This article discusses how a 15 yr old female, Emily, ran away from home and ended up linked w/ a Pimp and being sex trafficked. This article sheds light on the investigative procedures of locating possible human trafficking victims in Boston. Boston has been nationally recognized for their human task force and is looked up to as the standard. This national recognition is alarming due to way that Emily's case was dealt with. The investigative journalist was able to locate an ad for the youth online within 2 minutes which led to the youth being found but the Pimp got away. According to the article, everyday 4,000 children run away or are kicked out of their homes and every year 100,000 youth are sex trafficked. This abundant supply of youth make it available to recruit, with or without force, to be trafficked. There are numerous sources to search for a youth that may have been recruited but they are not being utilized by law enforcement and the families have to push for their case to be worked on. This article exposes the biases that our culture sees these youth as prostitutes and not victims of sex trafficking, like they were asking for their predicament. We live in a culture where we go after the youth offering the service more than their Pimp or the John paying for service. What I would like to know is if this task force will continue to pursue the Pimp or if they consider the case closed due to locating the youth. Until our attitudes change we will continue to drag our feet because we believe that these victims were asking for it and don't deserve the man hours.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/opinion/kristof-when-emily-was-sold-for-sex.html?_r=0
So true. what happens when you don't happen to have Liam Neeson as a Father. Also speaking of Taken this movie definitely displays how our culture believes that human trafficking is something that only happens in Europe and not our own backyard. I find it really shocking that families have to push to get their investigations moving, even though access to information on human trafficking rings is so available to the police force. The stigma of seeing youth prostitutes as grown adults choosing this lifestyle is sickening. And even though our culture has grown in their awareness of human trafficking it shows the perpetuation of things like rape culture, slut shaming and victim blaming. Thank you for the post, and I'm glad you posted on this topic for child welfare, I think often people forget that these victims are children.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good article. In another class I heard that Ohio is high on the list of human trafficking and bringing more attention to these victims could help decrease this and get them the help and support they truly need.
ReplyDeleteI took an elective class on human trafficking and it did focus on Ohio being a top area for human trafficking. Reasons behind that is our major highways that go east to west and north or south, the lakes to the north, location ass access to Canada ( boarder to another country).
ReplyDeleteAfter taking the class I really felt more educated on human trafficking in Ohio. Which previously I didn't know was such a big issue.
Scary how close to home these stories hit.
I live along I-75 and Route 30, two major highways, one running north/south and one running east/west. This intersection has been known to be a hot spot for human trafficking. This is extremely terrifying how close to home this is. I have a female 16 year old client who has run away multiple times and has put herself in risky situations. Living so close to this hot spot makes me very nervous about the people she may get involved with. She is now pregnant after being raped by a guy she met on the internet. Fortunately for my client, one of the guys' friends came and saw what was happening so he was able to help get her out of the situation. She could have easily been involved in human trafficking. The rape charges won't go through because she willing had sex with him prior to the rape. This is frustrating that she is a victim, but just being seen as a girl who sleeps around and had it coming to her.
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