The United States: Technology Driving Demand
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DEMAND. Shared Hope International America of States The United The United States: Technology Driving Demand Each year an estimated 800,000 to 900,000 human beings are bought, sold, or forced across the world’s borders [2003 U.S. State Department estimate]. Among them are hundreds of thousands of teenage girls, and others as young as 5, who fall victim to the sex trade. There’s a special evil in the abuse and exploitation of the most innocent and vulnerable. The victims of [the] sex trade see little of life before they see the very worst of life, an underground of brutality and lonely fear. Those who create these victims and profit from their suffering must be severely punished. Those who patronize this industry debase themselves and deepen the misery of others. — President Bush, addressing the U.N. General Assembly September 23, 2003 The new face of sex tourism in the United States is actually a familiar one—U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents under the age of 18 are increasingly being recruited into the commercial sex markets to service the demand resulting from the normalization and promotion of commercial sex across America. These young victims join the forced, defrauded and coerced adult women as victims of human trafficking under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and comprise an as-yet undetermined number of victims of sex trafficking in America today. In addition, tightened immigration controls and intense training of law enforcement and social service providers to identify situations of foreign human trafficking victims in the U.S. have been a deterrent to foreign trafficking and an incentive to look locally. The commercial sex trade in the United States flourishes, in part, because the media bombards all age groups with explicit sexual imagery. Many American policymakers and citizens condemn the immoral and unethical nature of the commercial sex trade on the one hand, yet the culture promotes commercial sex on the other hand. Religious and educational institutions advocate abstinence and fidelity, yet many businesses market sexuality and sex acts to all Americans in a blatant and pervasive manner. Simultaneously, in a culture that takes pride in women’s rights and professional achievements, females are commonly portrayed as sexual commodities. 85 DEMAND. Shared Hope International In the midst of—and in part owing to—these contradictory yet powerful cultural cues, the sexual exploitation of children in the United States appears to be growing. Each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States. 215 The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country each year is even higher, with an estimated 100,000-300,000 American children at risk for becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation.216 Evidence suggests that children under the age of 18 now constitute the largest group of trafficking victims in the United States. According to authoritative estimates, the average age of entry into prostitution or the commercial sex industry in the U.S. is 11-14 years old;217 the gender is overwhelmingly female (one statistic: 1356 girls to 13 boys218). In Clark County, Nevada, for example, 181 cases of prostituted juveniles were pending between August 2005 and December 2006, only one of which had a male victim. 219 While 38 percent of these girls were from Nevada, the remaining 62 percent of girls were from 28 other states, including Alaska and New York. Running away from home was a common characteristic of over 60 percent of prostituted juveniles in another data collection effort in Las Vegas that spanned the years 1997-2006. 220 Indeed, 90 percent of runaways become part of the commercial sex industry.221 A runaway, as the name implies, is a child 14 years or younger who chooses not to return home and stays away overnight or a child 15 years or older who chooses not to return home and stays away for two nights. A throwaway child is told to leave home by a parent/guardian/adult and stays away overnight or is prevented from returning home by a parent/ guardian/adult.222 The United States of America of States The United Approximately 55% of street girls engage in formal prostitution. Of the girls engaged in formal prostitution, about 75% worked for a pimp. Pimp-controlled commercial sexual exploitation of children is linked to escort and massage services, private dancing, drinking and photographic clubs, major sporting and recreational events, major cultural events, conventions, and tourist destinations. About one-fifth of these children become entangled in nationally organized crime networks and are trafficked nationally. They are transported around the United States by a variety of means—cars, buses, vans, trucks or planes and are often provided counterfeit identification to use in the event of arrest.223 215 Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on US Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons in Fiscal Year 2003. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, 2004) <http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/23598.pdf>. Accessed on January 17, 2007. 216 Estes, Richard J. and Neil Alan Weiner, “The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico” (University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work: Philadelphia), September 19, 2001, revised February 20, 2002 <http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/~restes/CSEC_Files/Complete_CSEC_020220.pdf>. Accessed on November 1, 2006. 217 <http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/prostitution.html>. Accessed on April 11, 2006. According to Estes and Weiner, boys started earlier than girls: 11-13 years, versus 12-14 years for girls, in “The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children,” p.92. See also, studies by John Lowman, “Taking Young Prostitutes Seriously,” Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 24, no. 1, 1999 and Susan Nadon, Catherine Koverola, and Eduard Schludermann, “Antecedents to Prostitution: Childhood Victimization,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence, vol. 13, 1998. 218 STOP Statistics, Crimes Against Youth and Family Bureau of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department – 1994-2006. On file with authors. 219 Hon. William O. Voy, “Juvenile Prostitute Stats and Re-Offending Statistics for Prostitution–Related Offenses compiled 8-24-05- 12-31-06” Clark County Family Court, Las Vegas, Nevada, received by fax January 24, 2007, supplemented by email to Melissa Snow confirming victims’ gender, April 17, 2007. On file with authors. 220 STOP Statistics, Las Vegas, 1994-2006. On file with authors. 221 Estes and Weiner, “The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.” 222 NISMART-2, cited in Priebe and Suhr, “Hidden in Plain View,” p.16. 223 Estes and Weiner, “The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico,” cited in “Domestic Sex Trafficking of Minors,” U.S. Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), <http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/prostitution.html>. Accessed on April 11, 2007. 86 DEMAND. Shared Hope International America of States The United New research efforts launched by the Department of Justice, in addition to data collection by the Department of Justice funded Human Trafficking Task Forces in 42 locations, will provide more accurate and current statistics on at-risk children which will enable governments to allocate resources for specialized services that can assist the young victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Before the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA 2000) and subsequent reauthorizations, the Mann Act/White Slave Act of 1910 was used to punish perpetrators who transported persons (adults and children) across state borders for “immoral purposes” (sexual exploitation). Under the TVPA, transportation across borders is no longer a condition for bringing charges against a trafficker, reflecting the real situation of local girls being prostituted in their own cities, sometimes in their own homes. Indeed, as field research reveals, in each of the three U.S. cities examined, local minors were available, vulnerable, and easily exploitable. The Marketplace Sex tourism and sex trafficking markets in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas were chosen for research because each city is a key tourist and convention destination for a broad range of visitors from within the United States and abroad. Each city struggles with economic disparities, racial prejudices and inequalities and have considerable populations of at-risk youth. Simultaneously, they are known to be locations of many commercial sex markets that cater to a broad clientele. Escort services and massage parlors dominate the commercial sex markets. The Internet and print media facilitate these markets, especially the escort services, which can be found in every major classifieds section, electronic and paper. While massage parlors and brothels are relatively easy to investigate due to the fixed location, escort and outcall services are a market in which victims of all ages and nationalities can be hidden and exploited at little cost to the exploiter.224 Higher prices can be charged for sexual services through escort services than at brothels and a wider buyer base can be accessed as well. Ethnic brothels have tapped into this advantage by expanding marketing to escort-style services which allow buyers from beyond the ethnic community to access the sexual services of the normally closed system.225 The trend toward trafficking victims through escort services mirrors the operations of the commercial sex markets in Japan and the Netherlands, and to a lesser extent, Jamaica. According to Steven Bagg, an analysis of eight major American cities shows erotic services consistently garners the highest number of individual visitors for February—almost always twice as many as the next ranking category, averaging 265,000 people per city...The most commonly frequented venue outside of this virtual red-light district? Cars for sale.226 224 Email from Detective Leland Wiley, Montgomery County Police Department, Maryland to Melissa Snow, April 9, 2007.