Child Sex Trafficking of Runaways in the U.S.

Photo by Sunny laid back L.A.

I read a great article in the NYTimes today, and it was especially relevant on the heels of yesterday's big news.

"For Runaways, Sex Buys Survival," looks at the business of trafficking runaways for sex on America's streets. It's a growing problem according to law enforcement and child protective service agencies, and the Internet plays a large part in attracting "clients."

“It’s definitely worsening,” said Sgt. Kelley O’Connell, a detective who until this year ran the Boston Police Department’s human-trafficking unit, echoing a sentiment conveyed in interviews with law enforcement officials from more than two dozen cities. “Gangs used to sell drugs,” she said. “Now many of them have shifted to selling girls because it’s just as lucrative but far less risky.”(excerpted from NYT article)

The article featured interviews with convicted pimps, who talk about the tactics they use to ensnare young girls into prostitution--including targeting girls with large backpacks on, who have clearly just left home. The pimps' bottom line was that they recognize these girls' starvation for love and attention, and they can easily "hook" them with a few gifts of jewelry and nice dinners.

One of the pimps put it this way:

"With the young girls, you promise them heaven, they'll follow you to hell."

NYTimes content doesn't stay free and available for long, so I'd recommend reading the story as soon as you can. Ian Urbina has put together 4 pages of an extremely important and well-written look at the reality of sex trafficking in America.

The question I'd ask now is--does it matter that these girls are runaways? Does it make them less worthy of our attention and care, as opposed to a little girl on the other side of the world who has been kidnapped or sold? Do we care more or less that this is what sex trafficking looks like in our cities and on our streets?