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Volume 95 | Issue 43
Sunny 70° / 44°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Health Science center analyzes prostitution BY LISA GARZA
Prostitute Demographics
Senior Staff Writer The UNT Health Science Center is evaluating data from a program aimed at helping Dallas area prostitutes off the streets and keeping them out of jail cells. The Prostitute Diversion Initiative is the brainchild of the Dallas Police Department. Its goal is to provide an exit strategy for people trying to find a way out of the prostitution cycle, public information officer Kim Leach said. “Most people look at prostitutes as criminals, not as victims,” she said. “This is somebody’s mother. This is somebody’s aunt. This is somebody’s daughter. We need to look at them differently.” Martha Felini of the epidemiology faculty at the Health Science Center School of Public Health said she became involved in the program after bei ng approached by her husband, Dallas Police Sgt. Louis Felini, who created the program. “This was a niché we had the expertise to fill and product ively cont ribute,” Ma r t ha Felini said. “UNTHSC and its Center for Community Health are committed to identifying, preventing and reducing health disparities in our communities. This project was a perfect fit for us to understand and begin to address the needs of this vulnerable and marginalized sub-population.” The program contacted 198 adult prostitutes from October 2008 to September 2009. On a
• Ages ranged from 17 to 63 • Average age was 37 • 80 percent were African American • 99 percent were women • Nearly half had less than a high school education • 59 percent had children Courtesy of Prostitute Diversion Initiative The program is currently f u nde d t h r ou g h v a r iou s nonprofit organizations. The program lasts 45 days, but Leach said there is “afterPHOTO COURTESY OF KIMBERLEE LEACH care support available.” After two years of research that included enforcement operations targeting prostitutes, the Dallas Police Department is seeing the benefits of its new approach of “We keep in contact with going to the streets to provide comprehensive services and a complete exit strategy for those seeking a way out of prostitution. them,” Martha Felini said. “And they can always call us and we The database will provide will be there to help them.” Wednesday each month, the services for alcohol and drug speak the language, let them She is “cautiously optimistic” program sets up a location abuse, mental health disorders, know that this is a good oper- law enforcement officers with ation and they can trust the a forensic tool to help identify about the success of the program where officers can take the and physical health care. murder victims and contribute based on the data collected. The “Usually these women have people there.” prostitutes to be questioned, program is still new and there Results from the survey year to the investigation. screened for health problems, been abused as children, have “All the prostitutes have said is no straightforward definition such as sexually transmitted been battered as adult women show that 23 people completed diseases, and evaluated by a and a lot of them get into drugs the initial phase of the treat- they want to have their DNA of success for this kind of initiato cope with the life they’ve ment program and 65 percent collected because they want tive, she said. judge for program eligibility. “Success means different remained in supportive care their families to know and have If the judge decides the had to lead,” Leach said. Former prostitutes help services with no further arrests peace, if it does come to that things,” Martha Felini said. woman is an ideal candidate “For the prostitute, it may mean level,” Leach said. for the program and she is counsel the women as they in Dallas County. She said the next goal is to getting through one day without This year, with the collabogo t hrough t he treatment willing, a referral is made. ration of the Center for Human expand the program to extend hearing voices in her head. For From October to September, process. “They are the best tools we Identification, the Potential treatment for up to two years communities, success may be the program referred 55 participants — about 28 percent of have because they know what Victim’s DNA Database will be and provide safe housing, but not seeing visible prostitution on the street.” additional money is needed. those evaluated — to treatment it’s like,” Leach said. “They can included in the program.
UNT takes first place in CSI competition BY SHEA YARBOROUGH Senior Staff Writer
PHOTO BY ERIC JOHNSON/STAFF WRITER
Head coach Sujay Lama’s original six.; Clockwise from top: Senior Catalina Cruz; junior Narine Kazarova; junior Ashley Akin; junior Amy Joubert; junior Shannon MacKenzie and junior Madura Ranganathan.
From Rags to Riches See JOURNEY on Page 7
Candidates race for Place 6 BY ERIC JOHNSON Senior Staff Writer
W it h Cou nci l ma n Joe Mulroy serving out the last days of his third and final term, the race for Place 6 will be between four candidates who have never held a political office. The four relative newcomers to the political scene began campaigning last month for the open seat. With low voter turnout expected in these types of elections, the candidate with the biggest network is likely to be the favorite. “This is a politics-in-smallnumbers game,” said John Todd, interim chairman of the
political science department. and Zoning Commission. “It is a matter of who can mobi- He was a member of Mayor lize their supporters the most. Mark Burroughs’ Steering Interpersonal contacts are key Committee during his 2008 in city elections where there campaign. “I am the most qualified is no incumbent or clear-cut person for this position after favorite.” Candidates James King and years of dedicated service to Eric Mach have no prior expe- the Denton community,” King rience running for a political said. “What I do better than anyone is work with small position. King, a local business owner, groups and give them a vision, is the latest to add his name and that is what you have to do to the ballot. His company, on the Council.” The most inexperienced of Ramey King Insurance, has been in business for 22 years, the group is Mach, an Army and King is a lifelong resident veteran and Denton landowner. of Denton. From 2007 to 2009, King served on the Denton Planning See CANDIDATES on Page 3
Making their way through a fake crime scene Saturday, U N T ’s c r i m i n a l j u s t i c e students searched for clues to help them find a missing woman, solved the crime and took first place. Four teams of UNT students competed w it h 20 a rea schools and universities in the third annual Crime Scene Invest igat ion Compet it ion on Saturday. UNT also took second place at t he event, hosted at t he Universit y of Tex a s at A rl i ng ton. Scot t Bra ndt, a cr i m i na l just ice senior, said he was surprised they didn’t take third place, too. “We had prepared so well,” he said. The competition took the students t hroug h a staged crime scene, said Emily Berg, a criminal justice junior. The first stop for the competitors was the trashed apartment of a female victim. “We were on our hands and knees looking for any evidence that might have been on the f loor,” Berg said. The facts were assembled: A woman had been reported missing. A sta ined couch, out-ofplace fibers, a lamp shade on the f loor and a plastic cup — which the students sent to the “lab” for DNA testing — were all clues in the fake homicide investigation, Berg said. “You walk into the apartment, look straight at the floor
PHOTO BY CRISTY ANGULO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Emily Berg, a criminal justice senior, and her three teammates won second place at the Crime Scene Investigation competition Saturday at UTA. and work your way back,” she said. The last stop was a car set up outside, which contained a mannequin representing the body of the missing woman. The ma nnequin was wrapped in a trash bag in the trunk of the car. It was curled up with what was supposed to be blunt force trauma to the head and blue fibers from the carpet in her apartment in her hair.
“We didn’t take it too seriously,” Berg said. “It was fun at the same time. We were confident.” The end played out li ke the game of Clue, she said. T h e t e a m’s t h e o r y w a s proven correct: The victim’s boyfriend murdered her for her insurance money, then called his ex-girlfriend to help dispose of the body.
See STUDENTS on Page 2