Chadha 1

Arjun Chadha
Honors PS1010
Aaron Martin
2 April, 2015
The Barriers of the Service Component of Safe Harbor Laws
Young victims of human trafficking are commonly forced into illegal activities, such as
prostitution. The law treats children in this situation as convicts, simply visualizing them as
perpetuators of crime as opposed to victims of trafficking (Haberman). Due to this, the inflicted
childrens criminal record is tarnished, preventing them from employment opportunities that
would allow them to escape this lifestyle (Shields). Furthermore, this paradigm enforces a fear
of the judicial system in the inflicted childrens minds, resulting in the human trafficking crime
to go unattended. This allows the criminal of this crime to attack more young victims. Safe
Harbor Laws attempt to attack this phenomenon (Human Trafficking Issue Brief 1).
These laws have two distinct features. First, they attempt to protect children that are
sexually exploited. As opposed to most laws that attack young prostitutes, this feature offers
legal protection to children that were forced or induced into offering sexual favors to consumers.
The second aspect provides services to victims. These services include physiological and
psychological care, access to education and housing (Human Trafficking Issue Brief 1).
Utilizing both components allow a holistic solution to childhood prostitution stemming from
trafficking.
In order to fully solve the issue of youth exposure to prostitution in public bus stop areas
at its core, it is important to aid prostitution prevention. Concepts such as Safe Harbor Laws are
providing potential solutions. By aiming at young prostitutes, these laws attempt to aid
individuals who are at risk of accepting prostitution as a lifestyle. Although Safe Harbor Laws
only apply to minors, its structure prevents prostitution in this age group. However, there are
certain flaws in the service component that restricted their positive effects.

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The degree of Safe Harbor Laws ranges from state to state (Graham 80). Fifteen states
offer both components of Safe Harbor Laws while seven offer only one of the two. Michigan is
part of the latter group. Michigan Safe Harbor Laws offer legal protection to minors; however,
the laws do not attempt to provide services (Safe Harbor 3). In order to effectively decrease
prostitution nationwide, the Polaris Project argues an effort to increase and uniform the goals of
Safe Harbor Laws must be initiated (Human Trafficking Issue Brief 2). It claims that each
state must aim to offer both components of Safe Harbor Laws. By instilling both aspects of the
laws, minors in Michigan would not only be decriminalized or diverted to a lesser sentence by
the legal protective feature but also receive the preventative benefits from the services. This
maximizes the welfares of the Safe Harbor Laws.
Incorporating the service aspect of the Safe Harbor Laws in states similar to Michigan is
very problematic. The Polaris Project suggests, Services should include medical and
psychological treatment, emergency and long-term housing, education assistance, job training,
language assistance, and legal services (Human Trafficking Issue Brief 1). However, a
nationwide survey conducted in 2012 depicts a limited amount of services. Less than half of the
51 anti-human trafficking organizations that responded reported they arrange a form of
residential care and only 19% claimed to provide foster care support. Together, these
government instituted organizations are able to provide general services to 1,684 young victims
and shelter 226 child victims (Sex Trafficking of Children in the United States 28).
Nationwide, over 14,000 citizens are trafficked in the United States annually (Sex Trafficking of
Children in the United States 27). The number of shelters and services offered to child victims
from human trafficking is highly inadequate and only supports a small fraction of inflicted
children.

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This lack of resources is the result of a shortage of money allocated to supporting the
Safe Harbor Laws (Shields). Without funds to create shelters or hire medical professionals, the
Safe Harbor Laws are incapable of providing services needed to allow minors to escape this
lifestyle. According to Kraft and Furlong, the government has 11 actions it can perform; one of
these actions is taxing and spending (Kraft 135). To raise enough funds to increase spending
towards Safe Harbor Laws and support its service resources, the government is capable of
increasing taxes of citizens.
The funds needed to provide services to minors affected by human trafficking are not a
great amount. According to a project preventing teen pregnancies in Washington State, shelter
for an individual teenage female costs nearly $3,050 a year (Borgford-Parnell). Although this
figure does not represent females affected by human trafficking in Detroit specifically, it allows a
close estimate to their shelter cost. In 2011, 29 human trafficking cases occurred in Michigan,
according to the ICE data. It is important to acknowledge that this figure is the total human
trafficking cases that were reported in 2011 and therefore is under representative of the total
number of human trafficking occurrences in the state (Michigan 25). Subsequently, the total cost
to provide shelter for the females victimized by human trafficking in Michigan was only an
estimated $88,450 in 2011. Still, governmental officials refused to spend this amount.
The lack of initiative to tax citizens and gain this money is not necessarily the result of
government officials intrinsic beliefs (Graham 86). Many of the Michigan representatives
supported the complete Safe Harbor Laws. Attorney General Bill Schuette and representatives
like Rep. Eileen Kowall (R-White Lake Township), Rep. Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth) and Rep.
Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) approved of the Safe Harbor services (Yearout). However, the
majority of the representatives voted to not allocate a sufficient amount of money to the Safe
Harbor Law services.

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The same ideas apply to members of the federal government. According to the 2013
Trafficking in Persons Report by the U.S. Department of State, United States government
officials suggest there should be an increase in funding for agencies that support services to
victims of human trafficking (Fisanick 24). Secretary of State John F. Kerry, alongside Luis
CdeBaca, Ambassador to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, suggests funds used to
combat human trafficking should be allocated to services such as shelter and education
(Trafficking in Persons Report 2013 3). Although these two, and many influential politicians
like them, openly supported the service component of the Safe Harbor Laws, they did not take
sufficient action to pressure states into allocating enough funds for the services.
According to the democratic theory, a legislators vote upon a policy is not representative
of his or her own, individual values but rather the ideas of the public opinion. In a perfect
democracy, political representatives vote to support the option the majority finds most beneficial
(Lenz 163). However, a perfect democracy requires that every individual exhibits an equal
amount of political participation. It is impossible to satisfy this condition for two major reasons.
Firstly, increasing ones power to persuade other individuals increases his or her political
participation. There are many methods to increase ones political power, including access to
media. The media plays an essential aspect to an individuals political socialization (Lenz 169).
In order to display ones ideas on the media, a certain principle of money is required (Bartels).
Thus, richer individuals have greater access to communicating their ideals through the media and
therefore have more political influence and power.
Also, voting is the most popular form of political participation. However, many citizens
do not take advantage of voting. Statistics show that citizens of lower economic classes tend to
forgo voting at elections more often than their counterparts (Bartels). With economically
unstable citizens not utilizing their right to vote, their ideals are underrepresented in the political
field.

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For these reasons, economically elite individuals have 15 times more political power than
the average citizen (Bartels). Therefore, the government becomes biased towards this
populations ideals. Wealthy individuals in the United States opt for a laissez faire approach to
the economic system. They have a tendency to vote for right wing politicians and either
conservative or classical libertarian policies (Lenz 193). Likewise, the governmental policies in
the United States commonly oppose economic redistribution.
These concepts can be applied to Safe Harbor Laws. Whether the majority of citizens in
America, or more specifically Michigan, agree or disagree with the ideals of these laws is
negligible; it is more significant to focus on the political voices that influence the government
(Graham 16). These voices are usually from individuals of higher economic classes those that
oppose government involvement in economic matters and vote to decrease taxing and spending.
Therefore, although it does not require a great sum of money, the government cannot offer funds
to the Safe Harbor initiative and services preventing human trafficking.
In order to satisfy the service goals of the Safe Harbor initiative, it is important to expand
its efforts and focus on another sphere of action. Rather than changing the current political
opinion and convincing members of higher economic classes that funding Safe Harbor services
is worth tax increases, it behooves cities like Detroit to emphasize a solution utilizing the civic
sphere, such as Alternatives for Girls.
Alternatives for Girls is a nonprofit organization that was established in Detroit. Ever
since 1987, it aims to fulfill the service goals Safe Harbor Laws fail to facilitate: to empower
young women who have either been or are at risk of exploitation with constructive, life altering
decisions. It does so by offering shelter, educational support and physiological and
psychological treatment.

In doing so, girls under this organizations care avoid violence, teen

pregnancy and a prostitution dependent lifestyle (Bennett).

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This organization has successfully gathered resources to provide much relief to the
unfortunate young females of Detroit. Originally, this group housed a few homeless girls in a
local church with five beds. It was a small program run by several volunteers. In a little over 25
years, this organization developed into an agency with over 50 employees that have relieved
more than 44,441 crisis line calls. Alternatives for Girls built a two story building that has
sheltered over 3,633 women and provided 112,294 nights of safety (Dybis). Moreover, these
services have led to a lasting result on girls. Last year, 94% of the girls that participated in after
school activities aided by the group resisted from drugs. 99% of the females in the Prevention
Program not only graduated high school, but also pursued higher education (Bennett).
Alternatives for Girls has employed their 50 employees and built their shelter without the
aid of the governments money. This group has successfully raised enough funding by
donations. Upon its capital campaign completion, it raised $4.5 million (Dybis). Furthermore,
its 26th Role Model Dinner alone raised over $250,000 (Bennett). Whereas utilizing the
government through Safe Harbor Laws lead to insufficient funds to provide services, raising
money through the civic sphere raised millions of dollars and allowed Alternatives for Girls to
provide assistance to thousands of young women.
Safe Harbor Laws provide much legal relief to minors exploited by human trafficking.
However, in states like Michigan, it does not complete its second goal of providing services that
allow these individuals to escape this lifestyle. This is the result of insufficient funds to aid the
initiative. Although many state and national politicians personally support allocating funds to
this policy, money cannot be spent for this goal. Legislators must follow the public opinion of its
constituents. Wealthy individuals have the most power to influence the public opinion because
they have the most control over the media and vote more often than lower class citizens.

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Generally, affluent citizens do not support economic redistribution; thus, the government cannot
tax citizens and spend it on the Safe Harbor Laws.
Alternatives for Girls exemplifies the benefits of concentrating efforts away from the
government. The organization has raised millions of dollars through donations as opposed to
taxes. The funds managed to effectively aid thousands of young women in Detroit to escape an
existence reliant on prostitution. In order to effectively solve the issue of prostitution amongst
young females, cities must adopt a technique that focuses on the civic sphere of action.

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Works Cited
Bartels, Larry. "Rich People Rule!" Washington Post. The Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2014. Web.
01 Apr. 2015.
Bennett, Chuck. "Alternatives for Girls Celebrates Its Success." The Detroit News. The Detroit
News, 30 Mar. 2015. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Borgford-Parnell, Donna, Robert W. Deisher, and Kerry R. Hope. "A homeless teen pregnancy
project: an intensive team case management model." The American Journal of Public
Health 84.6 (1994): 1029+. Academic OneFile. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Dybis, Karen. "Invisible No More: Alternatives for Girls Looks Back on 25 Years of of doing
Right for Detroit." Thedetroithub.com. Detroit Upspin, 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Fisanick, Christina. "Preface." Human Trafficking. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2010. 21-28. Print.
Graham, Bob, and Chris Hand. America, the Owner's Manual: Making Government Work for
You. Washington, D.C.: CQ, 2010. Print.
Haberman, Clyde. "Helping Girls as Victims, Not Culprits." The New York Times. The New York
Times Company, 8 July 2008. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Kraft, Michael E., and Scott R. Furlong. "Public Problems and Policy Alternatives." Public
Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives. Washington, D.C.: CQ, 2010. 121-44. Print.
Lenz, Timothy O., and Mirya Holman. American Government. N.p.: Orange Groove, 2013.
Theorangegrove.org. Florida Atlantic University Department of Political Science, 2013.
Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Michigan. Michigan Commission on Human Trafficking.www.michigan.gov. By Bill Schuette
and Kurt Heise. Michigan State Government, Oct. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Polaris. Human Trafficking Issue Brief: Safe Harbor. Washington, D.C.: Polaris, 2015.
www.polarisproject.org. Polaris, Oct. 2014. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
---. Safe Harbor Protecting Sexually Exploited Minors. Washington, D.C.: Polaris, 2015.
Www.polarisproject.org. Polaris, Aug. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Shields, Ryan T., and Elizabeth J. Letourneau. "Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and
the Emergence of Safe Harbor Legislation: Implications for Policy and Practice." Current
Psychiatry Reports 17.3 (2015): 1+. Academic OneFile. Web. 2 Apr. 2015.

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United States of America. Congressional Research Service. Sex Trafficking of Children in the
United States: Overview and Issues for Congress. By Kristin Finklea, Adrienne L.
Fernandes-Alcantara, and Alison Siskin. Washington, D.C.: US Federal Government,
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---. U.S. Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report 2013. Ed. Kerry F. John. By Luis
CdeBaca. Washington, D.C.: US Federal Government, 2013. Print.
Yearout, Joy. "Schuette Praises House for Unanimous Passage of Victim-Centered Human
Trafficking Bills." www.michigan.gov. State of Michigan, 5 Dec. 2013. Web. 31 Mar.
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