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June 9, 2011 by Guest

Do Inappropriate Human Trafficking Task Force Names Encourage Victim Blaming?

An 11-year-old Texas girl was gang raped by 18 men ranging from middle school boys to 27-year-old men.

Her case prompted nationwide controversy, even inspiring Florida state Rep. Kathleen Passidomo to fight for new legislation requiring stricter dress codes in Florida public schools. Passidomo rationalized the legislation as protecting young Floridian girls, since the 11-year-old in Texas was reportedly raped “because she was dressed like a 21-year-old prostitute.” This story reveals that victim blaming is still prevalent in today’s society, making efforts to combat it even more urgent.

Victim blaming is a critical issue when trying to protect the rights of domestic minor sex trafficking victims. Victims are often labeled with derogatory names, arrested, and jailed rather than provided with services they need and deserve. Shared Hope supports progressive changes in social attitudes, like referring to DMST victims as “prostituted children” rather than “child prostitutes,” to shift the blame away from the victim. In fact, simply changing the language towards victims has proven to be a powerful tool in changing society’s perception of the crime.

However, how can attitudes truly be converted when services created to protect DMST victims carry names that are inherently accusatory? For example, in South Florida, the FBI task force, which responds to DMST victims, is called “Minor Vice Task Force.” Vice is an umbrella term for crimes involving actions considered by their very nature immoral. Thus, this title implies that the focus of this task force is minors engaging in “immoral” crimes, crimes they are forced to commit as trafficking victims. Other examples include the National Innocence Lost Task Force, which although represents a step in the right direction of viewing the trafficked minor as a victim, may be interpreted by those who are served by that force as having lost all their innocence, and still fails to maintain neutrality despite well meaning efforts. Although prostitution is legally a crime, the San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution and Vallejo Prostitution Task Force titles reinforce the idea that prostitutes are the real criminals, which perpetuates victim blaming, rather than revealing that purchasing young girls for sex as the true crime. It seems odd that the names of some human trafficking task forces would focus on the victim of the crime, considering that many other task forces, such as drug task forces, maintain a sense of neutrality about the purpose of the task force.

The purpose of a task force is to target a specific type of crime and those affected by it. Task forces like the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force and the D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force have accomplished neutrality while allowing room for minors to still be seen as victims. These simple changes in language can help shift our nation’s victim blaming tendencies towards to the real perpetrators.

June 5, 2011 by Guest

Too cool for school? Not John!

Don’t worry about picking up school supplies or studying for exams…this isn’t your average school.

On March 29, 2011, the Colorado Senate passed Senate Bill 85 which will create a first offender program, in other words a “John school,” that will make it possible for those put on trial for soliciting, pandering, or patronizing a prostitute to wipe their records clean of the offense. The prostitution-related charge will be dismissed as long as it is the offender’s first offense, the offender pleas guilty to the offense, pays the $5,000–10,000 fine and completes the program. Reservations about this bill and similar legislation stems from the question of whether or not first offender programs (John schools) are effective. Do “John schools” really reform buyers and can they do the same with traffickers and pimps? Moreover, is it sufficient punishment for the harm the offender imposed on the victim?

According to a 2010 article by the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE), “John schools” sprung up in the mid-1990s to deter buyers of commercial sex from repeating the offense in the future by educating them about the risks and societal implications their actions create. They educate “Johns” about many aspects of prostitution by including information on the laws, health risks, and testimonies from survivors.

In 2008, Apt Associates Inc. conducted research on the efficacy of “John schools” and found positive results overall, including a decline in recidivism rates (number of repeat offenders). The study claimed that first offender programs were cost-effective, sustainable, and transferable (could be replicated in another area). Unfortunately, however, “post-class survey suggests that the program effectively informed johns about the consequences of participating in prostitution, but did not significantly lower the self-reported likelihood of soliciting in the future.” Several other studies revealed the same conclusions.

Conversely, some experts say there is not enough evidence to determine the effectiveness of “John schools.” CAASE, Prostitution Research and Education, and the Chicago Coalitionfor the Homeless conducted a study in 2008 that entailed interviews with 113 men who bought sex and found that only 41% believed that “John school” acted as a sufficient deterrent to demand for commercial sex. Men stated the top deterrents from purchasing sex would be: photo/name in the local paper (87%), jail time (83%), or photo/name on a billboard (83%). Texas used this approach during the 2011 Super Bowl– posting mug shots of men convicted of trying to purchase sex in Arlington on a billboard near the Super Bowl stadium. The study recommends that “John schools,” in order to be more effective, should include individual sessions on a long-term basis between buyers and clinical practitioners.

The effectiveness of “John schools” is a dynamic debate in which the proven lower recidivism rates stand in stark contrast to “John school” graduates continued willingness to purchase sex. Stay posted as we announce future research and demand reduction efforts.

April 18, 2011 by Guest

Sex Traffickers and Pimps: the Real Winners of the World Cup

Brazil: one of the best destinations in the world. Great people. Beautiful beaches. Rain forests. An abundance of adventures to be had. The question is: what isn’t amazing about Brazil? The sad truth is that human trafficking and sexual exploitation is a major problem in this vacation spot. According to the State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, sex trafficking of Brazilian citizens within and across the country’s borders flourishes. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime stated that there is an outrageous industry of child sex tourism and child prostitution in Brazil; “According to a January 2005 report, child prostitution rings operate in 937 municipalities throughout the country.” It doesn’t seem asthough it could get much worse. However, after Spain came out victorious last year in the FIFA World Cup, Brazil was named as the next host of this colossal event in 2014. Unfortunately, this great honor brings booming business for the sex industry.

Right before the World Cup took place in Germany and South Africa, several anti-trafficking and human rights groups spoke up about the increased sexual exploitation that would take place during the tournaments. They encouraged the government and law enforcement agencies to step up and keep a watchful eye. Amnesty International and Human Trafficking.org estimated that between 30,000 and 60,000 children and women would be sexually exploited during the World Cup in Germany. ESPN’s Outside the Lines investigation on the effects of the South Africa World Cup on human trafficking found “more young people have been trafficked either into South Africa from other countries or internally to work in a rapidly growing sex industry because of the month long soccer tournament.” Time Magazine cited a trafficker in South Africa gloating about the anticipated increase in business, “Yeah, this is good! Us people are going to make a lot of money then if you know what you’re doing.” There was criticism of too much hype surrounding the problem and inflated numbers of trafficked victims but that does not negate the correlation between the World Cup and sexual exploitation. The Outside the Lines article above reiterated the words of an ordained minister who runs the conservative Family Policy Institute, “Sex traffickers see the World Cup as an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ‘cash in.’”

Advocates of the anti-trafficking movement will once more begin to voice their concerns about the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The importance of soccer in Brazil will likely increase the tournament’s attendance and subsequently the number of customers for trafficking victims. As mentioned earlier, Brazil already boasts a thriving tourism industry and this World Cup could draw more U.S. attendees than normal because of its proximity. We are looking to determined anti-trafficking advocates and dedicated law enforcement officials to lead the charge in this monstrous challenge to make sure traffickers aren’t the real winners at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

April 14, 2011 by webdesigner

Sacrifice made at the cost of convenience – Sexual exploitation on the Internet

National Pornography Statistics estimatethat 68 million pornographic search engine requests are made daily, equaling 25% of total requests. There are currently 4.2 million pornographic websites on the Internet. Among these, 100,000 websites offer illegal child pornography. This shows that many children are being exploited daily.

Due to the highly unregulated nature and anonymity of the internet, pimps and buyers are able to conceal their own identities and use this platform for criminal activities with minimal risk of prosecution. While sex trafficking is not a new phenomenon, the Internet is a new source for sex traffickers to find vulnerable women and sell them for sexual exploitation.

In addition to Internet pornography, sexual exploitation occurs in different forms such as websites that offer advertisement services. Most commonly known is Craigslist. Before shutting down its “Adult services” section, there was an average of 1,690 advertisements posted each day on the New York City board alone. Craigslist produced an estimated $80 million in annual profits from the “adult services” postings. There are also other sites still offering similar advertisement services, including Backpage.com, CityVibe.com, and Eros.com. Those websites allow customers to browse and compare the characteristics, photographs and prices of a large number of individuals selling or being forced to sell sex.

In addition to advertisement services, social networking websites are becoming nests of prostitution. According to a study by Sudhir Venkatesh, a professor at Columbia University, 83 percent of sex workers advertise their services on Facebook. He also estimates that, by the end of 2011, Facebook will be the leading online recruitment space for prostitution.

Although it is a fact that the Internet facilitates many illegal activities, it does not only do harm. If it is used for a right purpose, the Internet can be a very useful tool for many good causes.

For example, Change.org has an option for individuals or groups to start a petition for different issues of concern. Here is one success story. Last August, the United Kingdom chose to opt out of the European Union’s Directive on human trafficking, leaving hundreds of British children at risk. After pressure from tens of thousands of advocates across the globe, including several hundred on Change.org, the U.K. government has opted in to the EU’s anti-trafficking initiative. This action significantly strengthened the fight against human trafficking on the European continent.

As much as the Internet contributes to sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of women and children, it can be used in many ways to bring public awareness and help alleviate the issue if we all work together.

April 12, 2011 by Guest

The Nejloveanu Family: A Look Into How Pimps are Created

Sex trafficking is one of the most inhuman acts in the world. Its utter disregard for basic human rights is staggering. It begs the question, who would do this? Two months ago, the Nejloveanu father-son duo were handed hefty convictions for sex trafficking in the UK. The Nejloveanu family charmed multiple women between the ages of 16 and 25 into selling their bodies for money. They kept the women as their “sexual playthings” through threatening, beating, and degrading them. So why did they do it?

The act of human trafficking is an inexcusable crime but there are some key events in childhood that may be responsible for desensitizing traffickers to violence. A Chicago based study of 25 ex-pimps found that 76% experienced sexual assault as a child, with the average age of assault being 9.5!

The study showed that one of the reasons why people start pimping is the influence of other pimps’ wealth. One former pimp praised his father’s success as a pimp and expressed how that caused him to want to join the family business.

“I wanted to be respected like my daddy. He dressed very well, $400 and $500 suits. He drove the best Cadillacs. I wanted all of that. I grew up in it. It gave me the same things I saw my daddy with. I loved pimping.”

While there is research documenting how pimps control, employ, and recruit women for the sex trade, little is known about why they begin trafficking. According to the Chicago study, another reason why pimps get involved in the industry is the relatively low danger of prosecution compared to the large payoff. The ex-pimps in the Chicago study made anywhere between $150,000 and $500,000 in one year! Marius Nejloveanuand his father made anywhere from $117,000 to $234,000 every year.
From the case of the Nejloveanu family and the Chicago Study we can infer two possible reasons why pimping begins: the hefty income and the lack of danger. The payoff for pimping can become less advantageous by making it easier to convict traffickers, increasing the penalties, and requiring a well trained police force to be present in areas of pimping. Lastly, it is clearly important for interventions in child sexual abuse and physical violence, which are precursors of pimping and trafficking and contribute to transforming victims into victimizers.