Exploring racial disparities in sex trafficking special docket court programs
Purpose: The United States criminal legal system has a long-standing and well-documented history of perpetuating racial disparities in health and well-being through inequitable policing, sentencing, and incarceration practices. In the last decade, the criminal legal system has re-considered their re...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Social Sciences and Humanities Open |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291124002389 |
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| author | Aaron Murnan Gwen England Samantha Boch Caneacha Matthews Henry O. Duah Islam Qasem Sarah Manchak |
| author_facet | Aaron Murnan Gwen England Samantha Boch Caneacha Matthews Henry O. Duah Islam Qasem Sarah Manchak |
| author_sort | Aaron Murnan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Purpose: The United States criminal legal system has a long-standing and well-documented history of perpetuating racial disparities in health and well-being through inequitable policing, sentencing, and incarceration practices. In the last decade, the criminal legal system has re-considered their response to women arrested for solicitation via sex trafficking specialty courts. Methods: The current study leverages publicly available data from one large Midwestern county to explore the presence of racial disparities within women's referral to, election to participate in, and success within one specialty court program for women in the sex trade. Results: Between 1990 and 2022, approximately 27,790 women were arrested or cited for solicitation (about 2.5 per day). Among them, 67.0% were White, 31.4% were Black, 0.9% reported another racial identity; and 0.7% had racial identity missing from their record; which aligns with county demographics. Rates of referral to sex trafficking specialty court programs were similar for White and Black women arrested for solicitation (11.6% vs 13.1%, p = 0.28). However, racial disparities were observed within rates of women who elected to participate in these programs (83.1% - White; 56.9% - Black, p < 0.001). Although not statistically significant within the small sample of program graduates, White women who participated in the program were more likely to graduate compared to their Black peers (20% vs 9.1%; p = 0.07). Conclusions: Much greater attention is needed to establish equitable practices and access within this unique branch of specialty court programming. Specifically, these programs should seek to cultivate better reputations as trusted providers among Black women in the sex trade. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2d8a69c0d97f44e9a7cb925c8a31287f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2590-2911 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences and Humanities Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-2d8a69c0d97f44e9a7cb925c8a31287f2024-11-21T06:05:52ZengElsevierSocial Sciences and Humanities Open2590-29112024-01-0110101041Exploring racial disparities in sex trafficking special docket court programsAaron Murnan0Gwen England1Samantha Boch2Caneacha Matthews3Henry O. Duah4Islam Qasem5Sarah Manchak6Department of Population Health, College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati, 3110 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45219, USA; Center for Addiction Research, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3230 Eden Ave, Cincinnati, OH, 45267, USA; Corresponding author. University of Cincinnati College of Nursing, 3110 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45219, USA.Creating Autonomy Through Collaborative Healing (CATCH), Specialty Docket Court Program, Franklin County Municipal Court, 375 S High Street, Columbus, OH, 43215, USADepartment of Population Health, College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati, 3110 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45219, USA; James M Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 45229, USADepartment of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Cincinnati, 155 B Arts & Science Hall, Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USADepartment of Population Health, College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati, 3110 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45219, USADepartment of Population Health, College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati, 3110 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45219, USASchool of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, PO Box 210389, TDC 600, Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USAPurpose: The United States criminal legal system has a long-standing and well-documented history of perpetuating racial disparities in health and well-being through inequitable policing, sentencing, and incarceration practices. In the last decade, the criminal legal system has re-considered their response to women arrested for solicitation via sex trafficking specialty courts. Methods: The current study leverages publicly available data from one large Midwestern county to explore the presence of racial disparities within women's referral to, election to participate in, and success within one specialty court program for women in the sex trade. Results: Between 1990 and 2022, approximately 27,790 women were arrested or cited for solicitation (about 2.5 per day). Among them, 67.0% were White, 31.4% were Black, 0.9% reported another racial identity; and 0.7% had racial identity missing from their record; which aligns with county demographics. Rates of referral to sex trafficking specialty court programs were similar for White and Black women arrested for solicitation (11.6% vs 13.1%, p = 0.28). However, racial disparities were observed within rates of women who elected to participate in these programs (83.1% - White; 56.9% - Black, p < 0.001). Although not statistically significant within the small sample of program graduates, White women who participated in the program were more likely to graduate compared to their Black peers (20% vs 9.1%; p = 0.07). Conclusions: Much greater attention is needed to establish equitable practices and access within this unique branch of specialty court programming. Specifically, these programs should seek to cultivate better reputations as trusted providers among Black women in the sex trade.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291124002389Sex traffickingRacial disparitiesSpecialty court programsTreatment diversionDrug courts |
| spellingShingle | Aaron Murnan Gwen England Samantha Boch Caneacha Matthews Henry O. Duah Islam Qasem Sarah Manchak Exploring racial disparities in sex trafficking special docket court programs Social Sciences and Humanities Open Sex trafficking Racial disparities Specialty court programs Treatment diversion Drug courts |
| title | Exploring racial disparities in sex trafficking special docket court programs |
| title_full | Exploring racial disparities in sex trafficking special docket court programs |
| title_fullStr | Exploring racial disparities in sex trafficking special docket court programs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring racial disparities in sex trafficking special docket court programs |
| title_short | Exploring racial disparities in sex trafficking special docket court programs |
| title_sort | exploring racial disparities in sex trafficking special docket court programs |
| topic | Sex trafficking Racial disparities Specialty court programs Treatment diversion Drug courts |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291124002389 |
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