Girls' Courts / CSEC Courts Overview

Girls’ courts are for girls in the juvenile justice system who have a history of trauma or exploitation or may be at risk for these things. The goal of a girls’ court is to have a different track from a traditional delinquency court that recognizes these girls' unique and gender-specific risks and needs. The court focuses on providing services rather than on convictions or detentions. Similar to girls’ courts are CSEC courts, which are specifically for survivors of Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC), or sex trafficking. Survivors of CSEC may be any gender.

Listing of Girls' Courts in California

If you think you, your family member, or your client may benefit from girls' court, please speak with her defense attorney or probation officer:

Resources

Juvenile Collaborative Court Models Briefing: Girls’ Court and CSEC Court (February 2020)
This briefing gives an overview of two collaborative court-types providing an alternative track for female youth who may have been commercially sexually exploited, suffered trauma, or be at risk for these things.

Human Trafficking Briefing: Successful Practices in the Emerging Field of Human Trafficking (Historical – December 2012)
This briefing discusses the definition and scope of human trafficking, risk factors for becoming a trafficking victim, the dynamics of how perpetrators maintain trafficking victims, and how trafficking cases present themselves in courtrooms.

Human Trafficking in California: Toolkit for Judicial Officers  (2017) contains information that is useful and relevant to judicial officers who may come across the variety of cases in which a sex trafficking victim may be a party or witness.

STAR Court Study: Initial Results (January 2020)
This research update provides descriptive data about the participants of Los Angeles’ Succeeding Through Achievement and Resilience (STAR) Court, a juvenile collaborative court program focused on providing services to commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) or youth at risk of exploitation. This publication was released prior to the full STAR Court Evaluation.

An Evaluation of the Succeeding Through Achievement and Resilience (STAR) Court (2021).
This report details the results of a comprehensive evaluation of the Los Angeles Succeeding Through Achievement and Resilience (STAR) Court, created for those who are at risk of or have been commercially sexually exploited. This report covers an overview of the STAR Court, the mixed methods used in the evaluation, and qualitative and quantitative results. The results suggest that the STAR Court is a promising model that could be successful for youth experiencing commercial sexual exploitation in other jurisdictions.

An Overview of California’s Girls’ and CSEC Courts: Process Evaluation Report (2021)
This final evaluation report details the results of a process evaluation of California’s girls’ and CSEC courts designed for those at risk of or have been Commercially Sexually Exploited Children. The report covers an overview of what girls’ courts and CSEC courts are, the existing literature about this court type, the methodology used in the evaluation, and evaluation results. It concludes with a set of recommendations for courts that might see victims of exploitation or that want to create their own girls’ or CSEC court.

Webinars

Overview of California's Girls' Courts and CSEC Courts
This webinar discusses the results of a process evaluation of California’s girls’ and CSEC courts designed for those at risk of or have been Commercially Sexually Exploited Children. California currently has 11 of these courts. Although all of the courts follow a collaborative, non-adversarial model and generally have the same goals, they differ in some ways, too. This webinar describes specific aspects of the court models that are particularly beneficial, identifies model practices, and provides recommendations for courts interested in having their own girls’ court.

How CSEC Courts have been Impacted by COVID (32:25), Transcript
This May 2021 webinar discusses how COVID impacted three of the courts that participated in the girls’ court evaluation study.

Community Resources

HEAT Watch
The mission of H.E.A.T. Watch is to develop an effective, comprehensive, collaborative, and regional response to human trafficking of all forms; to provide tools, education, and community engagement to change societal, legal, and institutional approaches; and to support victims and hold their offenders accountable. H.E.A.T. Watch is a five-point program designed to combat human trafficking by raising community awareness, training law enforcement, prosecuting offenders, coordinating victim services, and changing legislative policy.

National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) Hotline
The NHTRC is a national, toll-free hotline, available to answer calls from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The NHTRC is a program of Polaris Project (www.polarisproject.org), a non-profit, nongovernmental organization working exclusively on the issue of human trafficking.

Call 1-888-3737-888 to report a tip; to connect with anti-trafficking services in your area; or to request training and technical assistance, general information, or specific anti-trafficking resources.