Implementing the Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Eric Friedman
(212) 382-6754
Kathryn Inman
212-382-6656
Implementing the ‘Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act’:
Opportunities and Challenges
The New York ‘ Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act,’ signed into law in fall of 2008, changed New York State’s legal treatment of children under 18 who have engaged in prostitution. Instead of charging such youth as juvenile delinquents, the act recognizes these children as victims of sex trafficking, not criminals, and places responsibility on the state and local governments to provide housing and other services.
Panelists include the bill’s sponsor in the State Assembly, service providers to sexually exploited youth, and judges and lawyers serving in the field. They will discuss the challenges and opportunities that must be faced in implementing the statute by the April deadline.
What: Panel Discussion, “Implementing the ‘Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act’: Opportunities and Challenges”
When: Monday, January 25, 6 PM – 8 PM
Where: New York City Bar Association, 42 W. 44 th St., New York, NY
Moderator: KARENNA GORE SCHIFF, Attorney; Author, Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Shaped Modern America
Speakers:HON. GLADYS CARRION, Commissioner, NYS Office of Children and Family Services; HON. JOHN MATTINGLY, Commissioner, NYC Administration for Children’s Services; HON. EDWINA RICHARDSON-MENDELSON, Administrative Judge, NYC Family Courts; RACHEL LLOYD, Founder and Executive Director, GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services); HON. WILLIAM SCARBOROUGH, Chair, NYS Assembly Committee on Children and Families; LORI ISKOWITZ, NYC Corporation Counsel, Family Court Division; KATHERINE MULLEN, Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Rights Practice
Free of Charge. Open to the Public.
About the Association
The New York City Bar Association (www.nycbar.org) was founded in 1870, and since then has been dedicated to maintaining the high ethical standards of the profession, promoting reform of the law, and providing service to the profession and the public. The Association continues to work for political, legal and social reform, while implementing innovative means to help the disadvantaged. Protecting the public’s welfare remains one of the Association’s highest priorities.
