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Durbin swears in Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez before her testimony at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law hearing. Durbin also chaired the hearing.

Alvarez Tells Senators of Child Prostitutes' Ordeals
Cook County state's attorney says office treats them as victims, not crimnals

February 24, 2010
Some young Chicagoans are practicing "survival sex" and selling their bodies for food, clothing or a safe place to sleep, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez told a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday.

Alvarez, addressing a subcommittee looking into human trafficking, told of a girl who didn't want her pimp to face charges because he bought her a Subway sandwich whenever she wanted one. Another girl had sex for cash to buy food and clothing, unable to rely on her mother, a drug addict.

The state's attorney said her office rarely charges juveniles arrested for prostitution-related offenses, treating them instead as victims who need "support, services and a safe future."

The hearing was called by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. He estimated that 100,000-plus U.S. children become sex-trafficking victims every year.

For nearly two hours, the subcommittee heard graphic, sometimes gruesome testimony about kids trading sex in the streets — or up and down interstate highways — and becoming addicted to drugs while veering between feelings of love for and fear of their pimps.

State's Attorney Alvarez Honors Two Illinois Apellate Court Justices with 20th Annual C.F. Stradford Awards

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez recognized the accomplishments of Justice Bertina E. Lampkin and Justice Sharon Johnson Coleman of the Illinois Appellate Court with C.F. Stradford Awards. The awards are given annually in honor of C.F. Stradford, a pioneering civil rights attorney and one of the founders of the National Bar Association.

Justice Lampkin served as an Associate Judge from 1987 to 1992. During this time she was appointed an Assistant Supervisor of the Traffic Division. In 1992 she was elected Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, serving as supervisor of the Domestic Violence courts and as a supervisor in the Criminal Division. She was appointed to the Illinois Appellate Court in 2009.

Justice Coleman was elected to the Circuit Court of Cook County in 1996 and was retained in 2002 and in 2008. In the Circuit Court, she served in the child protection division and the law division. In 2008 Judge Coleman was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court.

In conjunction with the C.F. Stradford Awards, two local students are given $1,000 scholarships donated by State Farm Insurance. This year’s student scholarship winners are Elizabeth Brent, 2009 graduate of Mother McAuley High School who is currently attending the University of Illinois in Champaign, and Ghaffar Ghenro, 2009 graduate of ACE Tech Charter High School who is currently attending Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.

The Stradford awards ceremony is held in commemoration of African-American Heritage Month and honors African-American attorneys who are outstanding professionals and citizens.