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Court News Ohio
Ten Years After Inception, Human
Trafficking Court Continues to Reform Lives
By Csaba Sukosd
January 22, 2019
On a weekly basis, one docket inside Franklin County Municipal Court is
in session where the people in attendance aren’t seated for hearings or
rulings.
They’re largely there just to talk.
The structure is the evolution of a decade’s work by Judge Paul Herbert
and his staff to build a safe haven for those victimized by one of the
most heinous crimes: human trafficking.
“We have a restorative court system with a trauma-competent judge and
staff,” said Judge Herbert. “Which means, really, I’m looking at
someone instead of the old way [of saying], ‘What’s wrong with you?’
I’m really looking at them now trying to [say], ‘I wonder what happened
to you.’”
The judge came up with Ohio’s first human trafficking court – Changing
Actions that Change Habits (CATCH) – in 2009 after he sensed something
wasn’t right in his courtroom.
“One day, women were coming through arraignment court all beat up, and
I looked down at the file and it said ‘prostitute,’ and they looked
more like a domestic violence victim,” he said.
After years of trauma and exploitation, those who appear inside
courtroom 12C arrive there with criminal records carrying varying
charges. All of the survivors have little control over their lives as
they’re forced to sell their bodies for someone else’s profit or to
satiate a substance addiction.
“Being new in recovery, and pregnant, and having a child, was very
difficult to juggle, and there have been several times that I wanted to
give up,” said Cheyenne, a CATCH Court participant.
The program is a two-year track that involves intensive probation,
addiction treatment, and trauma-focused therapy. Those who graduate –
to date there have been 58 people – get a clean slate with the related
charges erased from their record.
“You’re asking them to change a lot and we’re very demanding about
that,” said Judge Herbert. “As you see them over time start to trust
the process, and trust the staff, and eventually trust me, I don’t
think there’s been anything more rewarding in my whole career.”
The survivors are proving the program works. The national average of
recidivism – or re-offending in these kinds of cases – is 80 percent.
CATCH Court’s rate is at 29 percent.
“I really thought that my record would really hold me back from being
able to hold a stable job and be stable out in the community, but I see
other women doing it, and that gives me the motivation that I can do
it,” said Cheyenne.
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