Reporter’s Notebook: Girls in the System

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I knew I didn’t look good, but after a day of ice packs and Netflix, I was getting used to it. The curve of skin where my nose met my face had been cracked open. A bright purple crescent bloomed across my puffy cheek, swooping out from the inner corner of my right eye. “A girl did that to you?” my coworkers asked when I came back to the office, wincing at the sight. “Why?”

It was the same question I’d asked in the emergency room, waiting to find out if my nose was broken, and the same question I tried to answer a year later while reporting a story on girls in the juvenile justice system.

Human Capital as Big Business, and One Woman’s Shot at ‘Stopping the Traffic’

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Across the United States, the business of human trafficking, especially in the sex trade, is booming with underground groups and gangs using children, women and men as commercial assets to trade across borders. But precise data to measure the scope of the issue is difficult to gather precisely because the trade is so covert. Often, the victims are invisible to society.

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Audio: Griselda’s Story

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Griselda, 17, was arrested when she was 14. In this audio piece she talks about bad influences in her neighborhood, and how exalt helped her get her life back on track.

Advocates Seek to Keep Youth Out of Adult Courts

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New York is one of two states to prosecute 16-year-olds as adults. Some state politicians want to change the law so that anyone ages 16 or 17 goes to a youth court instead of an adult criminal court. Proponents of raising the age argue a higher age of criminal responsibility allows more teens to outgrow criminal behavior. Advocates say that teenagers outgrow criminal behavior when treated like teens instead of adults, a point supported by science.