Juvenile Justice Fund

Jennifer Swain and Sharon Simpson Joseph

Our Voices Project at JJF provides early intervention services for girls coming through the juvenile justice system, most of whom have experienced some form of child abuse.

Working with girls ages 11-17 to empower them and develop the principle, “Yesterday I found my voice, Today I’m here to shout about it!” we offer holistic solutions to deter these girls from becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation. All aspects of the Voices Project deliver the fundamental messages necessary to educate girls about sex trafficking dangers and promote healthy relationships and self-esteem.

Jessica, a Voices member, writes an essay in her own voice on the pressures for a teenager “when no one has your back.”

Responsibility

To me, responsibility is a particular burden of obligations upon one who is responsible.

This means you take matters in your own hands for anything that you feel you are accountable for. Maybe school and all the work it comes with may be a teenager’s only responsibility, so we may take matters in our own hands to finish school, make it on time every day, and do all of the work because more than likely it will lead you somewhere in life where the streets can’t. Some people don’t think that school education is important because people in the streets may have persuaded them that it’s easier to be successful outside of those school walls and it’s easier to make money instead of going to college and being somebody, these people may have you thinking that drugs and young girls selling their bodies can get you more money than a doctor, which is impossible! My main priority in my life right now is school and my life everything else is irrelevant to me as a teenager, that’s my RESPONSIBILITY. But believe it or not I let those people in the street influence me to do different.

Not saying that I’m living a thug life, but it’s hard to be self-confident when no one has your back, or when you have nobody behind you supporting you to the maximum. I really can’t say I have somebody telling me constantly: “Jessica you can do it!” and that maybe why I as so easily pushed to go out there and do it myself. When the streets called me I went to my cousins. At their house you are responsible for everything you need and everything you do. That’s hard when you’re 17 with no job and no parents and on one to take care of you. But since I’ve lived such a fast life I know how to survive my own and sometimes that may not be the best things because when a teenager thinks that they are surviving on their own illegal things come about. All those surviving skills led me straight to jail.

When I was detained, it had me sitting and thinking about my life a lot. I started to realize that the streets aren’t for a young girl with a lot of insecurities. I felt like boys were my responsibility during this time. They kept me in trouble but I thought it was love. I was 15-16 so I was still young minded, that’s when I thought people actually care about me. But I’m no one else’s responsibility, I’M MY OWN RESPONSIBILITY. Once my 17th birthday hit I felt like a woman, I felt as if no one could touch me, I then found my self-confidence. I realized that all the losses I’ve took all the people I’ve lost and all the people that hated me shouldn’t be my down fall. I started believing that all these losses should be my strength, my push, my COURAGE! I started believing in me since no one else would.

When I started believing in me, I started focusing more on my responsibilities as a teen girl in this crazy world. My responsibilities were the same as any other teenager, go to school and finish, find a job that can support me with all my personal responsibilities, and find something to do productive in between times to keep me out of the streets and out of trouble. Those three things motivated me to become a better person and they’ve changed my look on life. So I made it to where I’m my own person, had to make to a point when I didn’t need anyone, I was my own self-motivator. And every since that day I believed in myself and I was that young girl that had so much confidence and courage that it persuaded me into another state of mind, and from this day forward I will never give up on anything I do. I’m going to be that girl that all the young ladies look up to when I gel older, all because now I’m taking care of all my responsibilities and changing my life before it comes to an end and this all because, I FOUND MYSELF!