Child Sex Trafficking
Children Are Not Prostitutes
It is estimated that 1,000,000 children around the world are being exploited by the sex industry in over a hundred countries. In the United States alone, the Department of Justice estimates that across the United States, between 100,000 and 300,000 children, mostly girls between the ages of twelve and fourteen, are vulnerable to being sold for sex by their captors, traffickers, and pimps. And the problem is only getting worse. It is estimated that up to 500 underaged girls a month are trafficked for sex in Atlanta alone. It's the number one city in the United States. The 10th in the world.
In the United States, the crime of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) is defined as recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, or providing or obtaining by any means a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, under the age of 18, to engage in a sex act for which anything of value is exchanged (i.e. money, a place to stay, food, etc.) According to U.S. law, any minor engaged in prostitution is a victim of trafficking.
Despite this Federal law, minors are prosecuted as criminals almost all of the time. And the Johns typically walk free with a slap on the wrist.
Innocence Lost
In June 2003, the FBI in conjunction with the Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children launched the Innocence Lost National Initiative. Their combined efforts were aimed at addressing the growing problem of domestic sex trafficking of children in the United States.
In the seven years since its inception, the initiative has resulted in the development of 39 dedicated task forces and working groups throughout the U.S. involving federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies working in tandem with U.S. Attorney's Offices.
To date, these groups have worked successfully to rescue more than 1,200 children. Investigations have successfully led to the conviction of over 600 pimps, madams, and their associates who exploit children through prostitution. These convictions have resulted in lengthy sentences, including multiple 25-year-to-life sentences and the seizure of real property, vehicles, and monetary assets.
