by Barabara Grady and Sarah Terry-Cobo

This is Part 5 of an eight-part, four-day Oakland Local investigative series on youth sex trafficking.

In Alameda County, Deputy District Attorney Sharmin Eshraghi Bock has been on a hard-fought campaign to change California law.

Together with state Assemblyman Sandre Swanson (D-Oakland), Bock has crafted laws that switch the criminalization in prostitution to the pimps and johns and away from girls. They successfully drafted and pushed through law AB 499, which recognizes that youth who are traded are victims in this crime who deserve services. They also drafted, introduced and ushered into law AB 17, which toughened the sentencing of and restitution required from convicted pimps.

However, the biggest challenge is convicting the pimps. It's difficult for police even to have grounds to arrest them...

This is Part 7 of an eight-part, four-day Oakland Local investigative series on youth sex trafficking.

A 14-year-old from Southern California was kidnapped near her father's home and brought to Mexico. There, her kidnapper forced her into commercial sex.

Police found and arrested the trafficker. However, the girl was far too traumatized to be released back to her father -- and to the tough neighborhood from where she was kidnapped.

Luckily, a faith community at Oakland's First Covenant Church recognizes that kids like this need special care and therapy before they can be expected to resume the lives they've led before...