Transcript The Psychology of Pimping M. Alexis Kennedy, Ph.D. University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The Psychology of
Pimping
M. Alexis Kennedy, Ph.D.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Purpose of Presentation
 Identify
who the victims are; lay the
groundwork for how people would
become pimped
 Look at routes of recruitment into
prostitution
 Characteristics of and techniques used
by pimps
California Penal Code
 Every
person who inveigles or
entices any unmarried female, of
previous chaste character, under the
age of 18 years, into any house of ill
fame, …, or to have illicit carnal
connection with any man; … is
punishable by imprisonment … not
exceeding one year, or by a fine not
exceeding two thousand dollars
($2,000), or by both…
Human Trafficking Defined By Federal Law

“Severe Forms” of human trafficking is:
(a) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act
is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in
which the person induced to perform such
an act has not attained 18 years of age; or
(b) the recruitment, harboring, transportation,
provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or
services, through the use of force, fraud, or
coercion for the purposes of subjection to
involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage,
or slavery.1
1 These definitions are from the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
Defined By Federal Law


Domestic minor sex trafficking occurs when a
U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident who has
not attained 18 years of age is engaged in a
commercial sex act.2
“Commercial sex act” means any sex act on
account of which anything of value is given to or
received by any person. This includes:
- Prostitution
- Exotic dancing/stripping
- Pornography
2 This definition is from the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization
Act (TVPRA) of 2005
Victims
Street Prostitution
 Street
Prostitution, not
– Stripping
– Pornography
– Phone sex
– Brothels
– Escort agencies
– Massage Parlors
 12-14
is the average age of entry
into pornography and prostitution in
the U.S.
– U.S. Department of Justice - Child Exploitation
and Obscenity Section (CEOS)
www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/prostitution.html
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
in the U.S.


According to Ernie Allen, Executive Director of the
National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children (NCMEC), data shows 100,000 to
293,000 children have become sexual
commodities.
Nationally 450,000 children run away from home
each year. 1 out of every 3 teens on the street
will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours
of leaving home. Statistically, this means at least
150,000 children lured into prostitution each
year.
– NISMART (National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted,
Runaway and Throwaway Children)
US Hot Spots
 2004
USDOJ Annual Report - FBI
identified 14 field offices located in
areas where there is a high incidence
of prostituted children
– Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Las
Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis,
New York, San Diego, San Francisco, St.
Louis, Tampa, and Washington D.C.
Case Study: Domestic Minor Sex
Trafficking in Nevada
 181
cases of juvenile prostitution
were brought before Hon. William O.
Voy between 8/24/05-12/31/06.
 69 cases were trafficked within
Nevada; 112 were trafficked from
out-of-state.
 Ages ranged from 12 to 17 years old.
Who are the victims of domestic minor
sex trafficking?
 Youth
of any ethnicity, race, or religion
 Youth of any socio-economic class
 Female, male, and transgender youth
 Youth of all ages, including teenagers
 Vulnerable youth
Who are especially vulnerable to
domestic minor sex trafficking?

Youth with histories of abuse
– 59% of minors arrested for prostitution in
Las Vegas (1994-2005) had been victims of
sexual assault and/or familial molestation.
– 74% had run away from home prior to
arrest. (From Las Vegas Metro Police STOP Program, Las Vegas.
2005. )
– WestCare Nevada treated 46 minors
involved in prostitution from 2004-2005; 45
of them had a history of physical and/or
sexual abuse.
Who are especially vulnerable to
domestic minor sex trafficking?

-
Homeless, runaway or “throwaway”
youth
As many as 2.8 million children live on the
streets, a third of whom are lured into
prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.
(The National Runaway Switchboard)
Youth within the foster care system &
child protective services
- Over 500,000 children in the U.S. currently
reside in some form of foster care. (The American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)
Adult Street Prostitutes
 41%
of adults in my research
reported started as minors
– 32 prostitutes from the drug area
 Routes
of Recruitment: Pimps’
techniques and other circumstances
that lead to street prostitution
 Kennedy
et al., 2007
 Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment &
Trauma 15(2), 1-19
 On my website www.alexiskennedy.com
Traffickers/Pimps
Who Are the Pimps?
 Can
be a pimp/trafficker, a boyfriend,
father, mother, brother, uncle, a
coach, a teacher or anyone exerting
control over a prostituted adult or
child, even a peer
 Not always organized criminals
 Both men and women of varying ages
 Any ethnicity or race
Pimps
 75%
of prostituted children reported
that they were pimped
– Department of Justice CEOS
 40-80%
pimped
of adults report being
– Barry, 1995; Norton-Hawk, 2004;
Silbert & Pines, 1983b; Williamson &
Cluse-Tolar, 2002
Routes of Recruitment
1. Pimps - Love
 16%
of adults interviewed reported
an emotional attachment to their
pimp (Kennedy)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z
vnRYte3PAk
Turned out at age 16…
I was dating someone who was 31. I had a
legal job and was in school and one day
he came home and he said he needed
money for his daughter from his first
marriage. And I told him I couldn’t do
anything because I wasn’t getting paid till
next Friday so he came home that night
with a pair of heels and mini skirt and
took me outside and told me to take what
they gave me.
 Seduction
process
– 6-12 months but in as little as 24 hours
 Grown
up “boyfriend” taking her
away for the weekend
 Most common method for nonabused minors
2. Pimp - Debt
-19% of adults interviewed reported a
friend as turning them out
-often the “main girl” for the pimp
(wife-in-law, bottom b***h)
3. Pimp - Drugs
 Drug
dealers come up with a solution
to help them pay for drug or repay
for drugs already provided
 Using drugs prior to being
prostituted
4. Pimp - Gorilla
 Brute
force and kidnapping
 Reported both domestically and
internationally
– Movie “Trade”
5. Pimp – Authority Figure
 Parent,
foster parent, older sibling
 12% of adults interviewed reported
being turned out this way
 TVPA anyone under 18 is a trafficking
victim
6. Substance Abuse
 Chose
to prostitute to earn money
for drugs
7. Financial Difficulties
 No
other source of income
 Prevalent among runaways
– 80% reporting financial needs lefts
them no other option to entering
prostitution (Bagley & Young, 1987)
– 55% of street girls work in prostitution
as a way of earning money (Department
of Justice, CEOS)
19, reported being stranded in a strange city
after a fight with her boyfriend and
stated: “I just was at a restaurant having
coffee and, um, a rich man made me a
very generous offer. Asked me if I was all
right, if there was anything I needed help
with. I explained that I had no means of
getting home, and he bought me a ticket
home and gave me money as well in
return for sex which took about four
minutes.”
8. Socialization/Normalization
 Attracted
to glamour and easy
money
 7 of 14 drawn to “thrill and
adventures of the life” (Potterat,
Phillips, Rothenberg & Darrow, 1995,
p.333)
9. History of Sexual Abuse
 Consistent
finding in research, high
levels of sexual abuse
 96% of my sample reported being
sexually assaulted prior to entering
prostitution
– 73% reported childhood sexual abuse
“A friend of my mine … she got out
and got money and I had been
approached while I was waiting. And
I figured I’m getting molested at
home so why not get paid for it and
get my rent covered.”
10. Sex Trade Hierarchy
Escort -> Massage parlors -> Streets
Me/myself
“I turned myself out. It was just me. It
was me. I’m responsible.”
-started at age 10
Who turned you out, or how did you
begin working on the streets?
19%
6%
50%
For money
16%
9%
n = 32
Pimp, parent or
friend
Request from
stranger
For drugs
Me/myself
Techniques of pimps
Amazon.com
Perpetrators of Violence
 Black’s
(1990) law dictionary simply
defines a pimp as someone who
obtains customers for a prostitute
 Reality – take their money through
manipulation, threats and violence
 Silbert & Pines (1983)
– 66% of prostitutes were physically
abused by pimps, over 50% were
beaten regularly
 Pimp
stick
Based on information from Domestic Sex Trafficking: The Criminal Operations of the American Pimp. Polaris Project. 2006
Traumatic Bond
 Why
don’t they leave?
– “the development of strong emotional
ties between two persons, with one
person intermittently harassing, beating,
threatening, abusing, or intimidating the
other” (Dutton, 1995, p. 190).
– deny or emotionally numb themselves to
the level of the violence that they are
experiencing (Walker, 1998)
Psychopaths
 The
Psychopath as Pimp
– Spidel, A., Greaves, C. Cooper, B. S., Hervé, H., Hare, R.
D., & Yuille, J.C., The Canadian Journal of Police and
Security Services, 4 (4) 205-211
 Behaviorally
– Irresponsible, criminally versatile,
parasitic
 Interpersonally
– Manipulative, deceitful, glib, display
superficial charm
 Lack
of empathy
 22
offenders
– 36% of pimps compared to 20% of
comparison populations met the cutoff
of 30 for psychopathy on the PCL-R
– 75% were above 22.1 (mean for
comparison sample)
– offenders who engage in acts of pimping
exhibit many psychopathic traits
Why don’t pimps’ victims seek help?
 Captivity,
isolation
confinement and
- Victims have been locked in rooms and trunks of
cars and isolated from friends and family
 Use
and threat of violence
- Victims have been beaten, raped, tortured,
assaulted and threatened with weapons
 Fear,
shame, self-blame and
hopelessness
-
Victims have been so traumatized, they blame
themselves for their abuse and/or see no way out of
the situation
From “Understanding Victim’s Mindset”. Polaris Project 2006.
Why don’t pimps’ victims seek help?
 Dependency
-
Victims have become physically, financially or emotionally
dependent on the trafficker; they have bonded with the
abuser through traumatic bonding (a.k.a. Stockholm
Syndrome)
 Distrust
of law enforcement.
- Victims are told that law enforcement will arrest or harm
them
Why don’t pimps’ victims seek help?
 Debt
bondage
-
Victims are trapped in never ending cycles of fabricated debt
and are made to believe they cannot leave until this debt is
paid off.
 Misinformation/false
-
Victims are promised love, money, safety or other desires if
they stay with the pimp.
 Lack
-
promises
of knowledge of social systems
Victims don’t know how and where to seek help.
Resources
 www.sharedhope.org
 www.polarisproject.org
 www.alexiskennedy.com