Good PR for Judge Voy

With all the negative media attention on the ethically questionable actions of some members of the judiciary (especially from those damn gossip blogs . . . ahem), it's nice to see members of the Nevada judiciary getting kudos when they go above and beyond the job description. On Sunday, there was a nice piece on Judge Voy's work to get teenage prostitutes out of the homeless/prostitution cycle.

The Review-Journal reports:

Welcome to teen prostitution court, Voy's standing once-a-week appointment with various young girls caught up in something very grown-up and ugly. Or, as Voy prefers to call it, "sexually exploited youth court."

"These girls are victims, and should be treated as such," the Family Court
judge said Wednesday morning before court. . .

"Where else are we going to put them, a hotel? At least the food's not bad" in the detention center, Voy says. "At least they're not being abused back there." A few days more in the detention center is exactly what the 13-year-old gets, time for a social worker to find another place for her.

The girl also gets a simultaneously stern and kind lecture from Voy. "The easiest thing for me to do would be to cut you loose," he tells her. "You know why I'm not? All these people here, we care about you and want you to be safe."

"She's run away twice in two months," Voy tells the girl's public defender. "We've been lucky enough to get her back each time in one piece and alive, not in the coroner's office. I'm really scared for her. My little runner is not going to run again."

Still adjudicating; still stern, but putting in a little extra focus on the needs of homeless teens. Nicely done Judge Voy.