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Home>Latest News

October 17, 2014 by SHI Staff

Congressman Frank Wolf Receives Shared Hope’s Lifetime Pathbreaker Award for Anti-Trafficking Efforts

Shared Hope International will honor Congressman Wolf for lifetime dedication to eradicating trafficking

ARLINGTON, VA. – Congressman Frank Wolf (VA-10) has been named a 2014 Lifetime Pathbreaker Award recipient for his continuous leadership in combatting child sex trafficking.

Congressman Wolf is one of the House of Representatives’ leading crusaders for human rights. He believes members of Congress have an obligation to speak out for those who are persecuted around the world—a belief that led him to some of the most remote and desperate nations to witness and address grave human rights violations. His global perspective on human trafficking spurred national action on the issue. Congressman Wolf actively implored the Obama Administration to increase its efforts to combat child sex trafficking facilitated through online classified sites like Backpage.com. As chairman of the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Wolf used his position and passion to strengthen anti-trafficking laws in the U.S. In 2014, Rep. Wolf championed a FY 2015 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee bill that included $429.5 million for Violence Against Women Prevention and Prosecution programs. Rep. Wolf has historically supported increases for Victims of Trafficking grants to develop stronger programs for victims.

In 2000, Rep. Wolf recognized the need to energize the global conversation about the issue of trafficking and share innovative approaches to combat the problem. At the recommendation of Rep. Wolf, the U.S. Department of State engaged Shared Hope International to hold Pathbreaking Strategies conferences in six countries to facilitate this discussion and generate solutions. The conferences led to significant change in the national responses to human trafficking in countries that were lagging behind the global response. During this process, the Pathbreaker Award was established to recognize the pioneering efforts of individuals around the world who broke the trend of inaction and initiated proactive responses to prevent trafficking. See all Pathbreaker Award recipients.

“Congressman Wolf’s resolve to combat sex trafficking will make a lasting impact globally, nationally, and locally in his home state of Virginia,” Shared Hope International President and Founder Linda Smith said. “He served as the inspiration for the Pathbreaking Strategies Conferences in 2000. How fitting that nearly 15 years later, Shared Hope International has the opportunity to honor him with the award that was truly inspired by his leadership and dedication to the issue.”

The 2014 Pathbreaker Award recipients also include Brendan Johnson, United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota and Marian Hatcher, Project Manager for the Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Programs at the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. U.S. Attorney Johnson and Ms. Hatcher will accept the award on November 7 during Shared Hope International’s JuST Conference in Washington, D.C.

MEDIA MATERIALS

For media convenience, a variety of video clips and resources, including survivor comments, are available at this location: vimeo.com/sharedhope/albums. Clips are password protected, please contact Taryn Offenbacher at Taryn@sharedhope.org for access.

ABOUT SHARED HOPE INTERNATIONAL: Shared Hope International was established in 1998, by former U.S. Congresswoman Linda Smith, to prevent, restore, and bring justice to women and children in crisis. We provide leadership in awareness, training, prevention strategies, restorative care, research, and policy initiatives. For more information about Shared Hope International, go to www.sharedhope.org.

For more information contact Taryn Offenbacher at (602) 818-3955 or taryn@sharedhope.org.

October 17, 2014 by SHI Staff

Marian Hatcher Receives Shared Hope Pathbreaker Award for Anti-Trafficking Leadership

Shared Hope International honors Marian Hatcher for dedication to fighting demand for sex trafficking

ARLINGTON, VA. – Marian Hatcher, Project Manager at the Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Programs for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, has been named a 2014 Pathbreaker Award recipient for her determined leadership in pursuing the buyers of sex trafficking.

Marian Hatcher escaped from the world of commercial sex. At 38 years old, Hatcher was well established— holding a Finance degree from Loyola University, advancing in the corporate world, and living in a good neighborhood in Chicago with her five children. However, she entered a relationship with a man who abused and threatened Hatcher and her family. Depression caused Hatcher to turn to drugs, resulting in prostitution to support the habit. She served four months in jail, enrolled in the Cook County Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Programs, before her release and subsequent employment by the same program.

Today, Hatcher has been with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) for 10 years. She is the Human Trafficking Coordinator and member of the Human Trafficking Response Team. She coordinates several of CCSO’s anti-trafficking efforts such as the “National Day of Johns Arrests,” a nationwide effort with more than 59 participating federal, state and local law enforcement agencies targeting buyers of sex as the driving force of sex trafficking. As a national expert on combating the demand for commercial sex, she has testified before the Illinois and Colorado legislatures, has been featured in the OWN documentary “Prostitution: Leaving the Life” which focused on her work as a survivor advocate and the Ink 180 Documentary. In July 2014, her article “Ten Years and Counting” was published in Police Chief Magazine as a companion article to a piece written by Cook County Sheriff, Thomas J. Dart, both focused on human trafficking.

“Marian Hatcher is a brave example of a survivor who overcame great strongholds to free herself and blaze a path of freedom for others,” Shared Hope International President and Founder Linda Smith said. “She has made significant contributions in the fight to hold buyers accountable for their crime and to eliminate tolerance for commercial sexual exploitation.”

In 2000, the U.S. Department of State engaged Shared Hope International to hold Pathbreaking Strategies Conferences in six countries to energize the global conversation about the issue of trafficking and share innovative approaches to combat the problem. The conferences led to significant change in the global landscape of national responses to trafficking in countries that were behind the global community and enabling an environment that was fostering trafficking with no developed response. During this process, the Pathbreaker Award was established to recognize the pioneering efforts of individuals throughout the world who broke the trend of inaction and initiated proactive responses to prevent trafficking. See all Pathbreaker Award recipients.

The 2014 Pathbreaker Award recipients also include Congressman Frank Wolf (VA-10) and Brendan Johnson, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota. U.S. Attorney Johnson and Ms. Hatcher will accept the award on November 7 during Shared Hope International’s JuST Conference in Washington, D.C.

MEDIA MATERIALS

For media convenience, a variety of video clips and resources, including survivor comments, are available at this location: vimeo.com/sharedhope/albums. Clips are password protected, please contact Taryn Offenbacher at Taryn@sharedhope.org for access.

ABOUT SHARED HOPE INTERNATIONAL: Shared Hope International was established in 1998, by former U.S. Congresswoman Linda Smith, to prevent, restore, and bring justice to women and children in crisis. We provide leadership in awareness, training, prevention strategies, restorative care, research, and policy initiatives. For more information about Shared Hope International, go to www.sharedhope.org

For more information contact Taryn Offenbacher at (602) 818-3955 or taryn@sharedhope.org.

October 17, 2014 by SHI Staff

U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson Receives Shared Hope Pathbreaker Award for Anti-Trafficking Leadership

Shared Hope International honors Brendan Johnson for prioritizing the prosecution of buyers of sex trafficking

ARLINGTON, VA. – Brendan Johnson, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota has been named a 2014 Pathbreaker Award recipient for his determined leadership in combatting child sex trafficking.

U.S. Attorney Johnson has taken a progressive approach to demand enforcement through broad collaboration and aggressive prosecution of buyers which established broader federal engagement in combating demand for child sex trafficking.  At the request of Attorney General Eric Holder, Johnson was one of fifteen U.S. Attorneys selected to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee from 2012-2013. He has prioritized the prosecution of cases involving violence against Native American women and children and human trafficking. Mr. Johnson has overseen the prosecution of more than 25 human trafficking cases in five years, including three life-sentences and the federal prosecution of numerous men who attempted to purchase sex from trafficking victims. His office pursued the case of United States v. Jungers through the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, securing the critical decision that buyers of sex acts with minors are committing crimes of sex trafficking under the federal law, upping the risk of such activity by those who drive the sex trafficking markets.

“Brendan Johnson is a force of determination, initiative and skill that should leave buyers terrified to purchase sex with a minor in South Dakota,” Shared Hope International President and Founder Linda Smith said. “By creating a threshold for buyer accountability, he sets a national precedent that, if applied, will make significant strides in reducing tolerance for purchasing sex with a minor.”   

In 2000, the U.S. Department of State engaged Shared Hope International to hold Pathbreaking Strategies Conferences in six countries to energize the global conversation about the issue of trafficking and share innovative approaches to combat the problem. The conferences led to significant change in the global landscape of national responses to trafficking in countries that were behind the global community and enabling an environment that was fostering trafficking with no developed response. During this process, the Pathbreaker Award was established to recognize the pioneering efforts of individuals throughout the world who broke the trend of inaction and initiated proactive responses to prevent trafficking. See all Pathbreaker Award recipients.

The 2014 Pathbreaker Award recipients also include Congressman Frank Wolf (VA-10) and Marian Hatcher, Project Manager for the Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Programs at the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. U.S. Attorney Johnson and Ms. Hatcher will accept the award on November 7 during Shared Hope International’s JuST Conference in Washington, D.C.

MEDIA MATERIALS

For media convenience, a variety of video clips and resources, including survivor comments, are available at this location: vimeo.com/sharedhope/albums. Clips are password protected, please contact Taryn Offenbacher at Taryn@sharedhope.org for access.

ABOUT SHARED HOPE INTERNATIONAL: Shared Hope International was established in 1998, by former U.S. Congresswoman Linda Smith, to prevent, restore, and bring justice to women and children in crisis. We provide leadership in awareness, training, prevention strategies, restorative care, research, and policy initiatives. For more information about Shared Hope International, go to www.sharedhope.org.

For more information contact Taryn Offenbacher at (602) 818-3955 or taryn@sharedhope.org.

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.

Linda Smith.jpg

Linda Smith(Photo: handout)

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

September 29, 2014 by Guest

A Call To Men: What Will Your Story Be?

I should say up front that this post is aimed at men.  When it comes to fighting human trafficking, those of us on the front-lines of this battle tend to look beside us and see mostly women.  When you add the fact that many, but not all perpetrators, especially of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) are males, it becomes painfully clear that we need strong and compassionate men to join the efforts to end this atrocity.

With that said, I promise that this will not be a “male bashing”post.  As an African-American male, I don’t want to add to the guilt that many feel.  To the contrary, my intention is simply this: to move you to action.  And perhaps the best way to do that is to share why I got involved.

I have been married to my beautiful and loving wife for 16 years.  In that time, I have been blessed to be Daddy to two amazing daughters.  Yes, three women govern my personal life!  I have learned to enjoy mall hopping, learning the newest pop sensations, and I have enough rainbow loom bracelets to stretch across all the Peachtree Streets in Atlanta.

Perhaps one of the biggest adaptations I’ve made as a father was understanding inequalities that still exist for women.  The looks my oldest would receive as one of a few girls at basketball camp.  The bullying my youngest dealt with as the smartest in her class.  Many times the thought would enter my mind – “Would they go through this if they were boys?”  As a dad, my job was to protect and that’s what I planned to do until they were grown and married.

And so as a protector, when I began to learn that modern-day slavery still existed around the world, I was shocked.  I was even more shocked to learn that it happened in many forms, one of which was DMST and my own home of Atlanta had developed a reputation across the world of being a hub for the sex trafficking of minors.  In fact, in 2005, the FBI named Atlanta as one of 14 cities in the nation with the highest incidence of children used in prostitution.  As men, many times our natural reaction to this is to get angry, and then once football or some other distraction comes into our world, that anger subsides.  For me, the anger just stewed.  And I knew I had to do something.

My first course of action was to learn more.  And as I learned more, I realized that this was no light issue.  In my home state of Georgia, the average age of girls exploited sexually is 12-14.  In 2009, each month, 7,200 men were paying for 8,700 sex acts with children in Georgia.  After learning this information, there was no way that I could ignore what was happening in my own community.  As Edmund Burke said “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”  How could I consider myself a good man and a good father if I were to turn my head away from what was happening in my community?

And as a father, this meant that, at the appropriate time, I needed to begin educating my family.  Starting with my wife and then my daughters.  Something as simple having a conversation about “what are girls and boys like at your school,” can be an eye-opening dialogue to have with your children.

Once I became educated, I needed to find a place to fit in.  How could I get engaged with this issue?  I did not have extra time to just add hours to my already packed schedule, nor did I want to do the community service equivalent of bucket plunking in church.  I wanted to add value to this cause.  As learning professional that meant applying my experience and skills to the training that was being done by Street Grace, the organization that introduced me to this issue.  For others that have partnered with us, their contribution has also related to their expertise.  There is so much to be done, that there’s a place and role for everyone.  What will yours be?

As I began to serve, seeing the lights go on in the eyes of others was encouraging.  I knew that the way I was serving was making a difference and I began freely giving more and more of my time to Street Grace.  The empowerment that was happening around me was exciting and it lead me to believe that within my lifetime, I could see this horror ended.

Fast-forward four years to 2014.  I had the privilege of serving on the Street Grace Board of Directors for three years.  I now continue to serve as a member of the CEO’s Advisory Board.  I have traveled around the country speaking about the ills of DMST and human trafficking.  All of this because I decided not to let a Falcons game quench the discomfort that was growing within me around this issue.

So what will your story be?  As the 19th Century English abolitionist William Wilberforce said, “You may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say that you did not know.”  So now that YOU know, what will YOU do?

Action Steps:

1. Get educated.  Participate in a Chosen small group study or find training about DMST
2. Talk to the children in your life. Simply learning about what these children are experiencing, challenged with or doing can be valuable information in this fight.
3. Give.  Your time and your finances, make a contribution to a local community-based organization that is fighting this issue.
4. Mentor. If you don’t mentor the children in our communities, the pimps, dealers and other negative members of society will.
5. Spread the word.  Tell others about this atrocity, encouraging them to get involved in this fight.

Learn more about Aaronde’s work at Street Grace and the Fathers Against Child Exploitation (FACE).

 

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