first step in many of getting this legislation passed.

SOUTH CAROLINA 2011 LEGISLATOR’S BRIEF:   H3757

SUPPORT LEGISLATION TO CREATE ASSET FORFEITURE FOR CONVICTED HUMAN TRAFFICKERS

Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world.  Traffickers reap billions in profits by using force, fraud or coercion to rob victims of their freedom through labor or commercial sex.  Experts estimate that there are a minimum of approximately 5,100 to 60,500 people trafficked into and within the U.S. each year, and an estimated 100,000 American children who are prostituted within the U.S. each year — a brutal form of human trafficking.  It is a crime of increasing proportions, preys on the most vulnerable people, and is driven by one thing: profits for traffickers. South Carolina is at the top of the “dirty dozen,” the States with negligible laws to investigate and convict traffickers and buyers, and to provide victim services.

In South Carolina, victims of human trafficking include children, adults, U.S. citizens and foreign nationals who are subjected to sex or labor trafficking. Sex trafficking occurs in pimp-controlled street prostitution, commercial-front massage parlors and strip clubs, and closed-network residential brothels. Increasingly, victims are advertised on popular internet sites. Labor trafficking victims are typically found in domestic servitude, agriculture and hospitality / tourism jobs. Victims of human trafficking face a horrific life that includes repeatedly being threatened, beaten, raped, starved, drugged, chained, locked up, and/or psychologically tortured.  As of 2010, human trafficking became a Class A felony. It now needs to be enforced.

SC is a Source and Destination State and a Pass-Through State for Human Trafficking: Lack of awareness about the crime of human trafficking by the public and law enforcement in South Carolina drives a continued increase in human trafficking.  Traffickers move victims around frequently to keep them isolated and under control. Interstate highways including I-85 and I-26 connect trafficking destinations. I-95 connects known trafficking hotspots of New York, DC, Atlanta, and cities in Florida. South Carolina is a trafficker’s dream pipeline.  ICE, FBI, the US Attorney’s Office and SLED have made human trafficking among their top priorities since 2007.  A 14-year old girl was South Carolina’s first trafficking case.  Since then, law enforcement has been diligently uncovering more cases, and national and local tips have increased about possible trafficking on farms, in restaurants and nail spas, in such areas as Santee, Greenville, Greenwood, North Charleston, Charleston, Columbia, Conway, Myrtle Beach and rural areas of the State. House Bill 3757 will enable local law enforcement to complete the picture.  At this time, they have little jurisdictional authority and the funding is short-lived.  Yet local law enforcement is among the first to sight a situation and first on the spot.

The Scope of Human Trafficking and Profits:

§ In 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s anti-human trafficking efforts resulted in a record number of labor and sex trafficking cases filed in a single year, and collectively, the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices initiated 183 investigations, charged 82 defendants in 40 cases, and obtained 77 convictions involving human trafficking. Traffickers were ordered to pay restitution awards totaling approximately $4.2 million.    § Through the DOJ’s Criminal Division and the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative, convictions for domestic sex trafficking of children in the U.S. have resulted in the seizure of over $3 million in real property, vehicles, and monetary assets.

Asset forfeiture is an effective policy and has gained support at the federal and state level:

§ In 2008, Congress reauthorized the TVPA for the third time. It provides for mandatory forfeiture.

§ Twelve states include asset forfeiture under the mandatory penalties for human trafficking or provide courts with the option to impose asset forfeiture on those convicted of human trafficking.

Create Asset Forfeiture for Human Traffickers and Funds for Victims and Law Enforcement.

2011 SC Bill 3757 is sponsored by Reps. Hardwick, Hearn, Mitchell, Long, Erickson, Brady, Butler Garrick, Funderburk, Munnerlyn, Knight, Dillard, Cobb-Hunter and Parks. This legislation requires that all money, valuables, and property of a person convicted of human trafficking or felony extortion (labor trafficking) used in connection with, or gained from the crime, be forfeited to the State. Proceeds from seized assets will go into a fund which pays for critically needed victim services including attorney and court-related costs, prosecution of traffickers and law enforcement investigative costs for human trafficking cases, costs borne by the state task force, public education and outreach on human trafficking, and other elements of this Bill.  Traffickers pay the Bill.

Please support SC Bill 3757 to end and prevent human trafficking in South Carolina.

Contact B.J. Houbion, ECCAHT, at bhoubion@yahoo.com or 843.357.7010, for more information.

May 6th, 2011 | Tags: | Category: Avocacy | Leave a comment