Our Officials Are Unaware- RESPONSE

    News reports with statistics such as this news stories are huge eye openers. I think about hearing stories of females getting raped once and having their life totally change. Not to belittle this of-course, but imagine that happening to you 6,000 times in just five years! How would your life be different then? How would you be different then?


    Other then the statistics, this report held names of many organizations and acts (such as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act  and the Shared Hope International organization) that I can use for further back up information and news.


    This news story taught me a lot about the child sex trafficking world. The most amazing thing I learned was the basic fact that the law enforcement knows almost nothing about what is going on right under their noses. If sickens me to think I know more about such a matter then the people that have been put on this Earth to protect us.


    As well as teaching me new things, this article also forces me to ask more questions. How is it possible that law enforcement don’t know about such a serious matter? How can we educate them better? What is the Trafficking Victims Protection Act?  What is the organization Shared Hope International?  Why are there only five shelters for the victims of child sex trafficking in America when it is one of the the worst countries for this crime? What is the worst country in the world? What are the other types of slavery in the world other than sexual? How did Linda Smith come up with her detection list?


    I look forward to answering these questions as well on looking up background information including the Shared Hope International organization, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and Linda Smith.

Our Officials Are Unaware- NOTES

>most Americans know little to no information on the problem our world has with child sex-trafficking

    -this includes government officials
>about 100,00 American children are forced into prostitution each year
    -these children are raped about 6,00 times over a course of five years
    -children are defined as any young person under the age of 18
>America is one of the worst countries in the world for this crime
>Trafficking Victims Protection Act is unknown to most law enforcement
    -this has resulted in:
        + the governments inability to enforce these regulations
        + children being arrested for prostitution despite the fact that it was         against their will and goes against this protection act
>There are only five shelters in the US to house victims of sex trafficking that provide healing, restoration, and help with a new life
    -these shelters are in:
        +Los Angeles
        +New York
        +Dallas
        +Texas
        +San Francisco
> Children can be exploited through:
    -prostitution
    -pornography
    -stripping/sexual dancing
>Just in 2009 the US State Department gave information to show that about 12.8 million adults and children across the world are trapped in slavery
    -1.39 million if these victims are trapped in sexual slavery
>It is being said that the feelings during and after one of enslaved in this modern sex slavery is similar to the slavery of humans back in the 19th century due to their race
>Unfortunately minor sex trafficking is treated as the same crime as child sexual abuse although they are two very different crimes
    -sex trafficking is severely misunderstood
>Linda Smith (a Republican congresswomen from Washington) created a list of notes on identifying children caught in child prostitution
    -a foster child talks about having an older boyfriend or having sex
    -a child going to a strip club
    -a child talking to a counselor about having sex with an older man/boyfriend
    -child has tattoos of a man's name
    -child uses words usually only used in sex trafficking industries


>>reports taken from Shared Hope International (SHI)




(words and phrases in italics are information that needs to be looked up for further details)