A whopping 40 states and Washington, D.C., received a failing grade for their efforts to stop child sex trafficking, according to a new report released Thursday.
Those states earned a D or F from the non-profit organization Shared Hope International for not having laws on the books adequately protecting children or punishing those responsible for child sex trafficking. To combat their poor grades, the report urged states to adopt more stringent laws targeting sex trafficking.
“States must enact human trafficking laws that are consistent with each other and federal law in scope and penalty so as to prevent migration of trafficking crimes to more lenient states or onto tribal lands,” the report stated.
According to the report, experts say at least 100,000 American children are abused through prostitution each year, and states must work to eliminate demand, prosecute traffickers, identify the victims and offer protection, services and shelter to them
Many victims come from the child welfare system or are runaway and homeless youth, according to another Shared Hope International report. A common factor among many victims is a history of physical or sexual abuse in the home, while other children targeted often have older boyfriends or parents who use drugs.
Texas, Missouri, Illinois and Washington emerged with the highest grade: B. No states received an A, while 15 earned a D and 26 scored an F.
According to the report, four states — West Virginia, Maine, Wyoming and Virginia — do not have human trafficking laws. And 10 states — Colorado, Hawaii, West Virginia, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Wyoming and Virginia — do not have human trafficking laws that specifically include sex trafficking as a form of the crime on the books.
Samantha Vardaman of Shared Hope International said Thursday that child sex trafficking is “happening here in the United States in large numbers.” To develop the report card grading framework, Vardaman said the organization analyzed each state’s code of laws and then wrote an in-depth report for every state with recommendations.
“There was a range of grades. There were no A’s, and there were many F’s, leaving much room for improvement in the coming year,” she said at a Thursday press conference.
Five states do not have laws making it a crime to purchase or sell sex acts with a minor online, and 19 do not make it a distinct crime to buy sex with a minor, Vardaman said. Four states — Iowa, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Wyoming, along with D.C. — do not make it a crime to go online to buy or sell sex acts with a minor.
Meanwhile, only four states in the nation define abuse and neglect to specifically include sex trafficking — without this, it is difficult for child protective services to intervene, Vardaman said.
The key to reform, Shared Hope International president Linda Smith said, is to unify the legislative framework across the nation for child sex trafficking.
“Each state’s laws show omissions in protective provisions for child victims, and lack strong laws to prosecute the men who rent the bodies of other men’s children,” Smith said in a press release. “Early in our research it was clear that responses to child sex trafficking must originate at the state level.” ..Source.. by MACKENZIE WEINGER
