2008 Legislative Agenda Update

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Support Senate Resolution 445, which establishes a joint study committee to examine the commercial sexual exploitation of minors in Georgia, and support increased state funding to improve services for the child victims of commercial sexual exploitation.

• The Atlanta area is considered a national and international hub for the sexual exploitation of children.
  
  
• The average age of the sexually-exploited child is 13, and the market is increasing for younger and younger children.
  
  
  
• Children who are commercially sexually exploited often become victims of crime and are at greater risk for drug and alcohol abuse, depression, unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.



• Senate Resolution 445 (Sen. Renee Unterman, 45th) would create the State Joint Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Minors Study Commission, to study the scope of commercial sexual exploitation of minors in Georgia and to recommend legislation to address the problem. The bill passed in the Senate in 2007, the first year of the two-year session, and was referred to the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee.



• Child-victims need a safe place to escape prostitution and undergo a thorough assessment of their needs before being referred to longer-term placement for treatment.  Currently in the metro region, youth detention centers are serving this function.



• The Juvenile Justice Fund has made an appropriation request of $560,000 to establish a metro-area regional assessment center, to be used instead of detention facilities, where trained professionals can keep prostituted children safe, assess their needs, and refer them to proper long-term services.

TAKE ACTION: Contact your state legislators and let them know you support increased state funding to improve services for the child victims of sexual exploitation.  Also, contact the members of the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee, where SR 445 has been referred, and ask them to support the creation of a Study Committee to examine the growing problem of child commercial sexual exploitation in Georgia.