The Texas Tribune did an article on July 27 about a new self-esteem building course for women that have been charged with prostitution. The program is called “We’ve Been There, Done That.” It encourages women to speak out about their experiences.

It is led by Kathryn Griffin, an ex-prostitute that got herself out of prostitution and has now turned around to help others who struggle like she did. This type of program is already happening in Dallas and Corpus Christi and a couple months ago, programs in New York and Seattle contacted Griffin about how to adopt her techniques.

Griffin hand picks these women to participate in the program. They then have to do a minimum of 90 days with Griffin, which also count toward their sentence. Her hope for these women is for them to become life coaches for other women going through the same struggles, eventually creating a chain effect.

This program is effective because it gets to the root of the problem. No one grows up wishing to be a prostitute knowing the reality of the situation and the consequences from their actions. Many of the women in Griffin’s program are sex abuse victims and victims of human trafficking. From these experiences their self-esteem has shattered. This program is a way to build it back up.

Other than programs like “We’ve Been There, Done That” who else in the criminal justice system takes on the role of rebuilding women’s self-worth after going through prostitution? Many times if a person is a victim of abuse the court will order therapy for the person, but if the abuse is not part of the case how will anyone know they need therapy. Many may feel the urge to reach out to these women but it isn’t specifically their “job,” as it is for Griffin.

Traditionally, it has been considered the parents’ burden to build their children’s self-esteem and make them productive citizens. However, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that a percentage of parents fail at providing this essential life lesson for their children. Can we just let this population of children grow up without self-esteem, eventually filling that void with something potentially as dangerous as prostitution?

There are critics of the program, like Senator John Whitmire who has said “We only have so many criminal justice dollars, and we need to apply them, in my judgment, toward the areas where we’re afraid of the perpetrators. We’re not afraid of prostitutes. We’re just mad at them.”

This is a valid point, and if the state budget is tight, therapy might be considered a luxury. However, this program is acting as prevention again repeat offenders. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics an average of 64.5 percent of people released from prison between 1994 and 1983 were re-convicted or sentenced of a new charge within three years of their release.

In fact, based on such high statistics the BJS has made a recidivism calculator. Based on age, race, type of crime, sentence, and criminal history this website will calculate the probability that the person in question will be back in prison within three years.

Without this prevention therapy it is more likely that these women will return to their previous lifestyle. To prevent a crime before it happens is much cheaper than waiting for the person to commit the crime and then spending even more to hold them in jail or prison. If these women go on to coach other women on better lifestyles then we will have truly taken steps to fix not only the root problem of prostitution, but also women’s damaged self-esteems.