 In 1979, Dr. Lois Lee abandoned a promising career as a social policy expert and a scholar, devised a plan and took action to rescue America’s children from the ravages of prostitution. Dr. Lee’s single-minded effort and dedication resulted in Children of the Night where she still serves as President. In the 90’s she worked toward a law degree and in 1996 passed the California Bar Examination and became a member of the California Bar Association in order to pursue legal avenues to further help child prostitutes. Since 2004, she has served on a consortium with former Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, in an effort to develop national policy on the sexual health of Americans.
Dr. Lee’s work has been receiving international recognition for the past few years. She has traveled to Japan, Romania, and the U.S./European Summit of Missing and Exploited Children, where she served as a speaker. Her trips have been underwritten by government and private non-profits because of the demand worldwide for her expertise in the development of programs for victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
Policy makers and social service providers from all over the world visit the Children of the Night home with the goal of duplicating Children of the Night programs and combating the sexual exploitation of young people in their own countries.
Currently America’s leading authority in the field of child prostitution, Dr. Lee is regularly sought after by law enforcement, government agencies and social service programs for her expertise. Since 1988 she has served as an expert witness for federal and state prosecutors enforcing laws against dangerous pimps. (Dr. Lee first came to the attention of the news media and homicide detectives in 1977 during the “Hillside Strangler” investigation, where her efforts led to the prosecution of Angelo Buono.)
Dr. Lee’s PhD dissertation “The Pimp and His Game” was the first-ever study of the bond between pimp and prostitute. Today it is relied on by vice officers, district attorneys, and U.S. attorneys nationwide as a guide for their treatment of child prostitutes, jury education, and the prosecution of vicious pimps.
Dr. Lee is an extraordinary individual who has demonstrated courage, compassion, and wisdom. She has received countless awards for her work; the most prestigious is the President’s Volunteer Action Award, which President Ronald Reagan presented to her at the White House in 1984.
She has been profiled on national television including CBS “60 Minutes” and her life work was portrayed in a CBS Movie of the Week entitled “Children of the Night.”
Her humanitarian efforts have been recognized with a National Caring Award and a permanent memorial portrait in the Frederick Douglass Museum and Hall of Fame for Caring Americans in Washington, D.C., the Women’s Achievement Award in 2002, presented to Dr. Lee by the Dashew International Center for Students and Scholars at UCLA; and she has been cited as an American Hero in the 1996 book Renewing American Compassion by Marvin Olasky.
Dr. Lee has used her courage, compassion, and wisdom to ensure that child prostitutes can get the help they so desperately need.
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