Module 1:

What is the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC)?

“It’s not a choice, no one just wakes up and wants to do this. You can’t just walk away…”

- CSEC Survivor

What is CSEC?

Objectives…

• Dispel commonly held beliefs and stereotypes that promote CSEC • Define terms needed to discuss and understand issues of CSEC • Understand the forms and prevalence of CSEC within the U.S.

• Frame issues of CSEC in a scope and forms of CSEC regional context and understand the in your community • Increase awareness and sensitivity to CSEC issues according to a philosophy that promotes victim centered programming, investigation, and prosecution

Activity:

Language and Sensitivity

Activity: Language and Sensitivity

Group Questions: – What first comes to mind when you hear these terms?

– What ideas/images/concepts are communicated through these terms?

– How do these terms impact how children are seen and treated?

– How do these terms impact how the issue of CSEC is addressed?

Language and Sensitivity Question:

What difference does it make to change the language we use to talk about CSEC or sexually exploited children?

Changing the Language:

• Reframes the issue as a form of child abuse • Expresses the philosophy that sexually exploited children deserve support services instead of jail sentences • More accurately represents the scope of the issue and the reality of exploited youth’s experiences • Creates a common language to facilitate moving toward facilitating a community response plan

What are some stereotypes myths and about CSEC or sexually exploited children?

CSEC is….

The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is: – Sexual activity involving a child in exchange for something of value, or promise thereof, to the child or another person or persons. – The child is treated as a commercial and sexual object. – CSEC is a form violence against children.

CSEC includes:

– street prostitution – pornography – stripping – erotic/nude massage – escort services – phone sex lines – private parties – gang-based prostitution – interfamilial pimping – forms of Internet-based exploitation

Intersections of Abuse

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)

Any sexual activity with a child where consent is not or cannot be given. The sexually abusive acts may include penetration, creation of pornographic images, sexual touching, or non-contact acts such as exposure or voyeurism. (Based on Berliner & Elliott, 2002)

Sexual Exploitation of Children (SEC)

• Taking unfair advantage of the imbalance of power between an adult and a youth or child under the age of 18 for the purpose of sexual pleasure.

• Can also involve remuneration in money, goods, or services, or the promise of money, goods, or services to the child.

Intersections of Abuse

Child Sexual Abuse Sexual Exploitation of Children Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking

Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST)

Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) consists of all forms of CSEC. It occurs when a US citizen or legal permanent resident of the US who has not attained 18 years of age is engaged in a commercial sex act.

Sex Trafficking

FACT:

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 defines “sex trafficking” as the

recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person

for a commercial sex act or in which the person induced to perform such as act is under 18 years of age. When a minor is trafficked for a commercial sex act, there is no need to prove force, fraud, or coercion.

Sex Trafficking

(continued)

MYTH:

• Trafficking is defined by the crossing of state or national borders.

• Only foreign nationals can be victims of trafficking .

Florida Safe Harbor Act

The “Florida Safe Harbor Act,” amends current legislation to allow a law enforcement officer who takes a child for whom there is “probable cause” to believe that he or she has been sexually exploited into custody to deliver the child to the department of Children and Family Services, in lieu of arrest. F.S. 39.401

Definitions

The bill also amends the definitions of the terms “child who is found to be dependent” and “sexual abuse of a child” to reference sexual exploitation, expanding the definition to include “engaging in prostitution”. 39.01(67)(g)

Short Term Safe House/Safe House

The bill also seeks to provide a process for the assessment and placement of sexually exploited children in a safe house when available. F.S. 39.524 & 409.1678

CHILD ADVOCATES

Employees of short-term houses must be trained to work with and advocate for the needs of sexually exploited children and assist them throughout any legal proceedings. F.S. 409.1678

L E

DELINQUENC Y

Youth referred to DJJ Allegations of sexual exploitation

PUBLIC/MANDATORY REPORTERS

Dependenc y Path – no capable caregiver

Short Term Safe House

, if availabl e Safe Harbor Assessme nt Dependency Hearing Non dependenc y Path Referra l for service s DCF performs Comprehensive Assessment

DEPENDENCY

Call to DCF Hotline CBC or social service agency referral DCF CPI determines probable cause for sexual exploitation

Detain

Safe Harbor services as probation condition?

Release & Refer

Safe Harbor services as diversion?

Condition of probation or diversion

Safe House

, if available Voluntary Referral for ongoing victim assistance

CSEC in the United States

• It is estimated that

100,000 to 300,000

youth sexual exploitation annually in the U.S. Wiener, 2001) could be at risk for commercial (Estes and • The average age of entry into the commercial sex industry in the U.S. is

12

years old.

Obscenity Section) (US Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and

CSEC in the United States

The National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Throwaway (NISMART) children estimate that 1.6 million children run away from home each year in the U.S.

One in three teens will be recruited by a pimp within 48 hours of leaving home and becoming homeless.

Kristi House Miami, FL

Federal, National and International Responses to CSEC Federal Responses

US Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) National Center for Missing and Exploitation Children (NCMEC) Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) FBI Crimes Against Children (CAC) squad Innocence Lost Task Forces DOJ/OJP Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). DOJ/OJP Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Human Trafficking Task Forces DOJ Civil Rights Division Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit (HTPU) Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): Operation Predator Department of State The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G-TIP) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Federal, National and International Responses (continued) Federal Responses Continued

The Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services (LIRS) Division of Unaccompanied Children’s Services (DUCS) Department of Education The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools

Other National Responses

The Fund for Nonviolence Launched the U.S. Campaign Against CSEC in 2003 GEMS sponsored a Congressional Youth Summit in 2003 The U.S. Mid-Term Review of CSEC is sponsored by Shared Hope International, ECPAT, and the Protection Project

International Responses

First World Congress in Stockholm, Sweden in 1996 Second World Congress in Yokohama, Japan in 2001 Third World Congress is projected to occur again in 2008

Federal Legislation that Addresses CSEC

• The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, and its subsequent Reauthorizations in 2003 and 2005 • The PROTECT Act of 2003 • The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 • The Mann Act of 1910 (Also known as the White Slave Traffic Act)

SPOTLIGHT: Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005

• • • • • •

Title II Provisions of the TVPRA of 2005 outline a Federal commitment to:

New prevention initiatives Research studies and statistical review of severe forms of trafficking Grant programs to increase services to victims, including U.S. citizen victims Residential treatment centers and shelter programs for minor victims of sex trafficking Training for law enforcement Grant programs for law enforcement to address demand reduction initiatives

Question:

What impact do federal responses to CSEC have at the local level?

Addressing Demand

If at least 300,000 children are estimated to be at risk for CSEC in the U.S….

who do you think is buying children for sex?

Addressing Demand

Pedophile An adult who over a period of at least six months, has recurrent intense sexual urges and sexually arousing fantasies involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children (generally age 13 or younger).* Ephebophilia/Hebephilia Adult who has a strong or exclusive attraction to post-pubescent child/adolescent.

*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-IV-TR.

Addressing Demand

Situational Abusers Adults who use children for sex not because they have a predisposition to do so but just because they want to or find themselves in a situation where it is possible. Such men engage in the criminal activity of sex with minors (under-18s) without necessarily feeling any real sexual attraction towards them. May be family men with regular partners and in every way 'normal' lives. For this reason they are particularly difficult to identify and often are protected by those around them who find it impossible to accept that 'Mr. Normal' next door - or their husband/brother/son - could possibly have sex with children.

Addressing Demand Reflection Questions:

• Why do you think there is such a huge demand?

• What factors in our society contribute to demand?

Factors Influencing Demand Presence of Adult Sex Industry

“Without equivocation….the presence of pre existing adult prostitution markets contributes measurably to the creation of secondary sexual markets in which children are sexually exploited. [W]e find no support for the legalization of prostitution in the U.S., especially given the relationship that we can confirm to exist between adult and juvenile sexual exploitation”. The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, Estes & Weiner (2001).

Factors Influencing Demand Acceptance of Violence Towards Individuals in Sex Industry

A Canadian commission found that prostituted women are 40 times more likely to be murdered than their non-prostituted counterparts. Special Committee on Prostitution and Pornography, Pornography and Prostitution in Canada, 350,(1985).

Factors Influencing Demand Dehumanization of Prostituted Women

"I picked prostitutes as my victims because I hate most prostitutes and I did not want to pay them for sex. I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up, without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away, and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.”

Gary Ridgway,(The ‘Green River Killer’) in a statement to the Court in which he pled guilty to murdering 48 women and girls, 2003.

Factors Influencing Demand Dehumanization of Prostituted Women

“They were objects. In my mind, they never had families or anything."

Joel Rifkin, in a statement to the police in admitting to the murders of 17 prostituted women, many of whose names he could not remember, 1994.

Factors Influencing Demand Dehumanization of CSEC Victims

Of Gary Ridgway’s 48 admitted victims, 27 of those victims were ‘prostitutes’.

between the ages of 15-18 years old. The Green River Killer was therefore one of the largest child serial killers in the US ever, and the largest known killer of CSEC victims, yet the fact that many of his victims were children/youth is never mentioned because they were viewed as

Factors Influencing Demand No Perceived Consequences

In 2004, Chicago police arrested 3,204 prostitutes and 950 johns. “Last year, Chicago Police arrested 950 prostitution customers. That comes to less than three per day in the entire city, so you tell me if that sounds like a commitment to dealing with the demand for prostitution. They could make 20 or more arrests here a day.” Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. City doesn't have to look far to find johns. Chicago Sun Times, 2005.

Factors Influencing Demand Internet Pornography

There are over 100,000 sites offering illegal child pornography and hundreds of thousands more offering legal ‘teen’ or ‘ barely legal’ pornography. In 2006, there were over 20 million searches using the words ‘teen porn’ or ‘teen sex’. http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html

Reflection Questions:

Why do you think that our society doesn’t address demand more?

Why don’t we arrest the johns ?

Film:

CNN Anderson Cooper 360: “Invisible Chains: Sex, Work, and Slavery”

CNN: Anderson Cooper 360 Discussion Questions:

Are there any points or that we discussed in this module that are covered in this clip?

themes that we What are your reactions themes?

to these

Activity:

Who? What? Where? Why?

Activity: Who? What? Where? Why?

Directions for groups:

• Based on your knowledge and experience, choose one of four sets of questions: Who? What? Where? or Why? • In your group, review the set of questions you selected. Be as specific, detailed, and reflective in your responses as possible. Record your answers on a piece of easel paper.

• Choose one group member to present your responses to the whole group.