YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Long-time attorney, assistant city prosecutor, and since 2018, Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Renee DiSalvo said GRACE court is an opportunity for women who have been victims of sex trafficking and drug addiction to receive treatment and a helping hand versus going to jail. 

“I had no idea, before I took the bench, how close the issue of human tracking was to this area and how big it was,” said DiSalvo. 

She started GRACE court in 2019, after a conversation with the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force.  

“I was almost compelled to do it when they told me some of the statistics. I mean, some of the things they told me were horrific," said DiSalvo. "I mean you’ve got mothers and fathers who are drug addicted who are selling their children to get money for drugs or to just get drugs. Four years ago, they said a drug dealer can make upwards of $60,000 on one girl." 

Jacqueline Hughley is part of the GRACE Court team, serving as a victim advocate. 

While most of the victims are women in their 20s, some who’ve even abandoned their children, Hughley said GRACE Court is there for healing. 

“To give these young women a purpose. Not to punish them for something, because at the end of the day, they are victims. Instead of treating them like a criminal, we want to treat them like survivors, to give them that positivity that they need, to give them the support that they may need,” said Hughley. 

GRACE Court recently celebrated its first graduate and currently has six women in the program—hoping to expand in the future.

For DiSalvo, she said the experience has been challenging, rewarding, and has taught her not to rush to judgment. 

“To see somebody actually start understanding that no, I am worth more than this, I have value, I don’t need to be treated like this, I can be independent, I can be a good mother, I don’t have to repeat the same things my parents did, my mother did, my father did. When you see somebody triumph that way, you can’t put a price on it,” said DiSalvo.