Safe Harbor Act 2008

The Safe Harbor Act is a proposed law in New York State that not only provides services for children who have been prostituted, but recognizes that children that have been involved in prostitution are victims of sex crimes, and deserve to be treated as such. The New York Times, in four separate editorials, and the editorial boards of Newsday and the Albany Times Union, have called upon the New York State Assembly and Senate to pass this bill. During the last legislative session, New York State passed an anti-trafficking bill, but inexplicably, left the child victims of domestic trafficking without services and protection.
The Girls Educational Mentoring Services [GEMS,] the Juvenile Justice Coalition of the Correctional Association of New York and The Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Rights Practice, are committed to the Safe Harbor Act passing in 2008. As we enter into a new legislative session, we will continually update this site to detail the progress of the act, and ask for your support and assistance in making sure that the child victims of commercial sexual exploitation are provided with the services they need, and the recognition that they are victims of sexual abuse, not perpetrators of crimes.