Complete Your CE Test Online - Click Here Cargo case, at least six other traffickers have been prosecuted for the sex trafficking of women and children found by other FBI divisions. The girls from the Precious Cargo cases were all at risk for one reason or another; below is the story of Julie, who was only 12 years old at the time she was trafficked. Julie was walking down the street when a man in a car stopped to talk and persuaded her to take a ride. She explained, “I really didn’t want to ’cause I was scared, but you know how an older person just comes at you like that and you don’t know what to do. He just said we were going to just sit there for a minute, and then it turned into days. He was acting all nice and buying me whatever I wanted.” Julie’s home life was chaotic at the time she was approached by the trafficker. She lived in poverty with an alcoholic father, and when he became intoxicated, she was the victim of physical attacks and mental abuse. Julie said she felt stuck, and “I did want to leave because my dad, he’s always drinking and stuff like that, and till this day now, he still does that. Back then, he would slap me and stuff, so I didn’t want to stay, you know, but I did want to leave because of that lifestyle. “At first I thought it was okay, but after being out there and having to do that…” she stopped without finishing her sentence. Julie was never really successful in school, was labeled special needs, and not making passing grades. She attended school and hoped to someday catch up with her classmates, but over time, with much convincing from her trafficker, Julie ended up in the car. He persuaded her to go to Harrisburg, Pa., and while there, she was taken to a motel to dress in sexy clothes and driven to a truck stop where she was expected to sell herself. She was taken to various trucks, forced to get in and have sex with truck drivers while her “watcher” waited. She reported: “He took me to where all the other girls are, because he got like, five other girls, and we were at a motel. We stayed until it got dark around 6, then went out there and worked. I didn’t know it was going to be a truck stop, I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t think I would have to walk up and down in the cold and have nasty old truck drivers touch stuff and me. I didn’t feel right, I gave the girl the money and the girl held my money after every date I had.” After three days, with the help of a truck driver and an adult friend also recruited into the sex trade, Julie was able to escape and call the police. With the help of the Innocence Lost Task Force, she was rescued, and the traffickers were prosecuted (Williamson, 2008). After her rescue, Julie struggled to resume her life back home. She was bullied at school and called a prostitute, so she eventually dropped out. Her family problems continued, and she would run away periodically. At age 14, she began smoking crack cocaine and became addicted. Julie knew how to work the streets to get money to support her drug habit from her time as a trafficking victim. She continued to be arrested for solicitation, and finally unhappy with her life, she turned to some social service agencies for help. She made progress over the next two years, but at 18, Julie continues a struggle with sobriety (Williamson, 2008). Like Julie, many young people are vulnerable to human trafficking. Often young people fall victim to “guerrilla pimping,” as in Katie’s story: I was walking down the street, and this guy just picked me up and started beating me for no reason, and he told me I was going to be his “ho” and started abusing me and threatening me. He was in a black Yukon, and he tried to talk to me at first, but I told him how old I was and then he rolled up around the corner and jumped out of the car and just started hitting me. He said if I didn’t do what he said, he was going to hurt my little brothers and sisters and my mom, and I didn’t want that to happen, so I did what he said (Williamson, 2008). Operation Cross Country helps rescue and return youths to safety and hope for a normal life. The program involves cooperation and collaboration among federal, state, county and local law enforcement to investigate cases, arrest traffickers and rescue youths who are victims of sex trafficking throughout the United States. The Operation Cross Country investigations have resulted in hundreds of arrests and recoveries of children. Williamson (2008) noted that children who are gone from home for over two weeks are at increased risk for commercial sexual exploitation. One study of trafficked youths reported they were usually gone for two weeks or longer before being approached by a trafficker or recruiter. Runaway and throwaway youths are labeled as “endangered runaways,” which means that the child has left home without permission and stayed out overnight at an unknown location. In a report by the New York Times, “Nearly a third of the children who leave or are kicked out of their homes each year engage in sex for food, drugs or a place to stay, according to a number of studies published in academic and public health journals.” (Urbina, 2009). Sheltered runaway youths throughout the U.S. may have periods of time when they cannot find shelter and so they return to the streets to trade sex for food or shelter. Factors leading to trafficking of youths The National Center for Family Homelessness (2009) noted the following data: ● ● One in 45 children experiences homelessness in America, or more than 1.6 million children each year. ● ● While homeless, they experience high rates of acute and chronic health problems. ● ● Constant stressful and traumatic experiences make them vulnerable to traffickers. ● ● Homeless children are hungry at twice the rate of other children. ● ● They have three times the rate of emotional and behavioral problems compared to non-homeless children. ● ● By age 12, 83 percent had been exposed to at least one serious violent event. ● ● 25 percent have witnessed acts of violence within their families. ● ● 52 percent of homeless youths have been involved in the foster care program. ● ● An estimated 30 percent of homeless but sheltered youths and 70 percent of homeless street youths traded sex for money, food or a place to stay. ● ● 91 percent were victims of abuse. ● ● The majority suffered from neglect, followed by physical and sexual abuse. ● ● 57 percent had been raped by someone outside of their family. ● ● 29 percent were raped by someone inside the family. ● ● 14 percent were raped by both. The social networks in which children are involved may influence where and when they will trade sex. Youths who had friends involved in the sex trade were approximately five times more likely to trade sex themselves compared to those with no friends who traded sex (Tyler, 2009). Homeless youths fluctuated between home, the juvenile justice system, and the child welfare system (Williamson, 2009). The following factors make youths vulnerable to trafficking: ● ● Family dysfunction and histories of abuse. ● ● Serious depression. ● ● Runaway experiences. ● ● Substance abuse. ● ● Reoccurring mental illness in the family. ● ● Lack of education or developmental delays. ● ● Poverty. ● ● Families and friends involved in prostitution. ● ● Communities with pre-existing prostitution markets. ● ● Neighborhoods with a large number of street youths or gang membership. ● ● Numbers of sexually unattached and transient males, including military personnel, truckers, conventioneers, tourists. ● ● Living in communities with organized crime networks. Some of the trafficked youths discussed their life of poverty, neglect, and abuse: “We were starving, we had no money, no lights, no gas. One box heater for the whole family. He didn’t want to waste drug money on Christmas presents or birthday presents. He took our toys away Page 24 Massage.EliteCME.com