Sex trafficking is just another form of human trafficking. Sex trafficking often starts at a young age, and the child is usually sold into the business by some of the least expected people--their family. These children are then forced against their will to do "favors" for paying clients. Most of the children stuck in this dirty business often never make it out alive. Those that do either do not know where to go, or are convicted themselves for prostitution. Many of the children have no way to prove that they were forced into sex trafficking, thus end up serving a sentence in prison for their "heinous prostitution acts." It is a rare occurrence for those who traffic humans to get caught and convicted, and those who are serve a minimal amount of jail time (before Prop 35). Prop 35 requires those convicted of sex trafficking to register as a sex offender. Sex offenders in California are constantly monitored by GPS and their identities and location are available for anyone to see. Also, they are restricted to certain living areas and work places in order to prevent the convicted from committing another offense. By limiting what these offenders are able to do, and bringing them out in the open, it draws the peoples attention to this issue. The more people that are aware of sex trafficking increases our ability to do something about it.
Link
Before this project, I didn't know much about human trafficking, nor did I really care that much. It was something that I knew happened in the US, but not to the extent that I discovered. In the following clip, a victim of sex trafficking explains how she was forced into sex trafficking and shares some statistics about the business.
Skip to 4:14 and watch until the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cULUVCq2DNA&feature=relmfu
When Ms. Woodward explained that sex trafficking was the second fastest growing crime in America, I was shocked. I was always under the impression that it was sort of a one off thing. One kid would go missing and that was that, but no. To hear that members of law enforcement would partake in these activities, yet not do anything about it seemed insane.
Quotes
According to http://www.caseact.org/ (a website to go in depth on Prop 35), California "received an F on protecting victims of child sex trafficking in the recent state Protected Innocence Initiative report card".
--With Prop 35, offenders will have to register as sex offenders, in a way, protecting the victim. Those who are registered as sex offenders, as stated before, are monitored by GPS. They are constantly watched and are in controlled environments making any offender-victim contact virtually impossible.
The site then goes on to say by saying yes to prop 35, "millions of Californians will be exposed to the issue of human trafficking".
--The best way to combat this issue is to get it out in the public. The more people that know about it, the more support the issue gets. With the support of the American people, there are limitless options about how to deal with this situation.
Visual Argument
The victims of sex trafficking are forced into work all day, every day of their lives. This picture represents replacement of a normal woman's life to one who is forced to dress up and serve every day that it has become her new life. These people have no escape and have to do what they are told day in and day out. It's a harsh and dangerous lifestyle, but that's exactly what it is--a lifestyle. Because most sex slaves start out as children, they don't know any other life, this has become their life.
For more information and statistics about sex trafficking, visit: http://www.forthesakeofone.org/index.html
--Billie
I thought this blog was really interesting. I actually knew a lot about the subject going into it and I have participated in walks to raise awareness for human trafficing. I liked the way they approached the topic. It's a touchy subject and they did a very good job discussing it without making it an uncomfortable read. I was for this from the beginning and I think they delivered a lot of good points and it was obvious that they put a lot of thought into what they were writing because of their extensive analysis
ReplyDelete-Michelle R.
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ReplyDeleteLike the interviewer in the video mentioned, I was one of those who thought human trafficking mainly happened in foreign countries. It was startling to find out that this is happening everywhere around me, and to hear from Melissa Woodward just how it happens. It's terrible that parents would sell their own children into sex slavery. The children have no way to fight back and prostitution simply becomes a part of their lives as they grow up. It is wrong that prostitutes are being penalized, when the traffickers are the ones who should be receiving the full blame. I think that the passing of proposition is a step in the right direction in the fight against human trafficking.
ReplyDelete- Joseph LeGarreta
Thank you! It really is shocking how big of an issue human trafficking is, and it's quite amazing that most people (including myself before this project) really didn't know much about the topic. The more awareness we can raise for this topic, the easier it will be to combat an extreme such as this. No one should have to go through life living like this.
ReplyDelete-Billie