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EDITORIAL Battle Creek Enquirer
B-SAFE offers alternative to life of drugs and prostitution
Women caught in a world of drugs and prostitution seldom hold much
hope for a better life. They often are enslaved by their addictions,
selling their bodies for survival.If they are arrested, it
usually means a quick trip through the legal system and then back out
on the street. It is a vicious cycle that wastes lives and erodes
communities.In an attempt to address some of the underlying causes of prostitution,
Calhoun County has launche pilot program called B-SAFE (Beat Sexual
solicitation And Forbid Exploitation) as an alternative to
traditionally sentencing. B-SAFE is run through the county's Drug
Court, which was created to help those convicted of nonviolent drug
crimes.If a woman is arrested for a prostitution-related crime and
deemed a good candidate for B-SAFE, she can plead guilty and have her
sentencing put on hold for six months. She then must enter the B-SAFE
program, which will help her get assistance for drug and sexual
addictions, as well as provide art therapy and classes in health,
healthy relationships, self-esteem and forgiveness. Participants also
must enroll in a 12-step prostitution recovery program.If, at
the end of six months, the woman completes the program, the charges she
faces may either be reduced or dismissed. The goal, of course, is that
the charges are dismissed and the woman is ready to build a new,
healthy life for herself.The main advantage of the B-SAFE
program is that is offers women an opportunity to turn their lives
around and shun drugs and prostitution for a more productive lifestyle.
If it proves successful, it also will help ease the burden on our
courts and help those neighborhoods that are battling prostitution and
the related problems it often brings.B-SAFE, however, cannot force
anyone to change. A woman who participates in the program only to avoid
serving jail time is unlikely to benefit long-term from the services
she will be offered through B-SAFE. Like all recovery efforts, an
individual must first want to stop the addictive behaviors that have sent his or her life into a downward spiral before they can be helped.We
hope that through the B-SAFE program, women who have turned to
prostitution for survival will see the opportunity that is being
provide to them and will take full advantage of it. Not only will their
lives be far better because of it, but their families, friends and the
entire community will benefit as well.
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