Shamed Into Silence

Scores of Hmong girls in Minnesota have been raped or forced into prostitution over the past several years. Many of their attackers are Hmong gang members who go unpunished because shame keeps their victims from coming forward. Records show that the girls have been raped at farms, in motel rooms, basements, garages and closets. Some were threatened at gunpoint. For a girl to lose her virginity before marriage, no matter what the circumstances, is a violation of Hmong culture and would bring shame to the girl's family if they found out. Secrecy and shame keep victims from coming forward.

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Child Prostitution: The Hidden Crime

The sale of Atlanta children for sex continues despite a crackdown that sent two of Atlanta’s most notorious pimps to prison three years ago, according to a panel of victims, advocates and government officials at a recent forum. The forum was held to acknowledge the completion of a study that found juvenile prostitution thriving citywide, in both poor and wealthy areas. Children are forced into sex both in places known for prostitution and in upscale Buckhead.

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Child Prostitution

Prostitution Horror for Young Women

As many as 17,500 sex slaves are smuggled into the United States each year, according to the latest federal statistics. This article looks at the sex-trafficking industry in Queens, New York, and a Brooklyn Federal Court case against the Carreto family, an extended family that allegedly smuggled girls into the country for prostitution.

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Faces of Prostitution

A Denver vice detective collected photos of women arrested for prostitution from first arrest through most recent photos to illustrate the rapid downward spiral and the ravages of street living on women in prostitution. When he began the collection in 2003 his goal was to use the book as an educational tool. It has since been the impetus for a new drug court diversion program for prostitutes with multiple arrests and has been used in police officer training.

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Man accused of hiring teen prostitutes

The Utah Deseret News reports that It is believed that Arash Alexander Zarif would find young girls and offer them money to perform sex acts on male adults. The girls would receive $50-$300 for those sex acts. One of the victims was a runaway. Zarif apparently preyed on young estranged females or those in precarious positions and recruited them. The case came to light when a 16-year-old girl and her mother told police that the young girl was paid to perform a sex act on an unknown man.

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Wichita Teens Lured into Child Prostitution Ring

A major investigation involving an Oklahoma prostitution ring has revealed that as many as six girls from Wichita, Kan. were involved. Some of them were runaways from a Wichita drug treatment facility. Some of them were recruited by a former football player from a Wichita high school. Five of the six Wichita girls have been accounted for. The sixth is believed to be in Mexico.

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United Nations Warns That Internet Child Porn Is Fuelling Global Child Abuse, Including the Sale of Minors Into Prostitution

UNICEF says the Internet has sparked enormous growth in child exploitation including through prostitution, pornography, sex tourism and trafficking, and by pedophiles using it to stalk children. According to the UK children’s charity National Children’s Homes, some 55% of the Internet child porn industry is based in the United States while Russia runs second at 23%. People from all over the world are accessing these sites. A US-based website was busted in 2001 which had a quarter of a million subscribers from 59 countries. 

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Prostitution of Juveniles: Patterns from NIBRS

David Finkelhor and Richard Ormrod are the authors of this new Juvenile Justice Bulletin. They provide a profile of juvenile prostitution and what distinguishes it from its adult counterpart. Compared with adult prostitution, the prostitution of juveniles is more likely to occur in large cities and less likely to result in arrest. Juveniles in prostitution are morellikely to work in groups. Boys tend to be older than girls and more likely to operate outdoors. 12 pages. Pdf file.

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Court denies pimps’ appeal

The novel use of a racketeering law to convict two Atlanta pimps accused of child prostitution was upheld by a federal appeals court Monday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office pursued the pimps using the RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) which traditionally has been used to combat organized crime.

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Repeat offenders are given the option of going to live at the Children of the Night home in LA where  they can attend a private on-site school, learn life skills and receive drug and alcohol counseling. 

• Children of the Night

   

• Teen’s unsolved death may be linked to prostitution

   

Working Together to Stop the Prostitution of Children

New Study Shows that Commercial Child Sexual Exploitation is Epidemic in U.S.

 This new study released September 10 contains disturbing information. University of Pennsylvania researchers, professors Richard Estes and Neil Weiner, say that "Child sexual exploitation is the most hidden form of child abuse in the U.S. and North America today. It is the nation’s least recognized epidemic." The study results say that tens of thousands of U.S., Mexican and Canadian children and youths become victims of juvenile pornography, prostitution and trafficking each year.

• 121,911 ran away from home
• 6793 fled mental hospitals, foster homes or other institutions
• 51,602 were thrown out of their home by a parent or guardian.

The study identifies 17 groups of children in the U.S. who are at "substantial risk" of being sexually exploited. The largest groups are runaway, thrownaway and other homeless American children who use survival sex to acquire food, shelter, clothing and other things needed to survive on American streets.

The customers of street children include

• pedophiles, pederasts, pimps and traffickers,
• transient males, including members of the military,
• long-haul truck drivers,
• seasonal workers,
• conventioneers, and
• sex tourists.

Other groups of commercially sexually exploited children in the U.S. include girls in gangs; transgender street youths; foreign children brought into the U.S. illegally, especially from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and elsewhere in the Americas; and U.S. youth who are trafficked nationally and internationally as part of organized sex crime rings.

According to Estes, in the U.S. child sexual exploitation affects as many boys as girls, but boys are less well served by human-service and law enforcement systems because of the widespread belief that boys are better able than girls to fend for themselves. Given the high levels of emotional dysfunctions, drug abuse and violence that exists for boys living on America’s streets, however, this is not true. In time, many boys shift from being victims of sexual abuse to victimizing other boys and girls as pimps and traffickers.

Estes and Weiner have identified an 11-point action agenda focused on eliminating the further commercial sexual exploitation of America’s youth. They say that official reports seriously underestimate the problem. The study found gaps in policies and services to combat sexual exploitation and help the victims.

The three-year project was funded by the National Institute of Justice , the W. T. Grant Foundation, the Fund for Nonviolence, and the Research Foundation of the University of Pennsylvania.

For links to the executive summary (38 pages) , the complete 257 page report, and a nine-page set of recommendations, click below

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