ABSTRACT

Prostitution courts are a relatively new form of a specialty court, and very few outcome evaluations are available regarding their effectiveness. What research is available consists of studies pertaining to misdemeanor pre-trial diversion prostitution court programs and relies on traditional success measures including program completion and recidivism. This study utilizes data from a felony post-adjudication prostitution court that recognizes its participants are victims – survivors of trauma – as well as defendants, or ‘victim-defendants.’ Results indicate that while a large number of participants fail to complete the program and/or recidivate, assessing other outcomes including sobriety, stable housing, and phased completion indicates substantial progress for most participants. Factors consistently associated with successful outcomes included employment and participant’s risk level. Policy considerations for measuring success in this population are provided.

摘要

卖淫法庭是一种相对较新的专门法庭形式，关于其有效性的结果评估很少。可用的研究包括与轻罪审前转移卖淫法庭项目有关的研究，并依赖于传统的成功措施，包括项目完成和累犯。这项研究利用了重罪判决后卖淫法庭的数据，该法庭承认其参与者是受害者——创伤的幸存者——以及被告，或“受害者-被告”。结果表明，虽然大量参与者未能完成该计划和/或重新学习，但评估其他结果，包括清醒、稳定的住房和分阶段完成，表明大多数参与者取得了实质性进展。与成功结果一致的因素包括就业和参与者的风险水平。提供了衡量该人群成功的政策考虑因素。