U.S. citizens condemn Middle Eastern countries for jailing rape victims but our justice system does that every day. Here, the average age a girl becomes a prostitute is 12-14, and the average age for boys is 11-13 (http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/prostitution.html ). Child prostitutes are victims of statutory rape, yet a perversion of the law says that when a rapist pays money to rape a child the child becomes a criminal who can be arrested, prosecuted, humiliated by the justice system and imprisoned no matter how young they are. They have suffered enough; these children don’t deserve to be punished for being raped.
Strangely, anti-trafficking laws grant more protection to foreigners raped in the United States than to our own citizens. For example, if a 12-year-old Sudanese girl is trafficked into the United States and forced to work in a New Jersey brothel the law would not view her as a prostitute. They would classify her as a sex slave. The police would give her federal protection under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. In contrast, a 12-year-old U.S. citizen forced to work in the same brothel would be treated like a criminal, thrown in jail, probably fined and get a criminal record.
The documentary “Very Young Girls” about underage prostitutes in New York documents the case of an underage prostitute named Nicole who was jailed for being raped:
Nicole: “I got off the train cause the other train wasn’t working and I was walking. Some dude came up and said, “Well, I’ll give you a ride.” He was driving to Queens and I told him to stop. He wouldn’t stop. When he opened the door I was trying to run out but the pimp grabs me and he put me in the house. He says if I tell anyone he’s gonna get somebody to kill me.”
Natalie [Nicole’s lawyer]: “She said that she was with the pimp for four or five days. During the course of those four or five days she was forced to have sex with 30 men. The day that she was arrested she was 14. In any other situation she would be too young to consent to sex. To have her charged on prostitution charges is a little absurd.”
Nicoles’s mother: “She’s treated like a criminal after all the stuff that happened to her. Instead of them taking her to the hospital, they took her to the jailhouse.” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1097268/
The reason our country punishes girls for being raped is the same reason Middle Eastern countries jail rape victims: because we live in a patriarchy that treats males as superior to females. The vast majority of child prostitutes are girls and most boy prostitutes are raped as girls. Femaleness is devalued so much society almost always takes the side of the rapist making it very easy for them to rape and escape punishment.
For example, the documentary shows a mother who posted flyers of her missing daughter and got a call providing a tip stating her daughter was being held captive as a sex slave yet when she reported this to a male NYPD officer he refused to send someone to investigate immediately:
LaSharon [mother]: This is a pimp and he has a bunch of underage girls in his apartment this girl told me anonymously, caller, they saw the flyer. She just called tonight. The girl said they’re armed and dangerous, they have guns there’s three of them.
police officer: They were in the apartment?
LaSharon: She said this is where they’re, where he’s keeping the girls at. That he got them in there. He locks them in the apartment, he beats them.
officer: What do you want me to do for you?
LaSharon: I need to speak to somebody because this is where somebody said where all the runaway girls are at…with my daughter at this apartment.
officer: We don’t have any authority to kick in the door.
LaSharon: This is where she said they are, here.
officer: We have to have a court order to kick in a door.
LaSharon: But how do we do that?
officer: Listen, let me explain something to you. We need a court order. At this point, four o’clock in the morning on a Saturday morning that’s the best I can do for you right now.
After the incident LaSharon expressed her shock:
"This is ****in unbelievable. I feel like I’m in a ****ing dream and I need to wake up. Like this is a ****ing nightmare."
That sums up this issue. The horror is that we live in a society where police can get away with refusing to immediately investigate a child rape report. They go to people’s homes to investigate minor complaints such as a rock thrown through a window, but the NYPD wouldn’t send officers to stop someone from raping a child. The system is set up against rape victims and that’s the main reason rapists are almost never punished. It’s a nightmarish reality that our country actually prosecutes child rape victims every day. It is beyond horrible. However, LaSharon was able to find her daughter after several months of searching. Her daughter’s pimp was prosecuted which is unusual because pimps are almost never jailed.
Another disturbing part of the documentary was a scene of a roomful of convicted johns at the Brooklyn John School, a one day program for first offenders who get a clean record if they attend the lecture and avoid being convicted for the next 6 months. When a woman speaker told the johns that “the average age of a prostitute is 13 to 14 years old” and began describing a typical sting scenario where the police arrest the prostitute and john saying, “We gotcha. …And you know what? This little girl next to you, she’s already been locked up 30 times” suddenly a john raises his hand and asks, “How long before the break?” A lot of men thought it was really funny that he interrupted her talking about children being jailed 30 times for being raped. The room was full of loud laughter as I watched the sickening smiles of the sexual predators. That left no doubt that many of the predators had little or no remorse and would continue to rape knowing that society makes it easy for them to do it.
But although child prostitutes shouldn’t be jailed, they should be sent to a safe house for protection. Many child prostitutes return to prostitution after jail because they have nowhere to go, can’t get a job because they’re underage, are scared of their pimp and/or have a psychologically damaging attachment to their pimp and prostitution. In a July 29, 2008 article the Huffington Post reported:
“…according to a study conducted through the University of Pennsylvania, 75% of known child prostitutes work for pimps, who are adept at creating a pseudo-family environment by promising money, love and affection to children coming from dysfunctional homes who are seeking care and nourishment.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/children-of-the-night-chi_b_115348.html?view=print
Unfortunately, there are few safe house programs for child prostitutes in the U.S. therefore, some people who want to help the rape victims escape resort to jailing them as a flawed option that is the only way to keep the children away from pimps and johns. The May 3rd, 2008 PBS episode “Fighting Child Prostitution” described this reasoning:
[Senior correspondent Maria] Hinojosa: “Sgt. Earnest Britton runs the Atlanta police department's Child Exploitation Unit. He and the few officers who work here are attempting to treat children caught up in prostitution as victims, not criminals. But, Britton says, cops are often forced to charge a child with a crime just to get her off the street.”
[Sgt. Earnest] Britton: “Now, what will normally happen is if we take them to a regular shelter, they just run out of that shelter. So that's another reason why some officers charge them with that charge, not because they wanna punish them, it's—there's no place we can place you. There's no one that will take you. And the detention center will only take you if we put this charge on.”
[Child advocate Alicia] Adams: “As a society you're going to tell me that the only way we can protect these children is to lock them up in jail.”
Britton: “The system is not adequately designed to deal with this type problem.”
Hinojosa: “What part of the system needs to change?”
Britton: “All of it.”
http://esl-bits.net/advanced-listening/Media/ChildProstitution/default.html
My solution to this problem is based on the core of the problem:
child rapist = criminal
child prostitute = victim
Therefore, the criminal should pay for the rehabilitation of the children. Punishment of criminals should be much more severe and they should pay steep fines for child prostitution safe houses and public education programs. This is my preliminary plan and I welcome suggestions to improve it:
Punish rapists and rehabilitate the victims
Change the law so that renting a prostitute aged 15 or younger is classified as a type of statutory rape. The minimum age of consent for sex with an adult should be 16. Eliminate jail sentences and fines for underage prostitution rape victims, however the law should have the authority to send victims to rehabilitation facilities.
No immunity for allegedly not knowing the prostitute’s age
Whether the rapist knew the prostitute was underage is irrelevant. The person paying for sex is responsible for knowing whether the prostitute is underage.
Sting Operations
Dramatically increase police and FBI sting operations to prosecute criminals who rent underage prostitutes. Many police resources used to arrest prostitutes will instead go toward arresting johns who rape children. It may be necessary to hire more police officers. They should have women officers posing as underage prostitutes, entrapment using fake underage online IDs, police posing as customers asking for underage prostitutes, etc.
Jail and fines for pedophile rapists
Mandatory jail time for pedophiles who have sex with child prostitutes. Fines are mandatory and will be docked from the rapist’s paycheck and/or government seizing of rapists’ property.
Rape of child prostitute under the age of 7:
Minimum 40 years imprisonment and mandatory chemical castration for 15 years upon release or option of surgical castration.
Fine of $100,000
Attempted rape of child prostitute under the age of 7:
Minimum 3 years imprisonment and mandatory chemical or optional surgical castration for 15 years.
Fine of $35,000
Rape of a child prostitute aged 7 to 12:
Minimum 25 years imprisonment or option of 10 years prison and 25 years chemical or surgical castration
Fine of $30,000
Attempted rape of child prostitute aged 7 to 12:
Minimum 1 year imprisonment and mandatory 10 years chemical or optional surgical castration.
Fine of $10,000
Rape of child prostitute aged 12-15:
Minimum 10 years imprisonment or option of 3 years prison and 10 years chemical or surgical castration
Fine of $15,000
Attempted rape of child prostitute aged 12-15:
Minimum 6 months imprisonment and mandatory 6 years chemical or optional surgical castration.
Fine of $6,000
Convicted pedophiles should be included in the sexual offender list available to the public. The law applies only to adults, aged 18 and older. Persons under the age of 18, if they are prosecuted at all for non-forcible statutory rape, should be prosecuted under the juvenile system.
Public Education Campaign
A national public safety education office should be set up and paid for by pedophiles convicted of renting underage prostitutes. The office will educate the public about the scope, severity and danger of child prostitution. They will distribute information to the press, place warnings in ad space on print, radio, TV and Internet media. Schools receiving state and federal assistance will be required to teach a workshop to warn children about child prostitution and inform them about safe houses where they can go for assistance if they are prostituted.
Safe houses
A national network of safe houses for underage prostitutes should be built and maintained at the expense of convicted pedophile johns. Prostitute rape victims should be sent to a safe house as soon as they are found to keep them away from pimps and to provide information to authorities to prosecute their rapists. Safe houses should enable children to complete their education, get psychological and career goals counseling and provide a family-like environment. Safe houses for male and female victims should be staffed and supervised by 90% females since the vast majority of pedophiles are men and that will help prevent sexual abuse of vulnerable wards. After an initial time at a safe house a prostitute should have the option to move in with family or live in a foster home but must stay in contact with the safe house until the age of 18.
If some people think these punishments are too harsh consider Britain’s recent child prostitution law change:
“Sex with a child under 13 will carry a life sentence, between the ages 13 and 15 may attract a maximum 14-year prison sentence, and seven years in cases when the child is 16 to 17. The law will regard the child involved in prostitution as a victim and they will not face charges.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/nov/19/ukcrime.childprotection/print
As a final note I believe that if women held 51% of the top government jobs, which is our proportion of the population, we would have a system that is much more compassionate towards child prostitutes and much more harsh against adults who rape them. Sexism is the main reason we have a system that favors child rapists instead of their innocent victims. Please contact your local representative to demand they change the federal and state child prostitution laws to stop punishing raped children and instead protect our children.
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A couple of thoughts. First, the age of entry you cite is specifically for those who enter prostitution as a minor. Second, I'm curious if there are studies that have any effectiveness for sting operations. Research by the Urban Justice Center has demonstrated that stings and raids actually make the situation worse.
On the issue of TVPRA, it's a joke. It's an absolute joke. While the legislation can be extended to interstate trafficking, in order to be granted protection under TVPRA, the victim has to help the police bring about a prosecution. So even for international victims of trafficking, TVPRA is not that useful.
I'd like to see more education of police officers and law enforcement. I've read several studies about this issue, and law enforcement simply don't know how to identify and work with victims of trafficking. Regardless of how they got there, the criminal justice system treats all people essentially the same. And it's really appalling to me.
There's also very little funding for rehabilitation and safe house programs for trafficked minors. I find it kind of ironic that there's such public outcry about the issue of sex trafficking and yet all of the "solutions" don't seem to be doing anything.
***the age of entry you cite is specifically for those who enter prostitution as a minor.
The government web site where I got the statistics stated those ages were for girls and boys, however, Psychologist Melissa Farley also provides similar statistics for the average age of entry into prostitution:
“The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years (M.H. Silbert and A.M. Pines, 1982, "Victimization of street prostitutes, Victimology: An International Journal, 7: 122-133) or 14 years (D.Kelly Weisberg, 1985, Children of the Night: A Study of Adolescent Prostitution, Lexington, Mass, Toronto).” http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/factsheet.html
***I'm curious if there are studies that have any effectiveness for sting operations.
Sting operations are effective in arresting people. For example, I read an ABC report about sting operations that described a one day john sting that resulted in 62 arrests: http://i.abcnews.com/print?id=4488667
***Research by the Urban Justice Center has demonstrated that stings and raids actually make the situation worse.
I’m not sure how you define worse. I would be curious to know if the UJC study found that stings increase prostitution.
***On the issue of TVPRA, it's a joke. It's an absolute joke. While the legislation can be extended to interstate trafficking, in order to be granted protection under TVPRA, the victim has to help the police bring about a prosecution. So even for international victims of trafficking, TVPRA is not that useful.
TVPRA has a lot of problems but it did bring attention to the issue of trafficking, especially sex slavery. And it has rescued dozens of victims. That’s not much but it’s better than nothing. There is a lot of legislation in the process of being enacted to strengthen TVPRA:
http://www.equalitynow.org/english/campaigns/sextourism-trafficking/tvpa/tvpa_en.html
***Regardless of how they got there, the criminal justice system treats all people essentially the same.
Not really, there are big differences in the way prostitutes are treated. As I said, trafficking victims have other alternatives and some police departments are more respectful to prostitutes. But this thread is not about prostitution, it is about child rape victims.
***There's also very little funding for rehabilitation and safe house programs for trafficked minors.
Yes, that’s right. That’s why my plan has steep financial penalties for rapists so that the money can be used to build safe houses.
***I find it kind of ironic that there's such public outcry about the issue of sex trafficking and yet all of the "solutions" don't seem to be doing anything.
I find it sad that there is almost no public outcry. Child prostitution is rampant and horrific yet it is almost never written about in the news. As for solutions working, there are successful solutions. For example, the G.E.M.S. program in New York provides a home and rehabilitation for underage prostitutes (http://www.gems-girls.org/). The documentary “Very Young Girls” documented G.E.M.S. cases of girls that escaped prostitution.
Well, in the case of the Operation Rescue stings, very, very few children were rescued. It was mostly adult and teenage prostitutes who were arrested, not johns. Underage prostitutes (15-16 yrs) were also arrested. That's not helping anyone. Arresting people isn't a blanket cure-all for a social problem. But that's a larger issue I have with the prison industrial complex and the justice system in America.
TVPRA has helped people, absolutely. I believe it's now 900 T-visas issued. However, again, if the person doesn't help the police can a conviction against hir traffickers, it's difficult or impossible to get a T-visa or any safe house protections. The person is put in jail or deported, depending on their immigration status.
***Well, in the case of the Operation Rescue stings, very, very few children were rescued. It was mostly adult and teenage prostitutes who were arrested, not johns. Underage prostitutes (15-16 yrs) were also arrested. That's not helping anyone.
I'm not sure what your point is. It seems you're saying just because one sting (Operation Rescue) didn't work then stings are useless. There are a lot of possible sting operations because an investigator's imagination is not limited. Many pedophiles have been captured using Internet sting operations such as when a police officer poses as a child on online chatrooms and a pedophile asks to meet with them for sex, then the police meet the pedophile at the meeting place and arrest them.
***Arresting people isn't a blanket cure-all for a social problem.
I never said arresting people would solve the problem. That's why my plan, as listed in the original post, is multi-faceted. However, my plan includes steep fines for pedophiles who pay to have sex with underage prostitutes and that will provide the money necessary for all the safe houses that are needed so that child victims are no longer put in jail.
I don't have any statistics on hand to support this, but I think it's safe to say that close to 100% of child prostitutes are runaways escaping from abuse in the home. Kids think that when they run away from home, they're going to be freed from the abuse. But they just encounter the same problems on the streets. And a lot of those boy prostitutes might have been kicked out of the home for being gay. They're too young to get a job, and they can't legally rent a place, so they become prostitutes as a means of survival. Only a complete idiot or a heartless sorry excuse for a person would think that a child would choose to become a prostitute and like it.
I did a report on runaways with PTSD in graduate school, and I learned that runaways can be very responsive to treatment if they're treated like the resilient and self-reliant people that they are. Prison would most likely traumatize these kids further.
"I don't have any statistics on hand to support this, but I think it's safe to say that close to 100% of child prostitutes are runaways escaping from abuse in the home..."
That's in the U.S., right? I've heard of some children being sold into forced prostitution. In Ending Slavery : How We Free Today’s Slaves, chapter 5, Kevin Bales says:
"...Opening markets to the rest of the world also opened new ways to exploit slaves. Reports by the United Nations point to the redeployment of enslaved workers into quarries, cottage factories (making things like matches), brick kilns, carpet looms, and, particularly ugly, the sex trade. Kamaiya girls were sold to sex traffickers from India and put to work in the brothels of Mumbai and other Indian cities, where Nepali girls, viewed as exotic and especially beautiful, are in high demand..."
***I did a report on runaways with PTSD in graduate school, and I learned that runaways can be very responsive to treatment if they're treated like the resilient and self-reliant people that they are.
That's good news that children and teens with PTSD can be successfully treated.
While I agree that the treatment of the victims of child prostitution must change and changing the laws affecting those who are complicit, I am disturbed by your suggestion of "chemical or optional surgical castration" as an acceptable punishment. I'm wondering if there is a reason, backed by studies, that you believe this would be acceptable? In my mind, this is equivalent to forced sterilization that many people wish to put upon women who are sent to jail, and in the past has been forced upon minority women and women of lower socioeconomic status. Many groups would be and are outraged if anybody suggested the mandatory sterilization of a woman for any reason. I'm just wondering how you can justify this. It would be unacceptable to suggest for a woman, so why is it acceptable to suggest it for a man?
Actually, this is already implemented in six states. See http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/138/5/644 for a study of its effectiveness.
From Wikipedia:
"Use of chemical castration
United States
At least six states in the United States (California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, and Montana) have experimented with chemical castration laws. California was the first state to use chemical castration as a punishment for sex offenders. In cases in which the victim is under 13 years of age, California judges may require first-time offenders to undergo chemical castration. After a second offense, treatment is mandatory.[7][8] In Iowa and Florida, offenders may be sentenced to chemical castration in all cases involving serious sex offenses. As in California, treatment is mandatory after a second offense. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed Senate Bill 144 June 25, 2008, allowing Louisiana judges to sentence convicted rapists to chemical castration. [9][10][6] Depo-Provera (Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate), a progestin, is a drug that is sometimes used on sex offenders.[10]
California
Following the passage of a modification to Section 645 of the California penal code in 1996,[11] California became the first U.S. state to enact compulsory chemical castration as punishment for child molestation.[12] This law stipulates that anyone convicted of child molestation with a minor under 13 years of age may be treated with medroxyprogesterone acetate (brand name: Depo Provera) if they are on parole and if this is their second offense. Offenders are required to accept the chemical castration treatment. The passage of this law led to similar laws, such as Florida's Statute Section 794.0235 which was passed into law in 1997.
Europe
Poland is expected to become the first member of the European Union to give judges the power to impose chemical castration on convicted pedophiles, using hormonal drugs to curb sexual appetite. Spain is also considering plans to offer chemical castration.
Israel
In May 2009, two brothers from Haifa, convicted pedophiles, agreed to undergo chemical castration to avoid committing further crimes."
Thanks for the information! I think that all states should offer convicted pedophile johns the option of castration to reduce their sentence. It is virtually impossible for them to have sex when castrated so there is almost zero chance they will rape again. Plus, if they're out of prison they can get a job to pay their fine to provide funding for the safe houses and public education campaign I recommended.
"...Thanks for the information! I think that all states should offer convicted pedophile johns the option of castration to reduce their sentence. It is virtually impossible for them to have sex when castrated so there is almost zero chance they will rape again..."
OTOH, it doesn't prevent them from continuing to hurt kids in other ways. Some people even manage to sexually assault other people with inanimate objects (batons, bayonets, etc.) instead of their own genitals.
***...it [castration] doesn't prevent them from continuing to hurt kids in other ways. Some people even manage to sexually assault other people with inanimate objects (batons, bayonets, etc.) instead of their own genitals.
That's correct but research has found a very low chance that castrated pedophiles will sexually assault children. When I say sexual assault I'm referring to any kind of sexual assault whether it is with the genitals or an object. For example, one study found that in 20 years only 2.3% of convicted pedophiles sexually assaulted a child, but 80% of pedophiles who hadn't been castrated sexually assaulted another child.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castration#As_a_preventative_measure
So, as I said there is almost zero chance that a castrated pedophile will reoffend. And if castrated pedophiles leave prison they can work and pay their fine if they could not before they were convicted which would give more money to rehabilitate victims and educate the public.
Are you aware that there is widespread employment discrimination against ex-offenders? That this discrimination is so widespread that it is one of the leading causes of recidivism (that is, ex cons can't get a job, resort to a life of crime to make a living and end up going back to jail)?
So, where exactly do you expect these men who are not only convicted felons on parole but are also jacketed with a "sex offender" registration to find employment?
UPS won't hire ex cons - nor will FedEx - nor will any company that does business at an airport or a seaport - and many other employers will similarly refuse to hire ex offenders as well.
So, if they're lucky, these guys will end up working part time at McDonalds - and that's not a lot of wages to garnishee, Ms Kallitechnis!
***Are you aware that there is widespread employment discrimination against ex-offenders? That this discrimination is so widespread that it is one of the leading causes of recidivism (that is, ex cons can't get a job, resort to a life of crime to make a living and end up going back to jail)?
Surely you’re not suggesting that child rapists be pardoned just because they cant afford to pay the fine.
***So, if they're lucky, these guys will end up working part time at McDonalds - and that's not a lot of wages to garnishee
You forgot self-employment. Business owners can potentially earn unlimited amounts. Also, the rapists will be fined upon conviction. If they don’t have enough in their savings their property should be seized and as a last resort they would have to pay after they get out of jail.
Considering the fact that American police disproportionately arrest African American and Latino men for just about every offense, what your basically calling for is state sanctioned castration for men of color.
There are obvious civil rights and human rights implications here that I shouldn't even have to spell out.
Before making accusations get some facts about pedophile johns and post them here. Demographics of arrested johns vary depending on the study based on what I've read.
Also, the mandatory castration that I mentioned is temporary (chemical castration) and surgical castration is optional.
Thank you for the information. I am from Michigan and currently reside in Washington and this has never arisen as an issue as far as I know. Thank you again.
***I am disturbed by your suggestion of "chemical or optional surgical castration" as an acceptable punishment. I'm wondering if there is a reason, backed by studies, that you believe this would be acceptable?
Castration has been proven to dramatically reduce the chance a sex offender will reoffend:
"Physical castration appears to be highly effective as, historically, it results in a 20-year re-offense rate of less than 2.3% vs. 80% in the untreated control group, according to a large 1963 study involving a total of 1036 sex offenders by the German researcher A. Langelüddeke, among others..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castration#As_a_preventative_measure
***In my mind, this is equivalent to forced sterilization that many people wish to put upon women who are sent to jail, and in the past has been forced upon minority women and women of lower socioeconomic status. Many groups would be and are outraged if anybody suggested the mandatory sterilization of a woman for any reason. I'm just wondering how you can justify this. It would be unacceptable to suggest for a woman, so why is it acceptable to suggest it for a man?
You have misunderstood my article. I suggested castration for rapists, not all prisoners. I agree that some groups would be outraged about the mandatory sterilization of a woman for any reason, but some people would approve of it to prevent a woman pedophile from raping children. I don't believe women or minorities should be sterilized simply because of their gender and race, I never said that in my article, therefore I have no idea why you are implying it. I made it clear in my article that rapists should have the option of castration to reduce their prison term or that it should be mandatory depending on the level of rape.
Thank you for the information regarding why it may be an acceptable treatment. As I mentioned in my response to Naught above, this was not something I had ever heard of as I am from Michigan, where this has never been an issue to consider as far as I know, and now live in Washington where it is not currently an issue. However, I do still find it disturbing based on the parallels that I mentioned in my previous post.
As for my misunderstading your article, you misunderstand why I find this so disturbing. I realize that you suggest castration only for rapists, however, you say mandatory. The mandatory part is where I start associating this with history. I know you never say that anybody should be sterilized simply because of their race or gender, but that is what occurred in the past. I was not implying that you did support this horrid historical practice, just that I saw links here. The reason I find your suggestion so disturbing is the mandatory part, as I have already stated. Optional, I would potentially support. However, when you are forcibly taking away a person reproductive capacity without their consent (as in the case of mandatory castration), that is when I start having problems.
***when you are forcibly taking away a person reproductive capacity without their consent (as in the case of mandatory castration), that is when I start having problems.
It seems you are saying castration is a cruel punishment for rapists. I understand your feelings, but I assume you also believe that raping a child is much more cruel. So, a lot of people consider castration to be less painful than being raped as a child. Some people would think that castration is not enough punishment for a pedophile.
Since it has been proven by research that castrated pedophiles almost never rape again, this issue is basically about deciding who society should protect more: an innocent child or a vicious pedophile. In my opinion, the needs of the child should outweigh the needs of the pedophile rapist.
This prompted me to finally see Very Young Girls, and i'm SO glad i did. and yes, while fucking a 12 year old is supposed to be the worst thing you can do, none of those men were convicted of child sexual abuse and treated as pedophiles. i think the d.a.'s office was treating the seminar as a joke as much as the men were. It just goes to show the double standard for women - Mary Kay Laturno (sp) has been talked about for YEARS, while these hundreds of men who are CAUGHT (a small fraction) just do a disney ride through the criminal justice system that supports it.
***...these hundreds of men who are CAUGHT (a small fraction) just do a disney ride through the criminal justice system that supports it [rape of children]
I do not have the words to describe how unjust it is that underage rape victims are prosecuted for being raped while the pedophiles who raped them are allowed off the hook. Thank you for your comments. If anyone wants to take action please write your local representative and feel free to copy and paste from my article.
Senators
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Congress
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
Here is a sample letter that readers may use to write their state representatives:
Please take action to stop the criminal prosecution of child prostitutes. Since [name of state] law states that it’s impossible for a child to consent to sex, therefore, logically it is impossible for them to consent to being paid for sex. Thus, the statutory rape law erases the prostitution charge, hence the child is innocent and should not be prosecuted, jailed or fined.
We must create a network of safe houses for underage prostitutes to be built and maintained at the expense of convicted pedophile johns. Underage prostitute rape victims should be sent to a safe house as soon as they are found to keep them away from pimps and to provide information to authorities to prosecute their rapists. Safe houses should enable children to complete their education, get psychological and career goals counseling and provide a nurturing family-like environment.
Finally, pedophiles who pay to have sex with a child should receive mandatory jail time and pay a steep fine, minimum $3000 but preferably much higher. These fines can be docked from their pay if necessary. The fines should go directly to fund the safe houses to rehabilitate child rape victims. And the pedophile johns should be placed on the national sex offender registry.
this is great, thanks :)
We are quick to condemn the police. How about a huzza for Sgt. Earnest Britton of the Atlanta Police Department. We can and should be appalled that his only choice to protect these children is to arrest them, but he is making an active effort to use the only tools given to him to protect and rescue child victims. And he continues to do it in spite of complaints that somehow he should single-handedly pass and enforce some ideal law that he does not have available to him. Thank you Sgt. Britton.
***We are quick to condemn the police. How about a huzza for Sgt. Earnest Britton of the Atlanta Police Department. We can and should be appalled that his only choice to protect these children is to arrest them, but he is making an active effort to use the only tools given to him to protect and rescue child victims.
I am appalled that the only way Sgt. Britton can be certain that child prostitutes will not run away is to lock them in jail to get information from them about pimps and johns. The jailhouse is not a healthy place for a child. It is horrible that we do not have family-style nurturing safe houses for child prostitutes to go to.
A child prostitute has committed no crime. Since the law states that it’s impossible for a child to consent to sex, therefore, logically it is impossible for them to consent to being paid for sex. Thus, the statutory rape law erases the prostitute charge, hence the child is innocent and should not be prosecuted. The problem is that justice system employees are interpreting the laws wrong.
As I said in the article regarding Sgt. Britton, jail is a "flawed option" and it is a traumatic experience for children to be falsely accused of crime when they are completely innocent, humiliated by the incarceration and trial procedures, and they are put at risk of sexual abuse in prisons.
Thank you so much not only for drawing awareness to this issue, but also for actively promoting ways to change current policy. One of the main functions of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, for whom I currently blog, is to advocate at the city and state level for victims of sexual violence, and I will certainly be pushing to take this on as our next policy initiative.
http://nycagainstrape.org/blog/
Samantha, I appreciate your posting about this issue at the Alliance Blog. I'm certain the laws and policies can be changed if more people protest the jailing of child rape victims. -Nancy
Just an FYI that I contacted a local official in my state and found out that it's the responsibility of the police department to charge a pedophile john with the crime of statutory rape. I was told that the only way a judge would know if the john paid a minor for sex is if the police wrote the age of the prostitute on the arrest report and/or charged the john with statutory rape.
This is good to know as we are already working on policy initiatives advocating the collection of more data by the police - including the age of the victim in reported rapes. If we could extend this to prostitution cases, then an important first step will be made. I will certainly recommend this to the Alliance.
Depending on your area and how individual police stations are run (protocol for ticketing, etc.) cops may be unlikely to help at all.
A friend of mine was drunk at a party in college. The party was 'busted' while she was table-dancing. Clothed, mind you. This was 6 years ago. She is still listed as a sex offender on police websites. When she goes to a job interview, she has to disclose that she has an arrest record as a sex offender. Listed alongside convicted rapists, no distinctions are made in presenting her vs. sexual predators.
The 'system' (especially relentlessly misogynistic ones, like most police departments) is woefully inadequate to deal with victimized children. This much I agree with. However, are we suggesting that more programs and advocacy will fix the plight of child prostitutes?
I suggest that the first step in fixing it is perpetrating (somehow, possibly through programs or advocacy =P) the idea that there is a fairly significant difference between a woman being 'lewd' and a rapist or sex trafficker. These people can continue preying on society's 'values' to continue exploiting children under the radar.
As prevalent as you think this misconception is, it is more prevalent than you think.
***A friend of mine was drunk at a party in college. The party was 'busted' while she was table-dancing. Clothed, mind you.
I have no idea what law your friend was violating. A person should be allowed to dance inside a house or in the yard with their clothes on.
***She is still listed as a sex offender on police websites. When she goes to a job interview, she has to disclose that she has an arrest record as a sex offender. Listed alongside convicted rapists, no distinctions are made in presenting her vs. sexual predators.
I had though all sex offender registries categorized offenders by level of risk. For example a rapist would be a different level of risk than a flasher.
***The 'system' (especially relentlessly misogynistic ones, like most police departments) is woefully inadequate to deal with victimized children. This much I agree with. However, are we suggesting that more programs and advocacy will fix the plight of child prostitutes?
Child prostitution can be virtually eliminated in a gender equal society that respects children and has severe penalties for abusing children as well as overwhelming public condemnation of child abuse. Gender equality will take a long time to achieve. However, there are things that can be done now that will dramatically reduce child prostitution and I have outlined a program in my original post. Police must dramatically increase their arrest of johns who pay for sex with children. They must report the age of prostitutes the john used and automatically charge johns with statutory rape if the prostitute is underage. Judges have to implement mandatory jail time and huge fines on pedophile johns and those fines should go directly toward safe houses to care for raped children.
*** These people can continue preying on society's 'values' to continue exploiting children under the radar.
I’m not sure what you mean by that. Perhaps you meant preying on society’s lack of values.
While GEMS is obviously a GREAT program, i was surprised that the judge in the one court trial featured in the film didn't just throw out the case!! She was abducted and forced to submit to statutory rape with 30 different men over four days. There's no doubt in my mind that she didn't walk away with any money from it. So, I agree - the judge should have/should have been able to throw it out.
It also pissed me off that the judged praised her for passing her drug test. What if she had been drugged over the four or five day nightmare?
***While GEMS is obviously a GREAT program, i was surprised that the judge in the one court trial featured in the film didn't just throw out the case!! She was abducted and forced to submit to statutory rape with 30 different men over four days. There's no doubt in my mind that she didn't walk away with any money from it. So, I agree - the judge should have/should have been able to throw it out.
I agree. The purpose of G.E.M.S. is to provide a way out of prostitution for girls who have no family home or legal job, but that doesn't apply to the gang rape victim. The victim's mother was shown in the video saying she wanted her daughter back. Since the child had a home to go to and obviously would not go back to the pimp because she had been abducted and brutally gang raped there, then it was wrong to prevent her from going back to her mother.
***It also pissed me off that the judged praised her for passing her drug test. What if she had been drugged over the four or five day nightmare?
Yes, that was patronizing. The judge automatically assumed that it would have been the girl's decision to take drugs. The child was an escaped slave and should not have been in court except to prosecute her rapists, and even then she should have been given the option of video testimony to save her the humiliation of public testimony.
Also regarding the judge's decision to permit a trial, as I've said before the law specifically states that it's impossible for a child to consent to sex, therefore children cannot consent to being paid for sex. The judge interpreted the law wrong. She had no right to make the girl go to trial for a crime that she legally could not commit. It could be argued that the judge didn't know the girl's age but that's unlikely because she saw the girl in court, the girl's lawyer knew her age and would have stated her age in court so people would sympathize with her, and judges have a moral responsibility to ask the defendant their age if it appears the defendant might be a child prostitute.
this is so true, it was a crime she legally could not commit.
Wow this is insane, I didn't know that child prostitutes are sentence to jail time! See I don't understand how our country can help support aftercare and prevention in developing countries but completely bypass the child suffering through the same types of sicking tragedies right here in America. I'm definitely looking into that documentary, Things like this need to be known and talked about. Shelters and safe houses need to be known as commonly as the YMCA. You can't turn away when something is staring you in the face like that. And it might make some people uncomfortable but once its out in the open it should be easier to stop. Once people know what to look for it will be easier to prevent. The struggle is getting something as disturbing as this into the public eye. Is our society ready to allow that, is our society willing to let our skeletons out of the closet?
"Safe houses for male and female victims should be staffed and supervised by 90% females since the vast majority of pedophiles are men and that will help prevent sexual abuse of vulnerable wards."
Women make up nearly 40% of the sexual abusers of boys. It would be most unwise to do what you suggest, although it is an understandable conclusion that you would think women never sexually abuse children given your political ideology.
I know exactly what you're talking about - I was sexually abused as a child, and my abuser was a woman (my own mother!) - so I know that just because a children's program is staffed by all women does not mean that their will be no child sexual abuse in that program, it just means that the sexual abuse will probably go unpunished, since female sex offenders almost never go to jail.
***Nancy Kallitechnis: "Safe houses for male and female victims should be staffed and supervised by 90% females since the vast majority of pedophiles are men and that will help prevent sexual abuse of vulnerable wards."
Toysoldier: Women make up nearly 40% of the sexual abusers of boys. It would be most unwise to do what you suggest,
The statistics that you provided indicate that men abuse more boys then women do, so it doesn’t make sense to say it would be unwise to decrease the number of boys being abused.
I read the article you linked to and it provided these statistics:
"Twenty-five percent of females reported being molested, as did 16 percent of males. Among female victims, males were responsible for the abuse 94 percent of the time. Among male victims, females made up 38 percent of perpetrators, according to the study." http://www.darkness2light.org/KnowAbout/articles_men_victims.asp
Therefore…
GIRLS
25% were molested
of those who were molested:
94% were molested by men
6% were molested by women
Overall:
23.5% were molested by men (94% of 25% = 23.5%)
1.5% were molested by women (6% of 25% = 1.5%)
Girls were 15.67 times more often molested by men
BOYS
16% were molested
of those who were molested:
62% were molested by men
38% were molested by women
Overall:
9.9% were molested by men (62% of 16% = 9.9%)
6% were molested by women (38% of 16% = 6%)
Boys were 1.65 times more often molested by men
Those statistics show that in a safe house staffed by men, girls would be molested 44% more often than in a safe house staffed by women. Boys would be molested 7.8% more often in a safe house staffed by men than in a safe house staffed by women. These are the calculations:
GIRLS SAFE HOUSE
staffed by women:
3% would be molested (1.5% x 2 = 3%)
staffed by men:
47% would be molested (23.5% x 2 = 47%)
44% more girls would be molested in a safe house staffed by men
BOYS SAFE HOUSE
staffed by women:
12% would be molested (6% x 2 = 12%)
staffed by men:
19.8% would be molested (9.9% x 2 = 19.8)
7.8% more boys would be molested in a safe house staffed by men
So I stand by my original statement that children would be safer from sexual abuse in a safe house staffed by 90% women. Also, the article you linked to says that other studies found even higher rates of molestation by men, so apparently boys and girls would be in even greater danger in houses staffed by men than these statistics suggest.
Also, women almost never rape anyone so even when women do molest, I assume they are not as brutal as men. There are different levels of molestation. For example, being brutally raped causes more physical and probably more emotional damage than being touched inappropriately. The study you linked to didn't document the levels of molestation that male and female pedophiles inflict. I assume, in general, men molested children more brutally than women did.
Here's a radical idea - why not legalize prostitution for sex workers above the age of consent, put a sales tax on prostitution services fees and apply the proceeds of that sales tax to cover social services for underage sex workers?
That would be far better than Ms Kalletchnis's brutal program of Giulianiesque hard prison time and/or castration for men who get arrested in street prostitution sweeps (who - thanks to classic American police racial profiling - are disproportionately men of color and/or immigrants)
Remember, there isn't a social problem out there that cannot be made far worse by involving the police!
***why not legalize prostitution for sex workers above the age of consent, put a sales tax on prostitution services fees and apply the proceeds of that sales tax to cover social services for underage sex workers?
The problem with that is you’re suggesting making someone other than the rapists pay for the safe houses to help child rape victims. The pedophile johns raped children, therefore they should pay for the services to rehabilitate the rape victims rather than prostitutes who, according to U.S. statistics, are often raped as child prostitutes before they become adult prostitutes.
That would be far better than Ms Kalletchnis's brutal program of Giulianiesque hard prison time and/or castration for men who get arrested in street prostitution sweeps (who - thanks to classic American police racial profiling - are disproportionately men of color and/or immigrants)
There are a lot of things wrong with that statement. This is a thread about child rape, not prostitution. I said pedophile johns should go to jail and pay high fines, not johns in general. Also, I recommended different kinds of sting operations to arrest pedophiles, not just street stings. Furthermore, I’ve read a lot of statistics of convicted johns and there is a lot of difference in the demographics of the johns. If you say that most johns convicted in street sweeps are men of color and immigrants then you should prove that with statistics. Also note, in a street prostitution sting the john chooses the police woman so the police women have no way of profiling which johns they arrest. Police generally do stings in areas where there are the most resident complaints.