Opinion Forum

Rescuing The Children

October 27th, 2009

Major kudos go to the federal agents and members of the Center for Missing and Exploited Children for their major success on Operation Cross Country. In just the past three days, almost 1,600 FBI agents and police officers have arrested 700 people who operated and patronized child sex rings in 36 cities around the country. Fifty-two children were rescued from their situations (the youngest 10 years old) where they were either forced or otherwise convinced to provide for the sexual needs of the perverts who frequented the houses, buildings, and rooms where they were kept virtual prisoners.

Operation Cross Country is part of a larger initiative called the Innocence Lost National Initiative which has been saving kids from child prostitution since 2003. So far Innocence Lost has rescued 900 children from prostitution and has sent 510 of the operators and front-line pimps to jail.

There are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of children still engaged in prostitution here in the United States. Some have been kidnapped and forced into prostitution, but the majority of them are runaways who were seduced into the child sex trade by promises of food, shelter, clothes, and protection.

According to an article in the UK Guardian:

Child welfare groups estimate that around 2 million children a year run away from home in the US, and that many of them are lured into prostitution or pornography to survive.

The justice department says there is an “epidemic” of commercial sex activity among children living on the streets. It says more than half of street girls are engaged in prostitution, many of them beginning between 12 and 14 years old.

“Pimp-controlled commercial sexual exploitation of children is linked to escort and massage services, private dancing, drinking and photographic clubs, major sporting and recreational events, major cultural events, conventions, and tourist destinations,” the department says.

“About one-fifth of these children become entangled in nationally organised crime networks and are trafficked nationally. They are transported around the United States by a variety of means: cars, buses, vans, trucks or planes, and are often provided counterfeit identification to use in the event of arrest.”

The U.S Department of Justice confirms this in their Child Prostitution information page. An excerpt:

The majority of American victims of commercial sexual exploitation tend to be runaway or thrown away youth who live on the streets who become victims of prostitution. These children generally come from homes where they have been abused, or from families that have abandoned them, and often become involved in prostitution as a way to support themselves financially or to get the things they want or need.

Other young people are recruited into prostitution through forced abduction, pressure from parents, or through deceptive agreements between parents and traffickers. Once these children become involved in prostitution they are often forced to travel far from their homes and as a result are isolated from their friends and family. Few children in this situation are able to develop new relationships with peers or adults other than the person who is victimizing them.

Sadly, of the 700 people who were arrested in this latest sweep, only a minority of them will, in the end, be incarcerated. Many of the rescued children will refuse to testify against the men and women who functioned as their handlers because of pressure from their families or because they feel attached to them in a Stockholm Syndrome type of effect. Others will find legal loopholes or lenient judges and will be back out on the street plying their trade in just a short time. Our justice system is, on the whole, fair — even to those who don’t deserve a fair justice system — and it’s even more “fair” to those who can afford the best lawyers.

News Links:

52 children rescued in nationwide sex-trafficking raids, L.A. Times
700 arrests across country as FBI rescues children from sex trade, UK Guardian:

Also of interest:

The Child Abuse Monument Project

(This article was also posted at My View from the Center.)

Articles written by Harvey Grund
Tags: child prostitution, child sex rings
Categories: Life, News | Comments (4) | Home

4 Responses to “Rescuing The Children”

Tom | October 28th, 2009 at 7:20 am

This is a sad situation indeed, and I’m glad to see law enforcement cracking down on the scumbags involved in it. Some countries in Europe also seriously pursue this kind of crime, with excellent international cooperation.

Your reference to the law being more fair to those who can buy the best lawyers is very true. I understand and accept the principle that everyone is entitled to a competent and vigorous defense, but I can’t imagine why any lawyer, even the least principled, would take on a case like this.

Brian | October 28th, 2009 at 10:01 am

Lawyers aren’t so much defending the defendants (though they are) as they are protecting the integrity of the constitution against a potentially overzealous state.

The 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments, and habeas corpus are there to prevent things like star chambers, fishing expeditions for evidence, etc. There is also a constitutional provision regarding treason that requires 2 witnesses. In colonial America, it wasn’t unusual to arrest somebody for “treason against the king/crown” based upon nothing more than the testimony of one interested person (usually a governor or some other lackey).

doris | October 29th, 2009 at 4:22 pm

Some people don’t deserve to breathe, much less a good defense. These are truly evil inhuman beings, and deserve no compassion. Don’t even go there, to defend their rights to me, on the crime of harming and sexual exploitation of children, I have no ear for your civil rights argument. This is the most horrible crime of all. An innocent child is lost and her or his trust of people, particularly men is taken away forever. Let me be on the jury, please.