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District Attorneys: PSU Fine Should Fund Children’s Advocacy Centers

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Now that the NCAA has slapped Penn State with a $60-million dollar fine to fund programs that prevent child sex abuse and assist its victims, the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association is weighing in on how that money should be used.  Association president Shawn Wager has written the presidents of both PSU and the NCAA to say those funds would be best used supporting the Children’s Advocacy Centers across the state.

“The DA’s Association has chosen to weigh in on this discussion regarding the use of the NCAA endowment funds because we as district attorneys believe Children’s Advocacy Centers best fulfill the obligations laid out in the consent decree by the NCAA,” Wagner says, “to provide direct services to child abuse victims and to focus on public education & child abuse prevention.  I can assure you Children’s Advocacy Centers do both of those things.”

Adams Co. District Attorney Shawn Wagner is president of the PDAA.

Wagner was joined by fellow prosecutors and victim advocates from across the state at news conferences in State College, Harrisburg and Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Victim advocate Jennifer Storm has been involved in the Jerry Sandusky case, and supports the district attorneys efforts:STORM

In a statement, Penn State lauded the work of both the DAs and the CACs.  It continues: “The University is working to formulate a plan to create and administer the fund. It is our hope the fund will produce countless opportunities to help children in need. We appreciate this valuable input and will provide additional details when they become available.”

Pennsylvania is home to 20-Childrens Advocacy Centers, which do not have a consistent or dedicated funding stream.  Advocates add that for every child served, there are hundreds of additional child victims in PA that do not have access to CACs.

Human Trafficking Response Team

PA’s First Human Trafficking Response Team Announced

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Police, prosecutors and non-profit groups have joined forces to announce the state’s first Human Trafficking Response Team.  It will cover a five county area in Central Pennsylvania, according to Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico.  “Just as we’re a major pass through for commerce, we can also be a thoroughfare for human trafficking,” Marsico said at a Wednesday news conference.  Marsico is also president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association (PDAA), which made the announcement alongside the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR).

PCAR’s Criminal Justice Specialist, Krista Hoffman, says human trafficking does occur in Pennsylvania.  “Every year between 100,000 and 300,000 US kids… are trafficked for prostitution within the United States,” she says.  Human trafficking became a criminal offense in Pennsylvania in 2005, and it occurs when a person is forced, coerced, threatened or deceived into performing labor or prostitution.  Hoffman notes that it does not have to involve travel.    

A grant from the Department of Health and Human Services will help to train a multidisciplinary team to respond to potential crimes of human trafficking in Dauphin, Adams, Cumberland, Perry and Franklin Counties.   But, officials see room for expansion.  “[It can] become an example of a best practice for the rest of Pennsylvania, and others throughout the country,” Marsico says.  Hoffman echoed those thoughts after the news conference: “If we can take our model of the five-county human trafficking task force and then expand it and really roll it out to the rest of Pennsylvania, I think it would be very effective.”