A very rare thing happened a few weeks ago in the hallowed halls of Congress. Girls got a chance to be heard. They were not girls from elite schools or one of those prep programs for youth interested in politics. No, these were girls previously locked up for prostitution and assault. Tiffany Rivera and Nadeyah Shereff testified before the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on girls in the juvenile justice system. And, perhaps for the first time in the U.S. Congress, girls who exist at the forgotten edges of America finally had the opportunity to discuss how girls like themselves -- poor, undereducated, and invisible -- are ending up in the juvenile justice system because of sexual victimization.
American girls are subject to unacceptable levels of violence. One in three girls will experience sexual violence by the time she reaches 18. But, when girls with economic stability are hurt by sexual violence, the protective layers of functional schools, safe neighborhoods, and access to mental health services tend to buffer them from further exploitation. For girls at the margins, the experience of sexual violence pipelines them into the criminal justice system.
Sex trafficking or running away from abusive homes and foster care placements are the primary reasons for girls' incarceration. They are not being detained for violent offenses, or because girls are becoming the new gang bangers or murderers. Girls are put behind bars for being raped and sexually abused. A recent study of chronically delinquent girls found that the average age of first sexual encounter among detained girls was six years old.
The judges sentencing these girls to detention aren't necessarily the bad guys either. Judges don't want to return the girls to abusive homes or a ruthless pimp. But since there are few, if any, safe havens or gender specific trauma-based programs for vulnerable girls to go to and heal, judges often detain these girls to keep them safe.
Ironically, detained girls often endure more sexual violence and exploitation behind bars. Many girls are placed into solitary confinement where self-mutilation is common. Others are forced to take showers in front of male guards or are subject to cross-gender strip searches. Girls are routinely sexually coerced or abused by staff.
Listen to Nadiyah and Tiffany's own voices. During her testimony, Tiffany explained the trauma of being sex trafficked and then placed in detention:
"My pimp raped me every day. I was a victim of the commercial sexploitation of children...In juvenile hall, if you were in there for prostitution or your family history was written down in your file, the counselors used to put your business on blast--confidentiality was never kept. If you had an STD or something they would talk and spread your information with other girls in there. If they didn't like you they would lie to another girl so that you can get beat up...When I first got arrested I was kind of happy because I felt as if I was being saved, I was hoping to receive help and start dealing with my problems. But it was as if they completely ignored that part. I had asked to see a counselor and they told me ok -- it took three months for me to see one. It was never consistent, and it didn't help... I felt as if they made us keep our problems inside -- it didn't seem like they really wanted to know the true story -- the real issues that I had been dealing with my whole life -- they just made me take three different medications and told me I was just an angry girl."
And in Nadeyah's words:
"At 13, I got arrested for the first time...I was taken to San Francisco's juvenile hall and began a cycle of going in and out of detention. I was locked up ten different times within a two year period. Inside juvie I met other girls like myself that were there for prostitution, assault, theft, and truancy. We were not violent girls. We were girls who were hurting. All of us were from the same neighborhoods, poor families and seemed to have the same disposition of trauma, anger mixed with hopelessness."
Right now, there is a growing public outcry against the sexual exploitation and trafficking of girls in Europe, Africa and Asia. A powerful movement is emerging, thoughtfully encouraged by Nick Kristof and Cheryl DuWann's book "Half the Sky" and Nike's "Girl Effect" video, to invest in girls in developing nations who are denigrated or cut down by violence. It is time to do that for girls in America too. Nadiyah and Tiffany, like other girl victims of sexual violence in India, Congo, and Bosnia, deserve safety, healing, and justice.