Newsletter: Spring 2006

This issue is available for download in PDF Format (276.91K)

Homegrown Trafficking : The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of US Youth

Mention the issue of the comercial sexual exploitation of youth, and many are quick to point fingers to such places as Thailand and the Philippines. Yet right here in the United States, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 American adolescents are commercially sexually exploited annually, according to a 2001 University of Pennsylvania study. Statistics show that as many as 90% of prostituted youth have been sexually or physically abused. Many have run away from home to escape such abuse only to encounter far worse on the streets. [more]

Support for Women in Prisons

On December 23, 2005, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed an amicus curiae, or friend-of-the-court, brief on behalf of a coalition of women's rights groups and international human rights organizations in support of a class of women prisoners seeking relief from sexual assault in prison. The case, Amador v. Superintendents of the Department of Correctional Services, brought by The Legal Aid Society's Prisoners' Rights Project in 2003 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charges New York State with failing to protect women prisoners from sexual assault and harassment by male prison employees. [more]

Policy Corner

State and Federal Policy Updates for Spring 2006 [more]

Alliance News

The New York Foundation recently awarded the Alliance a grant for a grassroots organizing initiative. The project is designed to provide an additional channel for advocates to fight against sexual violence. The program will also serve rape crisis programs as a retention strategy with advocate enthusiasm nurtured and maintained. We are proud to present Christine St. John, a former advocate herself, who will spearhead the mobilization. Among her many accomplishments, Christine organized a campaign that recruited more than 200 men into the fight against rape in New Hampshire. [more]