Child Prostitution

[Sriram]

Hi everyone,

Here is a recent CNN article about child prostitution....and the attitude of Law Enforcement.  (Sorry the link is not getting saved)


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A female defendant is escorted into the courtroom with shackles around her ankles, making it difficult to walk. Dressed in a jail-issued jumpsuit and flip-flops, .......She was 10.

She had been in and out of an Atlanta jail for months, as had her sister, because she was an alleged prostitute, a chronic runaway and no one knew what to do with her.

.....they learned that the girls were surviving on the streets as prostitutes under the tutelage of men who housed, fed and clothed them and, in exchange, sold them to other men for sex.

In Georgia in 2000, while children were being arrested, put in jail, and chained like the worst of criminals, the men selling them and having sex with them were rarely arrested.

Back then, there were no reliable statistics on the number of prostituted children. While the number of 300,000 nationwide was bandied about, I researched the genesis of that number and learned it was wildly speculative and had no basis in fact.

Child prostitution is a hidden problem that was -- and still is -- difficult to count.

Our survey suggested, however, that even judges viewed the problem differently, depending on their gender. Among female juvenile justices, 85% estimated they saw one or more child prostitutes a month, compared with 68% of male judges.

One judge said the adults got away with exploiting children because "people don't believe children, particularly if they're a naughty, bad, unpleasant child."

Atlanta police said at the time it was a lot harder to arrest pimps than prostitutes.

The children who were coming into her courtroom weren't seen as victims by law enforcement, she said. "They're seen as consenting participants."

The 10-year-old would be 25 today. If she's alive.

... the perception of human trafficking has also changed and is no longer viewed exclusively as a problem among immigrants from other countries.

"I think people today understand it is a homegrown problem," she said. "You have people acknowledging that the problem exists in our metro area, and the children need to be treated as children with problems as opposed to problem children."

Pimps who once exploited girls by making them walk the track can now troll the Internet for girls who are going it alone, sometimes luring them into escort services with an offer of higher salaries, payment to cover the cost of their ads and an apartment where they can rendezvous with their clients.

That means that for the 14-year-old girl from an impoverished area who is just getting started and doesn't understand what she's getting into, "a pimp will come along and say, 'Instead of you staying out there in the wind or the cold, I'll put you in a warm apartment and you'll make a lot,' "

 He worries that while demand remains strong, too many young girls -- and some boys -- are lured into prostitution out of view of the public and police and without understanding the consequences.

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Seen together with the  general  indignation about pedophilia...this is quite a shocker!

Cheers.

Sriram

[Leonard James]

Horrifying! 

[floo]

If the story is true, it shows that the US is not a very civilised country to allow a child to be treated in such a horrific manner!

[Leonard James]

If the story is true, it shows that the US is not a very civilised country to allow a child to be treated in such a horrific manner!

Roses, I think the Georgia referred to is the country, not the US state.

[Harrowby Hall]

It's stories like this which leads me to ponder whether the USA - or large parts parts of it - is really a third world country wearing a first world cloak.

Surely, a 10 year old child has constitutional rights which are being ignored here? Or is the neccessary action to protect the child, treat her and educate her perceived as "welfare", a very dirty word in some places, it seems?

The readiness of Americans to lock people up rather than to intervene in people's circumstances has led to a prison system that has been likened to warehousing.

[Sriram]

If the story is true, it shows that the US is not a very civilised country to allow a child to be treated in such a horrific manner!

Roses, I think the Georgia referred to is the country, not the US state.

This is about Atlanta, US. Just go to CNN....you'll see the article. 

[Harrowby Hall]

If the story is true, it shows that the US is not a very civilised country to allow a child to be treated in such a horrific manner!

Roses, I think the Georgia referred to is the country, not the US state.

Read it again. Never heard of Atlanta?

[Leonard James]

My apologies to all! I just couldn't imagine such a thing taking place in the USA, and am shocked that it is the case.

My opinion of their judicial system has fallen infinitely lower than it was.

[Hope]

If the story is true, it shows that the US is not a very civilised country to allow a child to be treated in such a horrific manner!

So, no different to the UK, in other words.

[floo]

If the story is true, it shows that the US is not a very civilised country to allow a child to be treated in such a horrific manner!

So, no different to the UK, in other words.

Don't be silly, where in the UK is a child victim of paedophilia put in prison and shackled?

[Hope]

Don't be silly, where in the UK is a child victim of paedophilia put in prison and shackled?

Well, at least they're being recognised as such.  Here we have only just seemed to realise that it was happening here.  Which of the two historic problems would seem better?

[Leonard James]

Don't be silly, where in the UK is a child victim of paedophilia put in prison and shackled?

Well, at least they're being recognised as such.  Here we have only just seemed to realise that it was happening here.  Which of the two historic problems would seem better?

The problem is bad in both places, it is dealing with it that seems to differ. We seem to have the more humane approach.

[Hope]

The problem is bad in both places, it is dealing with it that seems to differ. We seem to have the more humane approach.

If I remember correctly, the article Sriram referred to was dealing with events 15 years ago ("The 10-year-old would be 25 today. If she's alive.").  15 years ago, were we in Britain even recognising the issue?

[Leonard James]

The problem is bad in both places, it is dealing with it that seems to differ. We seem to have the more humane approach.

If I remember correctly, the article Sriram referred to was dealing with events 15 years ago ("The 10-year-old would be 25 today. If she's alive.").  15 years ago, were we in Britain even recognising the issue?

I have no idea, I haven't been back for more than a swift visit in 25 years.

[Hope]

I have no idea, I haven't been back for more than a swift visit in 25 years.

Perhaps you haven't heard about the Savile situation and its related 'spin-offs', or those that have occurred in Rotherham, Oxford, etc, etc.

[Leonard James]

I have no idea, I haven't been back for more than a swift visit in 25 years.

Perhaps you haven't heard about the Savile situation and its related 'spin-offs', or those that have occurred in Rotherham, Oxford, etc, etc.

Yes, I did read about Jimmy Saville. I imagine the cover-ups for celebrities and influential people are very real. Disgusting state of affairs.

[Hope]

Yes, I did read about Jimmy Saville. I imagine the cover-ups for celebrities and influential people are very real. Disgusting state of affairs.

Take a look at these BBC reports: they make Jimmy Saville look tame

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28934963
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-31712096
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28953549

[Leonard James]

Yes, I did read about Jimmy Saville. I imagine the cover-ups for celebrities and influential people are very real. Disgusting state of affairs.

Take a look at these BBC reports: they make Jimmy Saville look tame

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28934963
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-31712096
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28953549

What a sick society!

[Rhiannon]

Don't be silly, where in the UK is a child victim of paedophilia put in prison and shackled?

Well, at least they're being recognised as such.  Here we have only just seemed to realise that it was happening here.  Which of the two historic problems would seem better?

The problem is bad in both places, it is dealing with it that seems to differ. We seem to have the more humane approach.

In Rotherham and Oxford the authorities 'recognised' the problem by saying the girls were making 'lifestyle choices' and throwing them back to their predators. They might argue that being shackled was preferable to being drugged and raped.

[Hope]

What a sick society!

And Floo seems to prefer living here than anywhere else 

[floo]

I don't suppose there is any country in this world which is devoid of paedophiles. I hope the UK is now realising the extent of the problem and will begin cracking down BIG TIME on these evil pieces of scum, famous or not!

[Owlswing]

My apologies to all! I just couldn't imagine such a thing taking place in the USA, and am shocked that it is the case.

My opinion of their judicial system has fallen infinitely lower than it was.

That's possible?
If it is then pigs really may fly!

[Sriram]

Here is another article of yesterday on the same subject....

http://us.cnn.com/2015/07/20/us/sex-trafficking/index.html

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Sacharay, which is how she wants to be known, was 14 years old and looking for a friend.

"I used to get picked on a lot about being dark-skinned. I started wearing glasses and was called 'four-eyes.' And then they knew because I was so sensitive, they knew it was getting to me," she said.

But when an older classmate approached her and offered to be her friend, Sacharay thought maybe her fortunes had finally started to turn.

"I thought she was like my best friend because I could tell her everything. One day she asked if I wanted to skip school and have fun, you know, so we went to the barber shop. When I was there, she introduced me to these guys," said Sacharay, now 19.

One of the men, in his mid-30s, immediately took notice of Sacharay. He soon began courting her with gifts, paying her compliments and offering advice on the daily dramatics of adolescent life.

"If me and my sister would be arguing, he'd be like, 'You can't get into an argument with your sister like that.' He was more like a dad, but then again we had sex, so it wasn't. It was just in the communication and how he talked to me," she recalled.

It was child rape.

But this subtle, subversive mix of romantic love and parental care can create havoc in the mind of an adolescent, said Anique Whitmore, a forensic psychologist in Atlanta.

Soon, Sacharay's trafficker began asking for "favors" -- asking her to help make some money for him, by sleeping with another man.

"He was like, 'I love you for that, I love you so much,'" said Sacharay. "Then he would slowly put two, three more guys. I got upset when I first realized what he was doing, but I kept doing it because he made me feel like I was special."

The exploitation continued to escalate. Sacharay soon was being sold to dozens of men a day. She would meet these sex buyers in motel rooms near a freeway, or even sometimes in the back of the barbershop.

A big part of Atlanta's draw is the airport, which is the busiest in the world.

"(A) man could get on that computer, anonymously, say, 'I'm coming in to go have sex with this child.' He'll fly in on a 3:00 flight, meet the child at 6:00, and be gone on the 8:00," said Dalia Racine, assistant district attorney for DeKalb County, which includes part of Atlanta. "How are we to ever find them? How are we to ever know who they are?"

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[Udayana]

Not really any different to the street gang grooming/abuse cases we've seen so much of in recent years. Shocking but not surprising.

[Rhiannon]

I think it would be terribly naive to think this isn't a global problem. The defining characteristic seems to be that the girl victims are themselves to blame for the abuse, as though they are so wanton and so alluring that their abusers had no choice.