Latest News - Page 108 of 120 - Shared Hope International

November 15, 2011 by SHI Staff

Protected Innocence Initiative Part 3: Protective Provisions for Traffickers

There are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The United States has been working to combat modern day slavery, human trafficking, by passing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 and subsequent reauthorizations. This valuable piece of legislation provides a sturdy legal platform for federal cases, but what does this mean for most the traffickers around the nation? A majority of cases are tried at the state level, and some states do not have laws to adequately prosecute a trafficker. This means in certain states traffickers are evading significant sentences and financial penalties, making the crime seem more profitable than punishable.

This is what Shared Hope is working to change through the Protected Innocence Initiative. The Legislative Framework measures state law against the federal standard to certify that every state has an equal ability to impose significantly high penalties for traffickers. It outlines that the use of the Internet to entice, recruit or sell a minor and creating and distributing child pornography should carry high penalties. State’s laws are analyzed and graded to ensure that convicted traffickers must register as sex offenders and parental rights should be terminated for convicted sex traffickers.

State Report Cards will be released publically on December 1. Please tune in to our blog this week to learn more about remaining components of the Protected Innocence Initiative. Check out our event calendar for details of the release.

November 5, 2011 by SHI Staff

Protected Innocence Initiative Part 2: Criminal Provisions Addressing Demand

Demand fuels the commercial sex industry. Without buyers seeking paid sex with children, traffickers would not have a market to sell young children for sexual exploitation. To achieve significant deterrence, severe penalties must be in place to adequately punish the crime of purchasing sex with a child. This dynamic is illustrated in the case below.

Operation Precious Cargo took place in 2005 in Pennsylvania. During this operation, the stretch of US Route 11 connecting Interstate 81 to Interstate 76, locally known as the “Miracle Mile” for the high prevalence of commercial sex, was the main target. Along the “Miracle Mile” there are three truck stops, three truck terminals, and sixteen motels that were investigated by law enforcement during a sex trafficking sting. Of the 151 victims of prostitution found at just one truck stop in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 45 were minors— the youngest was only 12 years old. If this sting happened today, buyers in Pennsylvania could face a third degree felony with a fine of up to $15,000 and imprisonment up to seven years. However, if this sting happened in Oregon, for example, the buyer may face only 30 days after the second conviction.

30 days.

This is the reason for the Protected Innocence Initiative, because children deserve a standard level of protection no matter what state they live in. The Protected Innocence Challenge is designed to reveal these critical gaps in legislation so concerned activists and legislators can work in proactive partnership to strengthen state law to better protect children and prosecute the perpetrators.

October 23, 2011 by SHI Staff

Part 1: Victims or perpetrators: Who goes free in the “Land of the Free”

The words “human trafficking” often conjure images of dark, grungy alleys in countries such as India and Thailand. Though awareness is growing, the 100,000-300,000children that officials estimate are forced into prostitution each year are often not regarded as trafficking victims, though legally defined as such by the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), because the laws in some states fail to specifically criminalize domestic minor sex trafficking.

That is why Shared Hope International launched the Protected Innocence Initiative. The Protected Innocence Initiative is the first proactive study to effectively combat domestic minor sex trafficking by analyzing and grading six areas of law within every state’s legal framework. The first area of analysis under the Protected Innocence Legislative Framework is criminalization of domestic minor sex trafficking. Under this component, we are analyzing and grading every state’s law on it ability to specifically criminalize domestic minor sex trafficking and define minors used in commercial sexual exploitation or prostitution as human trafficking victims. Click here to learn more about this component.

One young girl, Kelly, spoke out about her sex trafficking experience in Virginia saying, “I carried around guilt that I thought I was a prostitute. I thought that I had made the decision. I didn’t really understand that someone had taken advantage of me and manipulated me.” Kelly was forced into the sex industry by a pimp after she ran away from home. However, despite being trafficked at a young age and finally seeking help, Kelly’s pimp could not be charged with sex trafficking of a minor because the state does not currently have any law directly criminalizing domestic minor sex trafficking.

Stories like Kelly’s have become all too common in today’s society. Through the Protected Innocence Initiative, Shared Hope International seeks to help victims like Kelly by making sure the laws properly criminalize domestic minor sex trafficking.

In order to truly make a difference, American’s must realize that sex trafficking is not some far off phenomenon, but a reality within our own borders. Sex trafficking happens within every state and every city. To combat this, each state must work to strengthen or create legislation to criminalize domestic minor sex trafficking. It is only through these efforts that one day America will escape the horrors of modern day slavery and be able and call itself “The Land of the Free.”

October 14, 2011 by Guest

Purchasing Power: Why Do Johns Buy Sex?

The comprehensive new study, “Comparing Sex Buyers with Men Who Don’t Buy Sex,” headed by Melissa Farley, is a follow-up to Farley’s 2009 study, and discusses the characteristics of men who buy sex versus those who don’t. Besides their involvement with prostitution, they revealed different attitudes and behaviors when it came to sex. An overwhelming amount of johns reported that prostitutes “like” to have sex, which contrasted with the view of one non-sex buyer who said “They don‘t enjoy it at all. They just blank their mind out. Men think they enjoy it, but it is just fake.” Furthermore, non-sex buyers revealed that “coercing” someone by paying them for sex was not a “turn-on” for them.

Johns reported that they purchased sex because they were guaranteed submissiveness on the part of the prostituted woman or child. The distinct power imbalance and lack of relationship obligation was noted as a driving factor for those who purchase sex. Many of the johns reported having girlfriends or wives, and say they purchase sex to do the “dirty” sex acts that they would not do with their significant others because these acts could cause her to lose her self esteem. Though sex buyers recognize these distinctions, many commented that the sense of entitlement and degradation towards woman that develops from purchasing sex taints other relationships and their general attitude towards women.

Two-thirds of both the sex buyers and non-sex buyers observed that a majority of women are lured, tricked, or trafficked into prostitution; however, this failed to deter sex buyers from purchasing sex. Almost all study participants agreed that minors were readily available to purchase for sex. About a third of sex buyers knew many prostituted women started when they were underage, but this also provided no deterrence from purchasing sex.

One non-sex buyer illustrated an understanding of the force used in prostitution:

“I don‘t think prostitution is quite the same as rape. Rape is worse. But it‘s close to the rape end of the spectrum. It‘s not rape, because there is superficial consent. On the face of it, the prostitute is agreeing to it. But deeper down, you can see that life circumstances have kind of forced her into that, even though she has agreed to it. It‘s like someone jumping from a burning building—you could say they made their choice to jump, but you could also say they had no choice.”

When asked what would deter them from buying sex, the top three deterrents incorporated consequences that would cause the buyer to be identified, these included: 1) added to a sex offender registry (89%), photo/name in local paper (84%), photo/name on billboard/poster (84%). Community service and having to attend an education program ranked as the least likely to deter a buyer from purchasing sex.

In efforts to slash demand, the Defenders, an initiative of Shared Hope, encourages accountability through the Defenders pledge that they will never purchase sex or engage in other exploitative behaviors. The Defenders host truck stop campaigns and motorcycle rallies to draw awareness to the issue and prove that some men defend women rather than exploit them.

September 21, 2011 by Guest

Money: Saving and Enslaving America’s Children

This year, President Obama said that combating human trafficking was going to be a top priority, yet the U.S. currently spends more in a single day on drug trafficking than it does in an entire year fighting human trafficking. At a forum hosted by ATEST and the CNN Freedom Project, actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador Mira Sorvino claimed “Every month we spend twice the TIP [Trafficking in Persons] budget on military marching bands.” With the passing of the debt ceiling, which promises trillions of dollars in budget cuts, will President Obama be able to make good on his efforts to fight human trafficking? More importantly, is the U.S. willing to shell out significant change to bring significant change?

A study in Georgia revealed how much it would cost the state to treat a sexually exploited youth. The study found that secure facility residential services cost about $183 a day per child, while home-based services cost only $0.82. If Georgia treated all the known victims of sexual exploitation in the state, which, according to another study from Georgia is about 4,000 per year, Georgia alone would need $732,000 a day to place every victim in a secure shelter that provides essential services for rescue and restoration. Alternatively, if Georgia opted for a home-based care for all 4,000 known survivors, the state could spend a modest $3,280, but would be compromising the level of security and therapeutic care necessary for comprehensive and lasting healing. By using a System of Care Approach, like Child Protective Services (group homes, foster care) rather than incorrectly putting them through the Juvenile Justice System, the state would save $65,870 – $211,930 annually. While this approach is favored for its treatment of children as victims and not as offenders, it would seem to be fiscally responsible as well.

Legislators are taking note of the need for funding for victim services. Senate bill S. 596 was introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that would allocate six $2-2.5 million block grants a year to six locations deemed to have significant sex trafficking activity. This piece of legislation would be an increase from past funding, and is a step in the right direction when allocating funding for victims, prosecution, law enforcement, and training.

Important budget cuts are necessary, but we cannot afford to cut the already measly $17 million dedicated to fight this billion dollar underground industry. The $17 million a year figure becomes even more insignificant as we consider that is the amount the US spends to fight drug trade in one day. Protecting our citizens, especially our youth, should be a top priority—let’s make our federal budget reflect that. Urge your senator to support S. 596 and remind them that the protection of our children’s innocence should never be on the chopping block.