Posted on 02/10/2006 7:41:45 AM PST by Sopater
International Sex Trafficking Is a Well-Known Problem, But It Happens Here as Well Feb. 9, 2006 — - Fifteen-year-old "Debbie" is the middle child in a close-knit Air Force family from suburban Phoenix, and a straight-A student -- the last person most of us would expect to be forced into the seamy world of sex trafficking.
But Debbie, which is not her real name, is one of thousands of young American girls who authorities say have been abducted or lured from their normal lives and made into sex slaves. While many Americans have heard of human trafficking in other parts of the world -- Thailand, Cambodia, Latin America and eastern Europe, for example -- few people know it happens here in the United States.
The FBI estimates that well over 100,000 children and young women are trafficked in America today. They range in age from 9 to 19, with the average age being 11.
And many victims are no longer just runaways, or kids who've been abandoned. Many of them are from what would be considered "good" families, who are lured or coerced by clever predators, say experts. "These predators are particularly adept at reading children, at reading kids, and knowing what their vulnerabilities are," said FBI Deputy Assistant Director, Chip Burrus, who started the Lost Innocence project, which specializes in child- and teen-sex trafficking.
And, he said, these predators are going where the kids are.
"What you can see, time and time again, is that the predators will adapt their means to whatever the young people are doing -- whether it's malls, whether it's ski slopes, whether it's beaches," Burrus said. "Predators ... are going to do everything in their power to try to convince young girls, young boys, to come with them and enter this particular lifestyle."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
sounds like another anorexia hoax to me. I don't doubt that it happens, just nowhere near the volume being quoted here. 100K? That's 2 thousand kids per state. at that rate kids'll be vanishing before our very eyes.
there'd be none left in a few short years!
That was my problem with the story. It probably has happened by not anywhere near as much as was stated on the ABC-hype show. Several years ago ABC did a similar thing about thousands of people deserted their families and came out of the closet every day. Uh, NO.
As far as it being an FBI statistic that's just to justify more federal money.
damn i'm cynical.
Saw the same program. Horrifying is the right word, along with heartbreaking. The husband looking for his kidnapped wife in Turkey? Damn.
As a father of two small girls and a husband, these types of reports fill me with fear.
May God protect us from these demons.
Well, they didn't say they were all necessarily American. There are a lot of trafficked Chinese, Mexicans and Eastern Europeans in this country. I'm sure they make for most of the 100,000.
Tagged for my daughter - later reading
Aren't they muddling up the language here? I thought to be trafficked a woman had to be kidnapped, one way or the other and sold into slaver from which she couldn't get out. Otherwise, it's prostitution. This may sound like I'm picking nits, but it seems like a fundamental changing of terms and something troubles me about it. I'm not quite sure what. One is one, the other is the other. They are both very bad.
What you can see, time and time again, is that the predators will adapt their means to whatever the young people are doing -- whether it's malls, whether it's ski slopes, whether it's beaches,"
Yep. This is one of those things that W has been working to squash since he got into office. W being W, he doesn't carry on and try to bring accolades to himself, so it never gets into the news.
Two major things struck me about the program (I had lots of emotions and reactions all told):
1) The hard look of the women who were kidnapped and trafficked. Katia looked like a sweet, carefree girl on the picture her husband carried around in his phone. She looked anything but when she returned. Just hard. And horribly unhappy. But the hardness really got to me. Same thing with the woman with all the siblings--Tania? She obviously had a very tender heart, but her face looked so hard.
2) I was very impressed with the determination of the husband to retrieve his wife, knowing that she was pregnant and being repeatedly raped. What a stress for a marriage. She looked so unhappy on her return. I hope that their marriage survives.
Nah, just ABC trying to stop a lot of people from watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics tonight on NBC.
Agreed, the world is geometrically more dangerous. I for one know plenty of parents, who even post family photos or kids pix to personal family websites...becuase predators can go shopping online for targets.
Makes your blood curdle.
Brett W.
Did Janet Cooke have a hand in writing this story?
Brett W, meant to type,
"Brett Walters was a friend of mine, till they grabbed him." From the forthcoming hit movie, the Brett Walters movie, to be released spring 2019
"It is suspect from the get go. "
I also have serious doubts.
In third world countries, yes.
In the US?? Show me some proof.
There was a movie done about this about 25 years ago. Very well done, although it was hard to watch. I think it's called Hard Core. Starred George C. Scott as the father who lost his daughter to prostitution and what he did to get her out. (Yes, prostitution, not kidnapping, but many issues the same).
This number of "100,000 young prostitutes and slaves" seems a bit unrealistic. Wouldn't we see many more children under duress in our cities and suburbs as we went around our daily business? Cities such as New York have been scrubbed so well of criminality that one rarely even sees adult prostitutes walking around. I don't think this many victims of horrible crime could be swept under the rug as easily as ABC portrays.
~ Blue Jays ~
The article did not say that 100,000 11 year olds are working the streets. It said of the estimated 100,000 9-19 year olds who are involved in sex trafficking the average age is 11. Sex trafficking is not limited to street prostitution. It includes involvement in pornography, escort services, phone sex lines and other activities.
I am pretty certain that that the internet is a great stalking ground for the sickos who prey on these victims.
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