Rethink Resources

Recently I facilitated one of my favorite workshops for the Chicago Harm Reduction Training Collaborative on Harm Reduction Street Law. It’s all about how to protect yourself and people from your organizations and agencies in encounters with the police.

It’s harm reduction based because we talk a lot about how to protect your legal rights even when you are breaking the law - like in using illicit drugs. Also we talk about making decisions about when to let go of those rights to protect yourself from harm by law enforcement (for example, many youth of color wouldn’t make it anywhere in their neighborhood if they held onto their constitutional rights to not talk with a police officer without a lawyer present).

In this week’s news updates I found an action opportunity related to some of our discussion that day. In federal law, and many states as well, crack cocaine is charged at an astonishing harsher level than powder cocaine. It’s one of the factors that’s led to an overwhelming over-representation of people of color in prisons.

Stop the Drug War makes it easy to take action to support Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) in his effort to stop this disparity in sentencing. Click on the link for an easy to make your voice heard.

In other news, a release reports on the numbers of youth exiting foster care with no permanent family to support them in life.

Another release talks about the numbers of youth from the US, especially African American youth, and other countries who might qualify for federal assistance as trafficking victims. Let me say this, I’m fairly well connected and I have not heard of any minor US citizens qualifying for monetary assistance under the TVPA (Trafficking Victims Protection Act). I have heard about law enforcement who will, for a limited time, help out a minor who’s a part of an investigation, but nothing comprehensive.

However the article did bring this little piece of information:

fewer know that FBI statistics show that in the U.S., 55 percent of people under the age of 18 arrested on prostitution-related charges are black children.

Law enforcement reports of arrest data are one method of determining how widespread something is. However I’ve found it’s more reflective of police strategy and focus than an accurate measure. So while I’m not surprised to learn that the majority of arrests of minors for prostitution offenses are of African American youth - I don’t think that’s the best measure of who’s actually involved.

A highlight this week from the many items about arrests, charges, trials and convictions of people for pimping juveniles is from Pittsburgh where a woman was sentenced for her role in transporting a teen to California. And lastly on the positive side is a report about a Boston clinic serving homeless youth, especially GLBTQ youth.

End the Crack/Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity (US) Wednesday, May 30, 2007 One of the most egregious injustices in the last 20 years of the drug war has been the draconian penalties suffered by persons convicted in the federal criminal justice system of low-level crack cocaine offenses.

Black Teens Majority of Sex Traffic in U.S. (US) Wednesday, May 30, 2007 The federal Department of Health and Human Services is stepping up efforts to help victims of sex trafficking — particularly children — to get help rebuilding their lives, including finding food, shelter, health care and employment.

Woman sentenced for role in teen sex ring (Pittsburgh) Saturday, May 26, 2007 The judge sentencing Stephanie Gease yesterday recognized that all the defendant did, technically, was put a 16-year-old on a bus to California. The problem was that the girl was a runaway, and the bus took her to a life of abuse and forced prostitution.

Treatment Plan (Boston) Thursday, May 24, 2007 Since 1994, Boston’s Sydney Borum Health Center, located on Boylston Street at the edge of the Boston Common, has provided medical services to youth who have nowhere else to turn, and many of them are LGBT-identified.

Report Finds 41% Jump in Teens ‘Aging Out’ of Foster Care, Facing the Future on Their Own (Washington DC) Thursday, May 24, 2007 The number of young people leaving the U.S. foster care system without a permanent family is at an all- time high, according to a new report by The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Kids Are Waiting campaign and the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative.