A report from MySanAntonio.com this week has characterized child sex trafficking as a “huge problem” in the state of Texas and around the country. But reports of this type have been criticized in the past for being exaggerated and misrepresenting the numbers. While any single case of child sex trafficking is serious and is definitely a problem, the truth is that we don’t know how big the problem actually is.
Human Trafficking In Persons Report Map, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
According to the report, there are “300,000 American children lured into sex trafficking each year,” 25% of which live in Texas. Looking into this figure, we find a report from International Crisis Aid revealing that both a University of Pennsylvania study and the U.S. Dept. of State estimated that about 300,000 children are at riskof being lured into child sex trafficking.
These at risk youth include run always and abandoned children, often teens. Do all of these kids end up in the sex industry? Not likely. But their vulnerability does make them “at risk”.
This could be an example of a statistic being used in a misleading manner, whether intentional (for sensationalism’s sake), or not. But the fact is, unless there is another report proving 300,000 kids are involved in sex trafficking, the number was likely gleaned from these “estimated” reports of “at risk” children and is not indicative of the true number of children involved in sex trafficking.
If numbers are exaggerated, does it mean child sex trafficking is not a problem? Not at all. If a vulnerable child is trapped in the sex trade, it’s definitely a real problem.
According to MySanAntonio.com, the majority of children within the trafficking system are girls (2/3) and the average age is about 12. These kids are often poor, teen runaways, or in other ways at risk for being scooped up into the underworld of sex trafficking. They are raped, molested, traded, and exploited.
The ire that exists for sex offenders (and even suspected sex offenders) is there because most people can’t stand the thought of a child being hurt, especially in this manner.
This means that those men (and less often women) who are accused of sex offenses will face extreme disdain not only from the police who arrest them, but from everyone in the criminal justice system, the public, and even potentially people they consider to be their friends and family.
If you are charged with a sex offense, we may be able to help. Contact our offices today to discuss the details of your case and the options you have.
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Here are some links about this:
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/prostitution/Juvenile_Prostitution_factsheet.pdf
http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-06-29/news/real-men-get-their-facts-straight-sex-trafficking-ashton-kutcher-demi-moore/
Here are some more good links about this:
http://www.lauraagustin.com/
http://bebopper76.wordpress.com
http://www.villagevoice.com/sex-trafficking/
If a prostitute is 17 and under the age of 18, she can not give legal consent. So, she could have wanted to be a prostitute, and given consent for sex, but since she is underage, she can not give legal consent, so legally she was “forced” even if she gives total consent to sex and it was consensual – she was “forced” according to the court and justice system. There is a BIG difference between being legally “forced” and truly being physically forced against someone’s will.
Child forced sex trafficking is extremely rare. So the police find and arrest ADULT consensual prostitutes instead. While not finding any Children, or very few. They use the excuse of Children – But, children are not involved in this adult activity. There may be a small few who are homeless or runaways, and need cash and do sex work of their own free will. Not victims of a epidemic of terrible crime gangs.
Thanks for the links and the clarification. Great information that everyone should know.
Prostitutes are not forced they do the work of their own free will.
Sex trafficking is illegal and the penalties are very severe. It is very difficult to force someone to be a prostitute, they would have to have 24 hour guards posted and be watched 365 days a year, 24 hours per day. Have the threat of violence if they refused, and have no one notice and complain to the authorities or police. They would need to hide from the general public yet still manage to see customers from the general public and not have the customers turn the traffickers in to the police. They would need to provide them with medical care, food, shelter, and have all their basic needs met. They would need to have the sex slaves put on a fake front that they enjoyed what they were doing, act flirtatious and do their job well. They would have to deal with the authorities looking for the missing women, and hide any money they may make, since it comes from illegal activity. They must do all of this while constantly trying to prevent the sex slaves from escaping and reporting them to the police. They would need to prevent the general public from reporting them into the police. This is extremely difficult to do, which makes this activity rare. These criminals would be breaking dozens of major laws not just one. Kidnapping itself is a serious crime. There are many laws against sex trafficking, sex slavery, kidnapping, sex abuse, rape, sexual harassment etc. If someone is behind it, they will be breaking many serious laws, be in big trouble, and will go to jail for many long years. And do you actually think that there is a long line of people who want to have a career as a sex slave kidnapping pimp?
When the police arrest customers of prostitutes and the prostitutes themselves:
They try to get the adult women prostitutes to say that they were forced and victims of sex trafficking even though they weren’t.
These adult women just flat out say, ‘Nope, that’s not what’s happening.’ No one is forcing me”
Then the U.S. Attorney general, senators, the police and government officials say:
“We have to help them realize they are victims,”
They must be brainwashed by their pimps, and johns.
They say that adult women do not have the ability to make decisions for themselves about sex, therefore
The government must make all their decisions about sex and who they have sex with for them.
So… the police are trying to invent victims? Where no victim exist?
The adult women say that no one is forcing them to work in prostitution and the police don’t believe them?
So the police want these adult women to lie? and the police are forcing the women to lie about being forced?
I thought lying was wrong? And isn’t it against the law to lie? -Not for the police, attorney general and other government officials.