Rights4Girls Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee

On February 28, 2017, Rights4Girls Executive Director Yasmin Vafa testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing entitled “Improving Outcomes for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System.” Ms. Vafa testified about the steady increase of girls in the juvenile justice system due to an “Abuse to Prison Pipeline”– a pipeline that lands vulnerable girls into the system as a direct result of suffering violence and exploitation. In particular, Ms. Vafa highlighted the unjust criminalization of abused girls who run away from home as well as the arrest and incarceration of child sex trafficking victims for “prostitution” or related offenses. She called on the committee to reauthorize a strengthened Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) in order to dismantle this pipeline and better address the needs of marginalized girls.

Read Ms. Vafa’s testimony here.