Jessica Springer joins Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak to talk about dual-jurisdiction children (part of the criminal justice system and the dependency system like foster homes) and how judges aren’t able to make good decisions if they don’t know the child’s full background. They also talk about current and upcoming human trafficking bills in California.
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Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 157, Using Your Expertise as a Volunteer – An Interview with Attorney Jessica Springer.
Production Credits: [00:00:11] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.
Dave: [00:00:31] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.
Sandie: [00:00:37] And my name is Sandie Morgan.
Dave: [00:00:39] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, I’m glad to be back with you. Many times, when we get together for these conversations, you have someone in mind as a guest who is just fabulous on expertise. And today is no different, and in our pre-conversation before this interview, I can just tell there is so much we’re going to learn. So, I’m really excited to be able to introduce Jessica Springer to our audience. She is a graduate of California State University Fullerton Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degrees in both psychology and criminal justice. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law, and during law school, she worked at the San Diego district attorney’s office and later started her own family practice here in Orange County. She is a member of the worker’s compensation section of the State Bar in the Orange County Bar Association. She is bilingual in English and Farsi and is very active in her community serving as a member of the Orange County Bar’s Community Outreach Committee. She’s a busy lawyer with a profound interest in children’s rights, is a member of the Orange County CSEC Steering Committee and is the chair of the Orange County Association’s Human Trafficking Task Force. Jessica, we’re so glad to welcome you to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast.
Jessica: [00:02:05] Thank you, I’m happy to be here.
Sandie: [00:02:07] I’m excited to interview you today Jessica because when I first met you it was because you were volunteering at a summit that we were helping judge Maria Hernandez do. And since then we’ve become good friends. I love to have younger professionals in my life that mentor me as I have the opportunity to speak into your life. So, it’s just a real honor to have a colleague and a friend on the podcast.
Jessica: [00:02:39] Thank you, Dr. Morgan. I think you’re giving me way too much credit, to be honest. I really look up to people like you who kind of paved the way for the younger generation. So, I’m just happy to be here and thank you so much for having me.
Sandie: [00:02:52] So tell a little bit about how you got involved in combating human trafficking. So, the way I got involved was actually a little bit strange. My focus in law school was actually on the dual jurisdiction population. And what that is, I’ll explain that a little bit, when a child gets involved in both the criminal justice system and the dependency system in California. So, they’re either part of the foster system as a dependent, meaning they don’t have a home or a family, and then they also are committing crimes whether it’s a status offense because of their age. So, for examples like smoking, or curfew, or truancy or they actually commit a crime that would be a crime as an adult like burglary or you know robbery or something. So, I was really interested in that population. I did a white paper on it and as I graduated, I started looking for volunteer opportunities, I saw and learned that the majority of the kids that are involved in human trafficking come from this dual jurisdiction population. So, it was only natural for me to say wow this is a big issue for the population that I want to serve. And that’s kind of how I got involved.
Sandie: [00:04:04] Oh I love that story. That’s great. And one of the things that I’ve watched in seeing how you engage the community is you don’t only go to human trafficking events, but you support educating the community about family violence because that’s often the root of kids becoming dual jurisdiction. Right?
Jessica: [00:04:26] That is absolutely correct. I hate to throw out statistics, so I’m just going to say the majority, but we all know that the majority of these young adults and children that get involved in human trafficking have some form of sexual violence, sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse and it usually starts when their children and in the home. So, you’re absolutely correct. It starts as a family unit, and we’ve got to keep that strong in order to prevent not only the crime of human trafficking but also the vulnerability of the kids in that population.
Sandie: [00:05:00] Well and besides doing things on the front line. Well like with the O.C. Bar Associations Human Trafficking Taskforce you also are working from the other side of things as a youth mentor and in the Orangewood Children’s Center, they’re an independent living program. So, you are really a great example of somebody who is approaching this from a very holistic expert position. So, let’s jump into telling us about the O.C. Bar Association antihuman trafficking task force.
Jessica: [00:05:35] Sure. It is actually a new task force, we began it this year. And basically, what it is, is I got a whole bunch of judges and lawyers in Orange County to commit some of their free time, which we all...
