Ten years ago, when Shared Hope developed the nation’s first legal framework to comprehensively analyze state laws addressing the crime of child sex trafficking, our field research on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking had indicated that there were fundamental gaps that needed to be addressed in states’ laws. That was confirmed when we launched the inaugural […]
Announcing Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking; grades based on an advanced legislative framework. Coming Nov 18, 2020
Many of you have met Brianna… She was just 18 years old, a straight A student with dreams of becoming a nurse, when a trafficker made his move and began to groom her in preparation to sell her into the underworld of commercial sexual exploitation. Through the intervention of a high school friend and his […]
From Coppertone to Cuties
In Shared Hope’s 22 years of fighting against the sex trafficking of minors in the USA, we have watched the sexualization of children change with the culture. The 1950’s Coppertone billboard of the tan little girl with her dog pulling down her swimsuit, is now a tame discussion as we’ve watched ads for all sorts of products slowly slide towards the exposure of more […]
Linda Smith’s Perspective on Lacy’s Journey: the Law, The Culture and the Church – Part 2
We are often asked, how can the church help stop this and protect children? And I think one of the reasons the church hasn’t been too concerned about it, is because men aren’t being taught in the church what a real man should be. A lot of men, if I can say this boldly, are […]
Linda Smith’s Perspective on Lacy’s Journey: the Law, The Culture and the Church – Part 1
In the number of years that I’ve worked on many of these cases in the United States, I’ve watched law enforcement change dramatically. They’re realizing that victims of prostitution are just somebody’s daughter, son, mom, cousin, sister or brother. And they’re starting to understand that, and they’re starting to change how they work with girls […]