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December 2, 2019 by Guest

Sex Trafficking: “A Supply Answer to a Demand Problem”

By Geoffrey Rogers

The United Nations’ estimate of nearly 27 million people around the world held in slavery through human trafficking is a statistic too mammoth for my mind to fully contemplate, so I’ll consider children…children in our own country.

I have been engaged with efforts to alert Christians to this day’s pressing social issues for 15 years, and I can truthfully say that the sex trafficking of America’s children is one of the most egregious.

It is believed that over 100,000 children under the age of 18 in the United States are trafficked for sex every day. What I have come to realize most of all, is that human trafficking—especially sex trafficking—is a “supply answer to a demand problem.” It exists because people, mostly men, are paying for sex. As a society, if we are to make a substantial difference in the fight against human trafficking in America, we must find ways to decrease and eradicate the demand for purchased sex.

We identify pornography as the #1 factor fueling the demand for sex trafficking. More than $13 billion per year is spent on pornography and commercial sex services—that’s $3,000 per second spent on pornography. It’s estimated that 50-70% of men regularly consume pornography. Last year, the largest porn website in the U.S. received over 28 billion visits; that’s almost 4 visits for every person on the entire planet, for this U.S.-based site. Studies are now showing the highly addictive nature of pornography, which leads a portion of addicts to eventually want to actualize what they have only been visualizing, hence creating the increasing demand for purchased sex. Linda Smith, the founder and President of Shared Hope International, makes this point so clear in the upcoming documentary on sex trafficking in America, BLIND EYES OPENED and she calls out the fact that we simply aren’t holding buyers accountable.

While the focus for awareness about the vulnerability of child sex trafficking victims and services for them has focused on girls and women, what many people don’t know is that demand for sex with boys is rampant as well. A U.S. Department of Justice study identifies that 36% of trafficked children are boys.

Services for all victims across the country are a critically important part of the fight against sex trafficking, and Shared Hope International has been one of the leading anti-trafficking organizations educating the masses and assisting safe home operators to learn from one another and improve their impact. Concerned with the void in services for boys, they recently partnered with one of the only boys’ safe homes in the nation, operated by the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking.

BLIND EYES OPENED is a first-of-a-kind Christian documentary that dives deep into the sex trafficking industry in the U.S. The film exposes the darkness that fuels demand, highlights survivors’ transformations through Christ, engages lawmakers, law enforcement, organizations, ministries and experts across the country committed to ending the atrocities, all while showing Christ as the hope for all involved. It is such an honor to have Linda Smith participate in this critically important documentary, being released in theaters nationwide on January 23. Visit www.BlindEyesOpened.com to learn more and find a theater near you.

Geoffrey Rogers is the co-founder and President of Ships of Tarshish, a nonprofit production company established to produce high-quality Christian programming that is relevant, exciting and entertaining, and is the co-founder CEO of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking. After leaving a successful career in the corporate world as an executive with IBM, Geoff began Ships of Tarshish with his wife Kerri. Through their work on the upcoming documentary on sex trafficking in America, Blind Eyes Opened, they committed their lives to the fight against sex trafficking.

November 27, 2019 by Brittany Peck

Shared Hope Attends: New Yorkers for the Equality Model Campaign Launch

On Monday, I had the privilege of attending the New Yorkers for the Equality Model Campaign Launch hosted by The Survivor Leaders of New Yorkers for the Equality Model. New Yorkers for the Equality Model is a, “survivor-led alliance made up of more than 30 advocates, prostitution and sex trafficking survivors, and organizational partners seeking to implement the Equality Model, decriminalizing only individuals in prostitution, in New York State” (equalitymodelny.org/who-we-are). The Campaign Launch event announced the forthcoming legislation sponsored by Assemblymember Tremaine Wright and Senator Liz Krueger and a campaign advocating for the Equality Model Approach in the state of New York.

The Equality Model being proposed in New York State will have a five-pronged legal approach that addresses repealing current laws that call for arresting people in prostitution, providing trauma-informed services for those wishing to exit the sex trade, penalizing buyers, continuing to criminalize pimps, traffickers, brothel owners and illicit massage parlor owners and a commitment to community education. For more information on their approach, please visit: https://www.equalitymodelny.org/equality-model

The forthcoming Equality Model legislation is partly in response to recent legislation introduced this summer in NY with the intent to decriminalize sex work. The coalition DecrimNY is advocating for the bill. A similar bill was recently disputed in Washington D.C. Click here to read Shared Hope’s Testimony in Opposition to D.C. Bill 23-0318. Shared Hope has also recently updated it’s Seeking Justice Toolkit in the Stop the InJuSTice campaign, a resource available to help end the criminalization of child sex trafficking victims. View the updated Seeking Justice Toolkit here.

At the Launch Campaign, a closed panel discussion focused on “The Links between Sex Trafficking & Prostitution.” Panelists discussed the difference between the Equality Model and the Full Decriminalization/Decrim/Legalization Model. A handout summarizing these differences can be found here. The panel also addressed questions about consent, systems that perpetuate exploitation and oppression, how prostitution and the #metoo movement are connected and how we discuss systems of prostitution in our communities and within our generations.

Organizers invited attendees to support the campaign on social media. Posters were displayed throughout the event with hashtags for guests to utilize in their social media posts about the campaign launch.

For more information on how to support the New Yorkers for the Equality Model visit: https://www.equalitymodelny.org/ You can also follow them on twitter @NoBuyerNoPimpNY

November 20, 2019 by Guest

Shared Hope International Releases Ninth Annual Sex Trafficking ‘Protected Innocence Challenge’ State Report Cards

Ten states raise their grade in 2019 through bipartisan, grassroots legislative advocacy
The majority of states + D.C. have “A” (15) or “B” (21) grades; Maine, South Dakota are only states with “D”
Tennessee receives highest grade, while Nevada sees most improvement
Remaining gaps include non-criminalization of children as prostitutes and access to support services for child trafficking victims, where the national average grade is a low “C”

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Shared Hope International, a non-profit leader in the fight to eradicate domestic minor sex trafficking, today released its ninth annual Protected Innocence Challenge Report. The comprehensive analysis identifies gaps in state child trafficking laws and provides a blueprint for legislative action. Published as report cards for each state, the 2019 report reveals continued improvement in the bipartisan nationwide effort to protect juvenile sex trafficking survivors and to hold buyers and traffickers accountable.

Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) earned “A” or “B” grades in 2019. No state received an “F” grade and only two – Maine and South Dakota – earned “D”s.

“When Shared Hope first issued the report in 2011, 26 states earned failing grades and many did not make it a crime to buy sex with a child; today every state in the country considers sex trafficking a punishable crime,” said Linda Smith, founder and president of Shared Hope. “Analyzing state laws for nearly a decade enables us to understand where progress is concentrated and where gaps remain. The 2019 analysis shows that states are still struggling to provide adequate protections to sex trafficking victims, essentially leaving the women and children behind.”

Grades are based on an analysis of 41 key legislative components that must be addressed in a state’s laws in order to effectively respond to the crime of domestic minor sex trafficking.

While all states have made significant progress since 2011 by passing laws to discourage demand for purchasing sex with a minor – raising the average grade from an “F” to a “B” – child victims often are denied access to justice and restorative services outside of the juvenile justice system. The national grade for victim protection laws is barely a “C” at 71.2 percent.

Other noteworthy 2019 findings included:

D.C. and nine states – Colorado, Georgia, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Utah and Wyoming – raised their grades in the last year.
Nevada, the most improved state, earned an “A” for the first time after passing a new non-criminalization law that protects all minors from being prosecuted for the crime of prostitution and provides access to specialized services. The law also allows juvenile adjudications for prostitution and some non-prostitution offenses resulting from trafficking victimization to be vacated and sealed.
Nebraska became just the sixth to raise its grade four levels, achieving an “A” in 2019 after earning an “F” in 2011. This year, the state clarified that a specialized child welfare intervention and service response is required in response to all domestic minor sex-trafficking case referrals regardless of the offender’s relationship to the child.
Tennessee, the highest-ranking state since 2017, again earned the top grade. It extended civil statutes of limitations and removed criminal statutes of limitations, allowing survivors time to recognize their victimization before seeking justice through the court system.
The number of states that now prohibit the criminalization of child sex trafficking victims for prostitution offenses is 30 plus D.C., compared to just five in 2011.
There are 19 states that still require “third-party control”, which means a trafficker must be involved to consider the child a victim of domestic minor sex trafficking. When the definition is limited in this way, many survivors are at risk of being misidentified and denied the services they need to restore their lives.

“We’re not just asking states to eliminate the cultural bias that enables them to charge a child with prostitution; we need to also respond to exploited youth as victims of a serious crime,” said Smith. “Asking a survivor to prove they were a victim by identifying their trafficker has the potential to retraumatize the child, which is totally unacceptable. We recognize changing victim protection laws is a heavier lift for states and providing services presents resource challenges. We’ve seen some states take the lead on this and we’re confident others will learn from their example.”

The 2019 Protected Innocence Challenge Report, including state report cards, can be accessed at sharedhope.org/reportcards.

November 14, 2019 by SHI Staff

Coming Soon: Field Guidance on Sex Trafficking Victim-Offender Intersectionality

Shared Hope International, Shared Hope’s JuST Response Council and the Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation at Villanova Law are pleased to announce the upcoming release on January 23, 2020 of a field guidance report on sex trafficking victim-offender intersectionality—the phenomenon of sex trafficking survivors entering the criminal justice process for allegedly engaging in sex trafficking conduct.

This field guidance, which follows three years of collaborative research, will provide tools for criminal justice stakeholders that assist in identifying the intersection of trafficking victimization and offending conduct, as well as guidance on responding to these cases in a trauma-responsive and trafficking-informed manner. By examining some of the common factors in cases involving victim-offender intersectionality through a trafficking-informed lens, alongside specific case studies drawn from federal prosecutions, this field guidance seeks to identify strategies for moving toward more just and fair responses to sex trafficking victim-offenders at all stages of the criminal justice process.

While the field guidance specifically focuses on survivors of sex trafficking charged with sex trafficking offenses, many of the considerations that arise in that context are informative for criminal justice stakeholders responding to trafficking survivors who have been charged with other crimes as a result of their trafficking victimization. We hope this guidance will also lead to greater discourse on this difficult issue and ongoing efforts to work toward victim-centered, trauma-informed solutions.

The release of this field guidance report on January 23, 2020 also marks the Grand Opening of Shared Hope International’s new Institute for Justice & Advocacy. The work of the JuST Response Council and this new research reflect the Institute’s commitment to finding solutions to complex problems to help bring an end to juvenile sex trafficking and provide support and protection to those impacted by sex trafficking.

If you are interested in attending the event at the Institute, please register here. Space is limited. If you are not able to attend in-person, please join us remotely via Facebook Live at Shared Hope’s Facebook page.

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Shared Hope International’s JuST Response Council represents some of the most innovative and informed experts in the country. These members help ensure JuST Response products are informed by diverse perspectives and experiences. Council members share the goals of preventing juveniles from becoming sex trafficking victims and ensuring that youth who have been trafficked have access to the tools and support necessary to heal from the trauma they have endured and the skills to create and sustain a life away from trafficking. Members include policy advocates, government officials, medical professionals, law enforcement, judges, academics, and service providers, many of whom are themselves survivors of juvenile sex trafficking, from diverse geographic areas.

November 1, 2019 by SHI Staff

Shared Hope’s Written Testimony in Opposition to D.C. Bill 23-0318

Shared Hope International is a D.C.-based NGO focused on addressing the root causes of commercial sexual exploitation for the purpose of preventing child sex trafficking in the U.S. Since our organization’s inception in 1998, we have proactively pursued and supported policies that protect the inherent right of children in the U.S. to be free from sexual violence, including commercial sexual exploitation. Following the introduction of D.C. Bill 23-0318 in early 2019, we sought to understand the purpose and impact of this legislation, including to identify whose “safety” and “health” this piece of legislation would truly protect. Shared Hope strongly opposes the “Community Safety and Health Amendment Act” because, despite what its name purports, this bill fails to protect the safety and health of D.C. children and youth, who are an essential part of our community.

Shared Hope firmly believes that removing criminal liability for buyers, pimps, and brothel owners will significantly threaten the safety, well-being, and security of youth in the District, particularly youth living with various vulnerability factors. During the October 17th Committee hearing, Councilmembers heard hours of testimony which highlighted the forecasted impact this bill would have on the District and, most importantly, those most affected by the policies created through this effort. We adamantly affirm the numerous concerns raised by child protection and anti-trafficking advocates, including the impact this bill would have on: (1) repealing current processes for connecting exploited minors with vital services; (2) creating additional challenges for law enforcement to discern illegal activity from legal activity, thus creating barriers to victim identification and response; 3) expanding the market and increasing harm to those in commercial sex due to a rise in demand; and (4) transforming the District into a tourist destination for commercial sexual exploitation.

We can attribute the phenomenon of child sex trafficking in the U.S. to a culture that normalizes the commodification of human beings; fully decriminalizing commercial sex will uphold the already existing attitudes that tolerate the sale, purchase, and control of another person. As stakeholders, we would be shortsighted and reckless to believe that the implications of the policy this bill seeks to advance will be limited to consensual sex workers. Reinforcing a demand for human beings and their bodies will not start and end with consenting adults; the consequences of this will be horrific for vulnerable persons, including children, who do not choose commercial sex. We cannot allow the purported benefits for some to trump the well-established harm caused to others.

What remains unaddressed is what this bill painfully fails to do: create sustainable solutions to deeply rooted forms of injustice. Upon conducting a thorough analysis of the bill and watching all fourteen hours of the Committee hearing, it is evident that this piece of legislation provides a band-aid for affected communities and creates an easy fix for the Council. Over half of the witnesses testified to the systemic reasons driving the sale of commercial sex, all of which fall under the general umbrella of “survival.” Additionally, witnesses testified to the inherent violence that underpins commercial sex, detailing the dramatically high mortality rate for persons engaged in commercial sex compared to rates measuring the general public. 1 Many sex trafficking survivors and self-identified sex workers provided anecdotal accounts of the physical, psychological, and sexual violence they experienced due to commercial sex. Fully decriminalizing sex work to ensure that historically and presently marginalized communities, including vulnerable children and youth, can access shelter, employment, food, and security reinforces the unjust notion that some members of our society, disproportionately communities comprised of racial and gender-minorities, must sacrifice their safety and wellbeing to meet such fundamental needs. The Council must bypass the allure of a quick and easy fix and devote the requisite energy and resources to a problem that demands a thoughtful and sustainable solution. This is the only way of ensuring that presently impacted persons and generations to come are not positioned to choose survival over safety.

Many witnesses testified to the opportunities this bill creates; aside from importantly preventing the criminalization of affected persons, D.C. Bill 23-0318 fails to “lift up marginalized communities” as one witness purported. When the District enacted D.C. Act 20-560 in 2015, preventing minors from being charged and prosecuted for prostitution offenses, the Council responsibly included provisions to train relevant stakeholders and develop service response protocols. In fact, one of the existing protections for children, requiring law enforcement to refer an identified or suspected child sex trafficking victim to specialized services, will be repealed by this very bill that seeks to increase “safety.” Historical efforts to reform the City’s response to child sex trafficking included critical measures to ensure that exploited youth were directed away from the juvenile justice system and into services, inarguably supporting their holistic health and safety, and providing access to justice and opportunities. Conversely, this bill merely develops a task force to “study . . . the need for . . . resources to meet the needs of sex workers and other individuals engaging in commercial sex.” As detailed during the Committee hearing, the extensive needs are already well-established; in fact, the lack of these very services that the Committee seeks to study is what survivors of sex trafficking and consensual sex workers claim is driving their engagement in commercial sex. Rather than passing legislation that preys on vulnerabilities, the Council should invest in eliminating them by: (1) removing criminal liability for persons who sell sex, either consensually or through exploitative practices; and (2) creating access to comprehensive care and services, as well as meaningful opportunities for those desiring to cease engagement in commercial sex.

D.C. Bill 23-0318 blatantly ignores the cries of sex trafficking survivors and ally professionals that, based on a culmination of lived experience and sound research, denounce both the intent and resolution. Several proponents voiced frustration at the Council’s willingness to hear from opponents outside of the District; their voices speak to the enormous ramifications this bill will have on sex trafficking victims and vulnerable communities across the U.S. Vacuums of equitable opportunity are a magnet for exploitation. Undoubtedly, a general lack of opportunity and services, coupled with legislation that decriminalizes the purchase and pimping of human beings, will set the stage for an increase in child sex trafficking in D.C.

We respectfully urge the Council to listen to the collective concern of stakeholders who demand better for all vulnerable persons and communities. The District does not need a new task force to establish and respond to the imminent needs that drive exploitation and survival sex; rather, the Council is currently positioned to draw upon the fourteen hours of testimony and re-design legislation that empowers, protects, and invests in our community.