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Modern Day Slavery: Child
Prostitution in America
Research Paper
Thanuri Perera
9/30/2011
Lecturer Mrs. Nelun Herath
Subject: English B
Subject Code: MUF0012

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Executive Summary
At the brink of globalization and human rights regime, modern day slavery prevails in the form of child
prostitution. Evidently, it is an American problem too. According to the Department of Justice,
approximately 300,000 children in the United States are at risk of exploitation in the commercial sex
industry. Statistical evidence along with case studies show the brutality of the trade: children as young as
11 and 12 are being raped at the hands of pimps and johns. Further study on the matter shows that one of
the root causes to the crisis is the lack of a secure home environment. The typical background of a child
prostitute consists of reports of domestic violence, sexual abuse and substance abuse which cause children
to run away from their homes and in to the streets where they would be tricked in to the lucrative business
by the pimps. A report by NBC’s Teri Williams shows that the average pimp can earn over $200,000 a
year off of just one girl. Even though the state has adopted many legal frameworks such as the Victims
of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, 2000 (VTVPA) to confront the problem; authorities
have little understanding of the difference between prostitution laws and trafficking laws and
consequently arrests victims of the commercial sex trade. The Department of Justice reports that
approximately 1600 children were arrested for prostitution in 2006: six years after the VTVPA.
However by theory, under this passage, any individual who is below the age of 18 and is a part
of the commercial sex trade is considered a victim of trafficking. Throughout the course of this
research I have attained a better understanding of the many injustices meted out by the children
who are tricked or forced in to the realms prostitution.

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Contents
Child prostitution: An American problem too .......................................................................................5
What is child prostitution?...................................................................................................................5
How does it start?...............................................................................................................................5
Pimps ................................................................................................................................................6
The “Johns” .......................................................................................................................................7
The effects on Children.......................................................................................................................7
Legal responses..................................................................................................................................8
A failed system...................................................................................................................................8
Ways to eradicate the problem...........................................................................................................10
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................10
Reference.........................................................................................................................................11
Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................13
Appendix .........................................................................................................................................15

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Child prostitution: An American problem too
Children in American streets are being targeted by procurers of the commercial sex trade.
According to a report by CNN’s Bridgette Carr in 2009, the average age of entry in to the trade
by girls is 12 and 11 for boys. This shows the extremity of the demand made by johns. The
willingness of johns to pay a significantly higher price for child prostitutes over adult prostitutes
has fueled the search for vulnerable children. State laws have been erected to combat the
trafficking of children but my research shows that authorities have unjustly prosecuted victims of
the commercial sex trade.
What is child prostitution?
In simple terms, child prostitution is a form of sexual abuse met by children who are forced or
tricked into the commercial sex trade; which has several characteristics as mentioned in a note by
the Secretary General. It is noted to be an invisible, mobile, global, escalating, and highly
profitable business. Children who are part of the prostitution circuit are hidden from the public
via false identification and are not on display as their adult counterparts. Because the trade is
invisible it is very easy to move the area of operation to a different state or venue. Child
prostitution is a global phenomenon and the demand for children is ever growing because clients
prefer children over adult prostitutes due to the fear of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
This increases the worth of children in the trade and both individual entrepreneurs and organized
profiteers benefit from the exploitation of young victims.
How does it start?
According to Mark Clayton’s report, before 1979 children were rarely found in the streets of
North America. The police could easily detain children who had run away from home. However,
in 1976 states like California passed laws prohibiting authorities from locking up children off the
streets. This act was to ensure civil liberties and to protect children against assault in jail.
Evidently it gave recruiters the golden opportunity to profit from these children. The National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimated that more than 500,000 children become
gold mines in the hands of a pimp. Lois Lee, director of North America’s leading authorities on
children in prostitution: Children of the Night, Los Angeles, believes, that the ordinary man can

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now justify the act of sexual intercourse with a fourteen year old because he is now providing
food and shelter to this abandoned child. It is evident that state laws had been a contributing
factor to the problem. The other major root cause is the deteriorating state of the domestic
environment in America. Attorney and author, John W. Whitehead writes that a typical child
prostitute’s background includes domestic violence, sexual abuse by a relative, substance abuse
and prostitution activities within the family for example if the mother is a prostitute then her
daughter will most likely be drawn into the trade. This shows that children turn to the streets as a
result of physical, sexual and psychological abuse at home. In most cases poverty has also
resulted in parents selling their children in order to cover debts or to finance drug addictions.
This is apparent in the case of Antoinette Nicole Davis, a mother who is accused of selling her
five year old daughter into sexual servitude. Antoinette Davis is charged with felony child abuse,
prostitution and filing a false police report in Fayetteville, North Carolina, CNN’s Gabriel Falcon
reports. The mother is believed to have had financial issues leading up to the arrest. The sentence
is most likely to be amended, because her daughter’s body was found a week after she had filed a
missing persons report. This is the grim fate of a five year old girl.
Pimps
“When they arrive at the schools, pimps say what any girl or woman at any age likes to hear,
"You are beautiful."” - Brooklyn district attorney's officePimps are the middlemen of child
prostitution who cater to the demand made by the Johns. Lois Lee explains to Mark Clayton in
his report that these men would lure children by telling them that they were going to be movie
stars. To reinforce the need for dependency, pimps would move the girls from city to city. This
will keep them from forming friendships with outsiders and ultimately left to depend on their
pimp in unfamiliar surroundings. They are also deprived of the money they make by selling their
bodies. This shows the grim state of the children tricked and forced into prostitution.
Furthermore, a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania shows that 75% of known
child prostitutes worked for pimps, who are skilled at creating an artificial or pseudo family
environment by promising love and affection.

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The “Johns”
Johns create the demand for child prostitutes. Research studies and interviews by The Christian
Science Monitor show that such a client is typically a middle aged white male affluent. He would
have a secure job, a spouse and children. Ericka Moses, a teen counselor at PRIDE, which is a
group dedicated to help women and children out of prostitution believes that, “It's all about how
little boys are raised - their attitudes. What do you do when you turn 18? If you're a guy in
Minneapolis, someone takes you downtown to a strip club." This shows how the culture
influences the ideology of growing men which in turn contributes to the growing demand for
child prostitutes.
The effects on Children
”The feeling of loss is all-pervasive, loss of their innocence, of their
childhood and of their sense of self.” – Secretary General (1996)
Child prostitutes are exposed to a series of devastating afflictions. As noted in the Promotion and
Protection of the Rights of Children by the General Assembly, sexual exploitation can have deep
seated physical and psychological effects on children. Firstly, they are subjugated to physical
abuse by the pimps and Johns. They are then deprived of food and medical assistance in the case
of abortions. Secondly they are susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases because men do not
to use protection. They believe that children are free from all disease and so they seek these
children for sexual pleasures over an adult prostitute. Finally observations of abused children
show that they suffer from suicidal tendencies and severe depression. These leave the children
scarred for life.

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Legal responses
The Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act; the Child Abuse Prevention and
Treatment and Adoption Reform Act; the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act; and the Missing
Children Act were all part of the national legislation during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In the
year 2000, The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) was passed and
under this statute, any minor ( an individual under 18), including a US citizen, who is abused in
the commercial sex act is a victim of trafficking.
Since then states have adopted many laws and enforcements to combat the trafficking of children
into the commercial sex trade. For instance, in the state of Indiana, the selling or the transfer
custody of a child for prostitution by a parent or guardian is a Class ‘A’ felony. Providing
services to victims and runaways is a legislative mandate in Virginia. The anti – trafficking
statute in Illinois punishes every individual involved in the prostitution of children, Johns
included.
The FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division in conjunction with the Department of Justice's Child
Exploitation-Obscenity Section and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children set
up a National Initiative in 2003 called the Innocence Lost Initiative. Since the establishment, 39
task forces and working groups have recovered 1250 children, achieved 438 indictments and 625
convictions and also disrupted 153 criminal enterprises the FBI reports.
"Tragically, the only place we've seen a decrease is in the age of the victims," Attorney General
Eric Holder
A failed system
However, six years after the VTVPA was passed, the Department of Justice reported that 1600
children were arrested for prostitution. An attorney in the Chicago office, Nesheba Kittling says
that the country has taken a strong stance against those who traffic juveniles across borders but
on the other hand, the Government prosecutes juvenile prostitutes. This statement highlights a
very significant flaw I have come across in my research.
Some states like New York, requires the minor to prove that force, fraud or coercion was used to
induce commercial sex. However the VTVPA dictates that every prostituted child is, in fact, a

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victim of trafficking. The state of Missouri however, believes that penalizing child prostitutes
ignores the root causes of the modern day slavery.
Lucilia’s story was published by Jessica Lustig, a journalist who gave me an insight into the
injustice met by child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation. Not only did Lucilia suffer from
domestic violence and sexual abuse at home when she was 12 years old but she was also
introduced to the bleak life of a prostitute a year later. She was 10 years old when her uncle
molested her and she lost her virginity to her step brother. Acts of violence at home finally drove
her to the streets where she met her pimp and endured physical and sexual abuse. When the
authorities caught her, she was locked up in a juvenile jail in the Bronx. She was then given a
blue jumpsuit and assigned a number. She entered the family courts bound in handcuffs and leg
shackles, and she left the building in the same manner, Jessica reports. In the case of Lucilia,
according to state law in New York she is a victim of statutory rape but if the rapist paid for her
services then she is also a criminal. She was convicted for her own abuse which shows the failure
in the American legal system.
According to a publication by Wendi J Adelson, an individual who sells their bodies for sex is
considered a misdemeanor in almost fifty states in America. However the VTVPA dictates that
children involved in the commercial sex trade are indeed victims of trafficking. Federal and state
statutes regarding prostitution are not clear on whether the prostitute selling his/ her body should
be penalized if they are adults or minors and so the authorities criminalizes all regardless of their
age. The gravity of the injustices meted out by child prostitutes is not easy for even a strong
willed person to comprehend.
Statistics of a primary research (Appendix diagram1 p.10) that I conducted in Sri Lanka show
that 55% of university enrolled students think that johns alone should be penalized to curb child
prostitution: a form of modern day slavery in America. 30% believes that both pimps and johns
should be penalized whilst 10% thinks that pimps alone should be penalized and 5% thinks that
child prostitutes should be criminalized. This shows that majority believes that both men who
demand children and pimps should be the criminals in this phenomenon, which also supports my
viewpoint.

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Ways to eradicate the problem
It is evident that there are several factors and actors driving this form of modern day slavery.
From the abuse meted out at home to the demand made by johns; American children are being
subjugated to harsh realities. Children who suffer from domestic violence shouldn’t think that the
streets are a safe place to escape to. To stop children from running away from home and into the
streets, there needs to be stronger social services for children to rely on in the case of domestic
violence and sexual abuse. According to the Mayor of Atlanta, people in her community are
under the impression that child prostitution is non-existent or if a child is in the trade then he or
she is there by choice. A change in ideology by the community will only be achieved through
awareness of the existence of child prostitution. This will help create a better understanding of
the growing problem in America and help keep children off the streets. If children do not
continue to run away from home then authorities can focus on helping children in the trade by
raiding the circuit and instead of arresting the victims, authorities should give adequate physical
and psychological help to restore these children back in to the society.
Conclusion
Children in America are at risk of being trafficking victims and Children who are already in the
commercial sex trade are being abused and exploited daily. To add to their sufferings, state laws
are not clear on prostitution statutes which have resulted in the criminalization of these young
victims of trafficking. I strongly believe that state laws need to be amended in order to prevent
victimized children being penalized for their own abuses. According to an article in the New
York Times, states need to build more treatment programs and broaden community based
prevention programs to educate and help exploited and vulnerable children. To conclude this
report I must state that, in order to stop this modern day slavery, creating awareness and
educating communities and children is essential and also states need to put the right criminals
behind bars.

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Appendix
1.
Source: Primary research

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