This article will address a recent change in the Criminal Procedure Law that extends the relief available in Family Court to 16- and 17-year-old defendants charged with prostitution-related offenses in criminal court and allows for the decriminalization of proceedings against these teens. The new law, CPL §170.80, is an unusual hybrid that appears to evolve from the understanding that individuals charged with prostitution offenses may themselves be victims and that 16- and 17-year-olds may more appropriately be helped with the services accessible through Family Court instead of being prosecuted as criminals.
First, some background. On Sept. 25, 2013, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman announced the creation of Human Trafficking Intervention Courts, the nation’s first such statewide system of courts that seek to identify and assist victims of sex trafficking and those who may be before a court because of past or present sexual, psychological, physical or other abuse, and to link them to services.
