Petition: Support the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act

[Shallah Kali]

http://www.change.org/petitions/support-the-domestic-minor-sex-trafficking-deterrence-and-victims-support-act

he Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2011 (S.596) sponsored by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), authorizes large block grants to create a comprehensive, victim-centered approach to addressing child sex trafficking and calls for improvements to the National Crime Information Center system to track information about missing and exploited children.

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-- developed a plan to combat sex trafficking that includes provisions for victims' shelter and services, training of law enforcement and service providers, and prosecution and deterrence of traffickers.

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- Requiring state reporting of missing children to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and encouraging the Attorney General to change the NCIC to facilitate protection of missing children.

Encouraging states to enact safe harbor laws that presume a minor found in prostitution is a victim of a severe form of trafficking.

41,017 signatures as of now.

Playground - documentary trailer. George Clooney coprpdocued this doc:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utjtLRqQuJI

Ashley Judd: Children Are Not for Sex - A Hidden Epidemic: Child Trafficking in the U.S.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOF28tCodcY

March 11, 2011 - Actress and activist Judd introduced the panel "'No Such Thing': Trafficking of Girls in the United States" with a heart wrenching personal anecdote about a young woman who was forced into prostitution in Atlanta.

A Hidden Epidemic: Child Trafficking in the U.S.
Activist Malika Saada-Saar: “These girls are not hookers. They are victims of child rape. We have to name that.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/women-in-the-world/connect/2011/3/11/women-in-the-world-ashley-judd-and-child-sex-traff

Between 100,000 and 300,000 children—primarily girls between the ages of 12 and 14—are victims of the sex trade right here in the United States. But instead of being helped, they’re being prosecuted—arrested for prostitution, thrown in juvenile detention, vilified in the media as bad girls, instead of victims. It is, as Saada Saar said, “the only incidence of child abuse where we put the child behind bars.”

Trafficking is, of course, illegal, but police and prosecutors often perceive girls as “compliant victims,” and since the sex trade largely happens behind closed doors, there’s little impetus to go after it. The result? An astoundingly large-scale industry that hundreds of thousands of girls fall victim to every year, and precious few prosecutions. In 2009, just eight cases were prosecuted in New York City, one of America’s primary hubs. The combination of impunity and the anonymity provided by the internet has let the trade spin into epidemic proportions.

Meanwhile, the girls and women who survive the trade go on to battle post traumatic stress disorder (which, according to Cooper, occurs at higher levels than that for veterans returning from Iraq), eating disorders, and dependency issues like substance abuse and alcoholism.

According to Saada Saar, the first step towards a solution is in re-framing the issue. “These girls are not hookers,” she said. “They are victims of child rape. We have to name that. And then we have to stop putting them in the criminal justice system.” Noting that the Federal government doesn’t allot a single dollar to domestic victims of the sex trade, she emphasized the importance of both prosecuting johns and pimps, and of providing safe havens to survivors.

Judge finds hurdles to helping young victims of sex trafficking
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-01-23/justice/siu.selling.girl.next.door.judge_1_trafficking-victims-protection-act-underage-girls-american-girls?_s=PM:CRIME

According to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there are anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 underage girls being sold for sex in America.

For those hundreds of thousands of girls, according to a Justice Department report released in the fall, there are 50 beds in facilities capable of dealing with their complex and deeply entrenched problems.

For five years, Voy has been trying to change that in his city by building a specialized residential home for the hundreds of girls who go through his court every year.

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He has private donors willing to pay for the building and the land, but Clark County has so far refused to come up with the $750,000 needed to staff the place with uniformed officers.

[Shallah Kali]

1. Dan Rather: Pornland, Oregan: Child Prostitution in Oregon

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-rather/pornland-oregon-child-pro_b_580035.html

The girls, sometimes as young as 12, often 13-16, are lured by a "front man" in his mid-to-late teens. He becomes her "boyfriend," taking her to dinner, buying her nice things, sometimes meeting her parents. The girl eventually moves in with him. Then he says they need money to continue being together. First, she's enticed to sleep with his friends to pay the rent. Soon she's turning tricks for what police say is an endless supply of older men willing to pay top money for sex with very young girls. Other times convincing the young adolescent girls to sell themselves happens very quickly.

"It is an out-of-control problem. It's unbelievable," say Justus. "I've only done this vice-squad job for three years. I've been a cop for 29. If you had told me three years ago that a 14-year-old girl would go to a food court, meet a guy, and three hours later be selling herself, I'd a said, no frigging way. It happens every single day, every day."

It is a very lucrative business, according to Justus. "An average pimp with one kid will make between $800 and $l,000 a day. That's seven days a week, 30 days a month," he said. And the pimps usually have a stable of young girls. No wonder so many criminals in the drug trade have turned to it which they have in droves. There's less chance of being caught, less chance of being prosecuted if caught, lighter sentences -- if any -- if convicted.

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The story we've prepared is not about prostitution per se. This is about child abuse. This is also about statutory rape and compelling prostitution among the young. All are difficult to prove. A major reason, according to police, is that it's extremely difficult to convince a young girl to testify against their pimps and "johns". They are afraid.


there is a video at the link

[Citizen Worker]

2. Is this another indicator of a decaying society? I think so.

[Shallah Kali]

3. no it is an old evil that has never been done away with

I read a book once that included an excerpt of an article from Victorian England where the writer complained about the morals of child prostitutes not even the height of a mans waist tempting men into bad ways. The writer didn't blame the men who bought the child but blamed the tortured, abused, broken child as too many continue to do today. For all of humanities progress, for all our bright science and fabulous gizmos there are still those among us who are vile and want to hurt children and there are those willing to blame the child for the abuse it is given and look the other way. This is an old evil and it will continue as long as most people look the other way, blame the victims, and, for some, continue to ignore the abuse they themselves experienced yet still refuse to recognize as abuse.