CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

Child Sexual Exploitation



Child sexual exploitation

Thesis Statement

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issue of domestic child sexual exploitation of young girls in America. The paper discusses the present issue and statistics, causes of the situation and a few recommendations.

Analysis

There is a general perception that commercial sexual exploitation in the United States centers on the trafficking of foreign women into our country. Tens of thousands of underage American girls are victims of sexual exploitation within this country. Everyday more children, from suburbia to the inner cities, are becoming entangled in prostitution. It is estimated that 100,000 to 300,000 children are trapped in the commercial sex industry. Sexual exploitation is the worst form of child labor and a modern-day version of slavery; its survivors can face a lifetime of psychological trauma and injury. The girls, traumatized by violence from pimps, often lack the self-confidence, education, and skills necessary to live independently in society.

Although the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 states that the involvement of minors in commercial sex acts falls under the definition of sex trafficking, girls who have escaped the sex industry, or wish to escape, continue to be treated as criminals. Statutory rape laws say that underage girls cannot consent to sex, and yet once money is exchanged, they are treated as if capable of consent and deserving of incarceration. They are simultaneously criminals and victims. Girls picked up by police are either thrown into juvenile detention centers or are passed to ill-equipped group homes or foster care, later falling easily back into prostitution. Girls are shuffled through the juvenile justice system -- their trauma left unnoticed, ignored, disregarded. Recognizing that the justice system has failed to assume a role in assisting these girls, non-governmental organizations have created their own supplemental support network. Together, ...