Class Notes

Sharmin Eshraghi BockClass of 1980Alison Yin/Oakland TribuneIntrepidProsecutor“IC O N C O R D A C A D E M Y M A G A Z I N E S P R I N G 2 0 1 0prosecute human trafficking cases: youngAmerican girls sold for sex on the streets andover the Internet in what has become an epidemicin our country.” Sharmin Eshraghi Bock’scalm and steady voice almost—but not quite—belies the chilling reality of what she is saying.“This is the least recognized form of child abusein our country. It’s akin to modern-day slavery.”For the deputy district attorney in California’sAlameda County, prosecuting human traffickerswas only the beginning of her battle against thissocietal problem, one that targets girls as youngas eleven who often don’t realize they are victims.“In our schools, we teach English and mathbut not what love looks like,” Bock said. “Thesegirls get tricked into prostitution, thinking theyare providing for their boyfriend—someone whohas claimed to love them.” Though they mayhave started out as runaways, the girls soonbecome captives, Bock said, unable to leave andsometimes unable to recognize the danger theyare in. Stockholm Syndrome, in which victimsidentify emotionally with their captors, is a majorobstacle in child prostitution cases.Bock has put perpetrators behind bars formore than twenty years as a prosecutor in theOakland area, but she also has tackled childprostitution on a more macro level. “I realized Icouldn’t effectively prosecute those cases withouta support system for girls because they hadsuch specialized needs,” she said. “Societyviews them as prostitutes and criminals, notvictims of abuse. I set up a network of providersthat specialize in this area—community-basedorganizations, social workers, child advocates—and interfaced them with law enforcement. Nowin California and throughout the nation, advocatesare involved from the first point of contact whena child prostitute is apprehended.”Bock also has worked for legislative action,including two laws recently passed in California,one creating a diversion program to give girls analternative to prostitution and another aimed at10Sharmin Eshraghi Bock ’80prosecuting pimps as drug dealers are prosecuted:by seizing their assets. Georgia and Hawaiisought Bock’s help to draft similar laws. There isstill more to do on the legislative front, said Bock,who currently is working to revamp California’shuman trafficking law so the state will not berequired to prove force was used in trafficking ofa minor. Often, she explained, girls are trickedinto prostitution and do not articulate their experiencein terms of physical force. “In fact,” shesaid, “the most effective forms of coercion makethe victim believe she has not been coerced.”Several years ago, recognizing that girlsneeded alternatives if they were to stay off thestreets, Bock helped establish Safe Place Alternative,a drop-in center offering services tailoredto girls rescued from prostitution. The acronymSPA is no coincidence; Bock wants the girls tofeel as pampered and valued outside prostitutionas they once felt working for their pimps.When not advocating for teen prostitutes,Bock sometimes takes on cold cases, using DNAand other forensic evidence to unravel unsolvedmurders and rapes. “Sadly, many of my victimsin these old unsolved cases are prostitutes targetedby criminals because of their invisibility andbelief that society won’t notice or care if they gomissing,” she said.Bock’s work can be stressful and oppressive,but she finds release in horses, particularlyshow jumping. A firm believer in equine therapy,Bock hopes to use horses to help rehabilitatevictimized girls. In 2006, she founded PaddockCakes (paddockcakes.com), which makes gourmettreats for horses and distributes them allover the U.S. She is working to establish a residentialsafe house in the California countrysidefor casualties of the child sex trade. Proceedsfrom Paddock Cakes help support that effort.This deputy DA and activist has won twomajor awards for her work: the California StateLegislature named her 2010 Woman of the Year,and in 2009, California Women Lawyers gaveher its most prestigious honor, the Fay StenderAward. Determined to raise awareness evenmore, Bock is working on a book; her advocacyefforts have been featured in documentaries, ontelevision, and in magazines.“My goal is to ensure that our country recognizesthe existence and severity of this problemand appreciates how each one of us contributesto its proliferation,” she said. “I want to eradicatethe stereotypes and myths that color our judgmentof these children and preclude us fromseeing them as the victims of child abuse andmodern-day slavery that they are.”