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Action Needed: Urge Governor Brown to sign SB 1322

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Dear WestCoast Community:

Time is running out for the Governor to sign bills passed by the Legislature. Please act now and urge Governor Brown to sign SB 1322 (Mitchell) into law! SB 1322 precludes victims of commercial sexual exploitation, a form of child abuse, from being arrested and charged with prostitution.

TWEET:

We’ve received the message loud and clear: your tweets have a huge impact! Please continue to tweet at the Governor and ask your followers to retweet. Here are some sample messages:

  • .@JerryBrownGov sign #SB1322 & send the message that child trafficking victims aren’t criminals #NoSuchThing @NCYL_CSEC @westcoastccorg
  • .@JerryBrownGov sign #SB1322! CA allocated +$19 mil to child welfare for #CSEC infrastructure & svcs #NoSuchThing @NCYL_CSEC @westcoastccorg
  • Children who are victims of sex #trafficking need #SB1322 to start healing. Stop criminalization #NoSuchThing @HollyJMitchell @JerryBrownGov

SEND A LETTER: 

Adapt this template letter and email to leg.unit@gov.ca.gov ASAP. Don’t forget to cc: elaferriere@youthlaw.org & jlangs@westcoastcc.org.

Please forward this action alert to your network: Click here to forward this email.

Thank you for your continued advocacy.

Sincerely,

Jodie Langs
WestCoast Children’s Clinic
@westcoastccorg

Elizabeth Laferriere
National Center for Youth Law
@ncyl_CSEC

Learn more about our partner Rights4Girls‘ #NoSuchThing campaign through this video.

Is it a scandal if it happens all the time?

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In Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, WestCoast Children’s Clinic CEO, Stacey Katz, and Adela Rodarte, assistant program director of our C-Change program, give a more complete picture of what’s really happening with child sex trafficking victims: They are routinely abused by people charged with protecting them. This is a systemic and cultural problem, not an isolated incident of law enforcement misconduct.

“[It’s] not a scandal—it’s something that’s happening all the time. The problem is systemic.” – Stacey Katz

Continue reading →

CA Assembly Public Safety Committee passed bill SB1322

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Dear WestCoast Community:

The CA Assembly Public Safety Committee passed Senator Holly Mitchell’s bill, SB 1322, with a vote of 6 -1 yesterday. SB 1322 gives children immunity from prostitution charges. Thank you for taking the time to make calls to members of the Public Safety Committee to let them know there is no such thing as a child prostitute. As Senator Mitchell asserts:

“California currently allows for criminalization of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) victims by charging them with crimes committed while being victimized. Under current law a victim can be detained in juvenile hall and prosecuted for prostitution. This is not an effective or ethical response to this growing epidemic.”

Thanks to the Assembly Public Safety Committee, we are one step closer to ensuring that sexually exploited youth receive the same protective response that we provide for all other victims of child abuse.

The bill will be heard next  on the Assembly Floor. If approved, SB 1322 will go to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature.  We will let you know how you can support the bill as it moves forward.

Thank you again to Senator Mitchell and the Assembly Public Safety Committee for your commitment to supporting sexually exploited youth.

Thank you,

Jodie Langs
Policy and Communications Director

How children in foster care could benefit from the new federal education law

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“For far too long, we as a country have failed so many of our most vulnerable students,” Education Secretary John King Jr. told reporters Wednesday. “We cannot allow the students who need our attention the most to be treated unfairly under the law.”

The Washington Post reports on the Obama administration new education compliance standards states and school disitricts must meet. Continue reading here.