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November 16, 2015 by SHI Staff

CBN News: Anti-Trafficking Laws Make Big Gains

By: Heather Sells, CBN News

A national report card that grades states on their anti-trafficking laws shows dramatic progress in the last few years.

Shared Hope International‘s 5th annual Protected Innocence Challenge report card, released Wednesday, reveals that half the states are earning an A or B on their report card, and none are failing.

When the anti-trafficking, non-profit organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., began grading the states in 2011, it failed 26 states.

Samantha Vardaman, senior director at Shared Hope told CBN News “a lot of that is due to grass roots activities. Public awareness has increased significantly over the years.”

North Dakota and Montana are two bright spots in this year’s report card. In recent years, the booming oil industry has drawn more than 100,000 workers, mainly men, away from home in search of high-paying jobs in the Bakken region, which overlaps with Montana. The surge threatened to fuel an emerging sex industry.

In 2011, Shared Hope failed both states. This year, it gave North Dakota a B and Montana an A for overhauling their laws.

Anti-trafficking laws vary from state to state. The core idea behind Shared Hope’s Protected Innocence Challenge is to penalize traffickers and buyers, identify victims and provide shelter and services for them.

“With improved laws and greater enforcement, buyers and traffickers become aware that this is a much riskier endeavor to engage in and it will deter demand and trafficking,” Vardaman explained.

Shared Hope says there’s still a great need to provide help for victims. It also wants all states to earn A’s and B’s so traffickers will not be able to simply move their operations to the most “trafficking-friendly” states.

November 16, 2015 by SHI Staff

World Magazine: States improve efforts to punish sex traffickers, rescue victims

By: Gaye Clark, World Magazine

When the advocacy group Shared Hope released its first report card on efforts to combat sex trafficking of America’s children, 26 states received a failing grade. This year’s report card, released Wednesday, proved a surprise to Shared Hope founder, Linda Smith.

“I was excited there were no Fs,” Smith said. “In 2011, we had 26 states with failing grades—so many places in the United States that could be scary places for our children.” In addition to no Fs, more than half the states earned either an A or a B.

The Protected Innocence Challenge assigns A through F letter grades to all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It evaluates states on critical elements in the fight against sex trafficking of minors, including special criminal provisions for the men who buy children and legal and restorative services for their victims.

This year, Louisiana retained its top spot on the list. Michigan earned the title of most improved. Two other states, Montana and North Dakota, improved their scores by two letter grades. While the scores this year show dramatic improvement, Smith said they reflect several years of persistent effort on the part of state attorneys general and legislators. She said lawmakers in the states that received higher marks found a way to work together, across party lines and without hubris, for the common goal.

Critics say existing legislation is sufficient to prosecute sex traffickers and more laws are not needed, suggesting anti-trafficking advocates should focus on enforcing existing laws.

Smith believes in new legislation as well as enforcement.

“We have to build law and then practice what we have built,” she said. “Good people make laws work.”

While Smith is greatly encouraged at the progress of the last five years, she still sees more ground to cover. For example, only 15 states protect minors from being criminally charged as prostitutes, a stigma that can keep victims from getting support and recovery services. Smith also believes many states have much work to do toward punishing buyers to lower demand.

In 2013, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced a trafficking survivor who shared her story, illustrating the need for legislation that targets buyers and protects victims. “Brianna” was 9 years old when her school janitor kidnapped her, raped her, and sold her to a pimp. She recounted a life controlled by a series of brutal pimps who sold her “to men who knew my age and bought sex because of it.”

During her ordeal, Brianna saw her mother out the window of the room in which she was trapped. Her mom was hanging “missing” posters with Brianna’s face on them. She screamed, trying to get her mother’s attention, but her pimp yanked her away from the window by her hair.

When police finally came, it didn’t feel like a rescue.

“I was arrested and placed in handcuffs. … I was called a prostitute even though I was a child, even though I was a trafficking victim,” she said.

A jury eventually convicted her abuser of kidnapping—a charge for which he will serve about four years, Brianna said.

“This man who owned me as a slave, who sold me to child rapists, who profited off of my body deserves to be punished more harshly,” she said.

Shared Hope plans to continue monitoring legislative efforts to fight sex trafficking but in the future the group also hopes to track implementation.

“We’re going upstream, “Smith said. “ Improvement doesn’t happen overnight. We’re in this for the long haul.”

February 11, 2015 by SHI Staff

Shared Hope Tackles Human Trafficking at Super Bowl & Scores a Big Win for Justice

An Unforgettable Announcement

Students at Grand Canyon University view the doll box installation on campus.

Last week Shared Hope International was in Phoenix to raise awareness about child sex trafficking through the “Children Aren’t Playthings” doll box campaign. We used the national spotlight on Phoenix and the Super Bowl to bring an unforgettable announcement that child sex trafficking is happening in America.

We talked to hundreds of students and community members about the issue, most were shocked to learn that trafficking takes place in America today. The campaign also received significant media attention from the Huffington Post, ABC, and the Washington Times, among others.

Using Creativity to Raise Awareness

The box was created through a pro bono partnership between Shared Hope and Brunner, a creative agency in Atlanta. The exhibit took Silver in the 2014 OBIE Awards for being for the year’s most creative and dynamic out-of-home advertising in 2014.

Over 600 people were reportedly arrested on charges related to sex trafficking this year because of focused efforts from law enforcement to cut down on the anticipated increase in the commercial sex trade during the Super Bowl each year. Among those arrested was NFL Hall of Fame Lineman Warren Sapp who was arrested on charges of solicitation.

Taking Action

Shared Hope’s support letter on Demandingjustice.org encouraging Arizona County Attorney’s to prosecute buyers to the fullest extent of the law received over 3,000 signatures. You can view the petition at http://www.demandingjustice.org/petition/.

Catch a glimpse of the doll box in action in the video below:

Take Action

Visit Shared Hope’s Legislative Action page to learn how you can take action on these issues!

Learn more

October 10, 2014 by Linda Smith

AZ Central – ‘Why can’t she run away?’ and other nonsense

The vivid graphic of a fist in the face quickly dispatched the platitudes we offer for domestic violence, especially when it involves a superhero.

It unhinged the “she could have just run” line of reasoning — one that is still prevalent today in the attitude toward child victims of sex trafficking.

The video of Ray and Janay Rice has sparked long overdue re-engagement with the reality of domestic violence as opposed to the words about it now ensconced in law.

Ray is not the first partner to abuse his fiancee, nor is Janay the first woman to stay with a violent spouse. The scene that unfolded in the TMZ video that has racked up 900,000 views is the same scene that plays out in homes across America each day.

So, why did it take this video to reawaken a nation?

The answer is complicated. The outrage is due, in part, to Ray Rice’s celebrity status as a football hero and the graphic video’s power to eliminate ambiguity. There is little room to make excuses for him. Perhaps it is an indication we still have the capacity to recognize injustice and label it as something that should have consequences for the perpetrator, even if he is an object of our hero worship.

But much of the intrigue comes from the uncomfortable, lingering question: Why did she stay? It’s the question everyone feels guilty asking but secretly wonders. Twitter is ablaze with the trending #whyistayed. The reasons victims attribute to staying in a relationship of intimate partner violence include isolation from others, lack of financial independence, broken self-esteem, fear of escalated violence and the psychological bond to the abuser that such trauma creates.

Historically, the term commonly used for domestic violence was domestic disturbance. The violence was masked as simply a “disturbance” that was a private matter. Today, laws and language have evolved to call it what it is: violence.

Progress has been made in addressing domestic violence. Shelters have been built, programs implemented, awareness campaigns launched. Yet countless women still stay in relationships of intimate-partner violence.

Why? Despite laws, we haven’t offered them the justice they deserve. We still blame the victim and fail to recognize abusers as criminals. We still ask why she didn’t leave.

Rice was initially handed a two-game penalty. Only after the video became public did he face a meaningful consequence. Yet supporters arrived for a Feb. 11 game sporting his No. 27 Baltimore Ravens jersey. Some have opposed the NFL’s decision to release Rice, calling his actions “a mistake” and suggesting that everyone “deserves a second chance.” For them, a win for the Raven’s carries higher value than justice.

Advocates address lenient punishments and societal tolerance of people who are caught soliciting a child prostitute.

The social indifference toward the violence of child sex trafficking lies on a dangerous parallel path.

In 2000, the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed, defining sex trafficking with a child as the exchange of any item of value for sex acts with a minor under 18 years old. Until recently, however, the crime was more commonly identified as child prostitution. Because of that label, children were arrested, criminalized, racking up criminal histories that included prostitution before they were old enough to vote. Similar to domestic violence, society often placed the blame on the victim and the perceived freedom of “choice.”

We want to believe a wife chooses to stay with her abusive husband rather than recognize that escape comes with the very real threat of murder. We also believe child sex-trafficking victims choose to engage in prostitution to make money. We conveniently overlook the trafficker taking the money and issuing beatings if she doesn’t meet her quota.

The idea that a trafficked child carries enough agency to choose to engage in prostitution but must be protected from other potentially life-threatening decisions, like joining the military, drinking alcohol and renting a car, is illogical and hypocritical.

Like a victim of domestic violence, trafficking victims are kept in isolation, barred from education, unable to obtain employment that will provide financial independence, struggle with extreme abuse and broken self-esteem and live in a constant state of fear. Then, we wonder why the victim doesn’t exercise her “choice” to leave.

A Valley woman says she was snared into a life of prostitution at a young age. Now, she’s trying to help others before it’s too late.

Sadly, whether a celebrity engages in domestic violence or exploits a trafficking victim, the long arm of the law seems to be too short to reach his pedestal.

New York Giants linebacker and Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor purchased sex with a 16-year-old girl from a trafficker operating in New York. In an interview with Fox News’ Shepard Smith, Taylor describes the victim as “a working girl who came to my room.” Under federal law, Taylor could have received 10 years in prison.

2010: Taylor arrested for third-degree rape

Like the fans with Ray Rice jerseys and sympathetic TV interviewers, there are those who say we should go easy on the offenders. And by extension, the pass we give to people like these should be applied to any abuser who similarly claims it was “just a mistake” or “I just couldn’t help myself.” Shopping for sex with a child is never just a mistake — it is a violent crime against that child, and when authorities fail to adequately penalize offenders, they actually encourage the violence.

For child victims of sex trafficking, nothing will change without the kind of public outcry generated by the video of the attack on Janay Rice.

As the Super Bowl approaches, it is encouraging to see key leaders in the sports industry launching offensives against this crime. The “Arizona’s Not Buying It” campaign, organized by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, includes Derrick Hall, president/CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Anthony LeBlanc, co-owner/president/CEO of the Arizona Coyotes; Jason Rowley, president of the Phoenix Suns; sportscaster Mark Lewis; and Kurt Warner, a retired NFL quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.

There are men across the nation who shop for sex with children and believe it is just what men do. As Taylor says: “I’m not the cause of prostitution. Sometimes, I make a mistake.”

For these men, Arizona’s law enforcement has a message for you: If you come to shop … plan to stay.

Linda Smith is founder and president of Shared Hope International.

FULL STORY: http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2014/09/19/ray-rice-domestic-violence-sex-trafficking/15891303/ | AZ Central

August 25, 2014 by SHI Staff

USA Today – Study: Soliciting Sex from Minor Nets Little Prison Time

By: Megan Cassidy, The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX — The crime of soliciting sex from a minor in Arizona carries a sentence of up to 24 years behind bars, but a Phoenix suspect convicted of the crime should more realistically expect a term of three months, according to a new study released by anti-sex-trafficking group Shared Hope International and Arizona State University.

The outcome for a Phoenix convict hovers around the average when compared with the sentences of counterparts nationwide. The median actual time served in D.C.-Baltimore for soliciting sex from a minor was 180 days, 14 days in Portland and 88.5 days in Seattle.

None of those studied was charged with a sex-trafficking crime.

The study’s results indicate judicial leniency for a crime that is responsible for fueling the sex-trafficking market, said Linda Smith, president and founder of Shared Hope International.

“The research shows that when they’re arrested … at state level, that they’re not facing the full force of the law,” Smith said.

The study’s results were presented Monday in Phoenix.

The study was the first of its kind to focus on the criminal outcomes of the demand side of sex trafficking, the “johns” who are arrested for soliciting sex from a minor or an undercover decoy claiming to be one.

It has only been in the past three to four years that most states have enacted severe penalties for the buyers of minors, Smith said, and the study had limited subjects with which to work. So researchers tapped into 134 cases from four sites whose agencies have devoted extensive resources to anti-demand law enforcement: those in the D.C.-Baltimore corridor, Phoenix metro area, Portland metro area and Seattle metro area.

The Phoenix-area results align with those of the more highly publicized cases, many of which were pleaded down to lesser offenses.

Michael Gilliland, former Sunflower Farmers Market CEO, was sentenced to two 15-day terms after pleading guilty to misdemeanor pandering.

Jerry Marfe, a former high-school chemistry teacher who was caught in a December teen prostitution sting was sentenced to 15 days in jail followed by 10 years of probation.

Marfe was one of 30 who were netted in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office operation. All were initially charged with one or two counts of class-2 felony child prostitution, but of those sentenced to date, 18 ended up pleading to lesser counts of pandering, class-6 child prostitution or child/vulnerable adult abuse. Three others pleaded to charges of class 2 or class three felony child prostitution.

Researchers focused on the criminal justice outcome of each of the 134 cases and found that they resulted in 119 arrests, 118 of those arrested prosecuted and 113 of those prosecuted eventually found guilty.

Of those found guilty, 26 percent served no time and 69 percent of the sentences were suspended by an average of 85 percent.

Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, director of the Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research at Arizona State University, said she was particularly troubled that only 66 of the 113 cases were registered as sex offenders. The outcome, she said, would have been different if there wasn’t a dollar amount involved.

“How we categorize them is going to be very important for our culture moving forward,” she said.

Former sex-trafficking victim and survivor advocate Rebecca Bender encouraged law enforcement to focus on the buyers rather than the traffickers, as it is extremely difficult to break a victim’s bond with her trafficker.

“One thing that’s not difficult is to get the victim to to turn on her buyer,” she said. “They are less than scum to us.”

In a separate portion of the study, researchers found 99 percent of 407 buyers studied across the country were male, the median age was 42.5 years, and 21.6 percent of the total buyer cases where a profession was identified involved someone in a position of authority or trust, including law enforcement, attorney or military personnel.

Smith said it is up to police, prosecutors and judges to enforce the laws to their fullest extent, but said a culture of tolerance for buyers is pervasive.

The study operates on the notion that tougher, enforced penalties will act as a deterrent for buyers. So researchers view the issue in terms of economics: Shrink the demand, reduce supply.

“If there’s no market because the buyer stayed home with his own family, then the traffickers would not be out there preying on the children in our neighborhood,” Smith said.

Researchers point out that the buyers are often overlooked by police in favor of extracting minor victims from a dangerous situation or arresting traffickers. The amount of time and resources it takes to investigate buyers is often disproportionate to the penalties, which are substantially higher for traffickers.

“The problem on the law-enforcement end is making it a priority to go back and do the buyer end of it,” Sgt. Clay Sutherland of the Phoenix Police Department’s vice unit says in the report. “Our emphasis on going back after the buyers is limited. We have our hands full.”

Defense attorneys and several suspected buyers involved in these cases have rebuked the “predator” designation due to the method police use for arrests.

Law enforcement agencies often rely on decoys to sweep the streets of would-be buyers. Undercover officers post ads on 18 and over websites but later make it known that the “girl” is underage. Many defendants say they were seeking an of-age prostitute—a misdemeanor offense that turns into a serious felony when the girl is underage.

“Ninety-nine percent (of johns) — they’re looking for an adult,” said defense attorney Mark Nermyr in an earlier interview with the Arizona Republic. “At some point, the officer sneaks age in the conversation, and that changes it from a misdemeanor — 10 days in jail — to a felony. It’s not doing anything to combat child prostitution.”

Smith argued that there are signs of intent from many of the defendants, but said intent should be irrelevant.

“You’re not allowed to run over somebody while under the influence of alcohol and say, ‘Oops, I didn’t know I drank too much,'” she said. “You should stand and take the punishment for hurting the child.”

Researchers say while state laws are catching up to the reality of the business, work needs to be done as a culture. The study says anti-trafficking push could benefit from a public-awareness campaign like those of MADD and texting-and-driving, to make the practice more shameful in the public eye.

“When people start seeing that this is the crime of a man or a person who is buying an innocent child, it will change,” she said.

FULL STORY – USA TODAY – Study: Soliciting Sex from Minor Nets Little Prison Time

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