Traffick Jamming

Let’s clear up a misunderstanding. Men do not go to strip clubs and use prostituted women so that they can have sexual pleasure. All you have to do is turn on the television to know the truth. The often repeated scenario on television goes like this: man is angry with girlfriend or wife, and in response he goes out with the guys to use a woman in prostitution. It makes him feel like he is getting even with a woman he is angry at. Men use women in prostitution including strippers to express their anger at women.

Several times a year we hear about serial killers who kill large numbers of prostituted women, but they are not found until they kill a non-prostituting woman. That’s because the murder of women who are prostituting is still a low priority for law enforcement, just as the prosecution of Johns is a low priority. It is law enforcement’s failure when they fail to recognize women in prostitution as humans or the men who victimize them as predators. If law enforcement understood the real reason men used women in prostitution, they might be more effective.

In Milwaukee, over a two decade period, 20 women who had prostituted were found strangled. It wasn't until this year that, that police confirmed that a serial killer had been on the loose. The police even had the DNA of the perpetrator, but could not find him until this year. 20 women, human beings, strangled to death, with the perpetrator leaving DNA, and still the police could not find the perpetrator. Let me re-phrase that. 20 women, human beings, strangled to death, with the perpetrator leaving DNA, and the police did not want to find the perpetrator. I know that some police do recognize women in prostitution as human beings, but in this case, it took 20 years for those police officers to appear.

I propose that if Johns were rightfully treated as sexual predators, we would have their DNA, and they would be less likely to get away with numerous sexual crimes without being caught. Law enforcement doesn’t like this idea. Why? Because many in law enforcement use women in prostitution including strippers. They don’t want to have that taken away from them. It is a conspiracy of men. Men continue to protect each other’s “right” to sex from women, even at the cost of women's lives - women who could be their daughters, sisters, mothers and wives.

Did Missing DNA Thwart Hunt For Serial Killer

posted by Elisabeth Rainsberger, blogger for Prostitution Research & Education

Posted by mel at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is an excellent documentary about Oakland prostitution, about 22 minutes long.
Internet prostitution is described by one young woman, and the valuable work of MISSSEY is mentioned.
Ashley, a 14 year-old who "is tired of having sex with all these men," wants out, but Aisha and Mercedes, having been trapped in prostitution for some time, explain that leaving prostitution isn't that easy.
See Cerissa Tanner's documentary here

Posted by mel at 01:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A woman with a history of pimping (and a conviction for pimping in Seattle) has proposed that San Francisco decriminalize prostitution. It will be voted on by San Franciscans this November 4. Measure K, like other such laws, masquerades as a progressive response that would decriminalize women who are victimized in prostitution. We agree that decriminalizing those who are prostituted is a good idea. But this fringe proposal would effectively decriminalize pimps, johns, and traffickers as well. As San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris has said,

Proposition K forces police officers to disregard California's prostitution laws, strips ALL funding to investigate human trafficking rings and prevents my office from prosecuting prostitution-related crimes.

Proposition K conceals the inhumane nature of prostitution and cripples the efforts of law enforcement, human rights groups and social service agencies to assist those who seek escape from sex-traffickers.

See the DA's full statement here and join local and national opponents of Measure K, keep up with press coverage and breaking news. We encourage you to support No on K: Committee to End Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation.

Posted by mel at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Taking On the Traffickers

August 23, 2008
New York Times Editorial

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/opinion/23sat2.html?ref=opinion

The Federal Trafficking and Victims Protection Act of 2000 was an ambitious attempt to rescue women and children who are smuggled into the country as sex slaves and to step up prosecution of the pimps and traffickers who drive this ghastly business. It has fallen short on both counts.

The law is now up for reauthorization, and Congress must strengthen it and extend protections and services to victims born in the United States.

The legislation provides federal funds to local trafficking task forces made up of prosecutors, law enforcement officials and social service groups. The social service groups are supposed to help identify victims and then provide them with the guidance and support they need to rebuild their lives.

According to federal estimates as many as 17,000 people — most of them women and children — are brought into this country and forced to work in brutal and inhumane conditions, often as prostitutes. The 42 federally funded task forces that have been set up have only been able to identify a small fraction of those victims.

There are many reasons for this. Traffickers are experts at moving people around without being detected. They also train the women they exploit to fear the police. The task forces are often understaffed, with too few investigators to do the job effectively. That needs to change if the country is going to get at this problem.

Prosecutors are also having a hard time making cases against traffickers and pimps. Even victims who are not too terrified to testify, must meet a very difficult standard. They must prove that they did not consent to become prostitutes and did so because of “force, fraud or coercion.”

The House reauthorization would help prosecutions by adding the Mann Act’s somewhat easier-to-prove standards that calls for prosecution of pimps who “persuade, induce, entice” women into prostitution. The Senate should add that language as well.

The social service groups that help prostitutes on the streets have zeroed in on another serious shortcoming: the government’s failure to protect and support sexually exploited women and children born in this country. The House reauthorization requires the Justice Department to conduct a study of domestic victims so that there is at least an understanding of the scale of the problem. That would be a start but is not enough.

Congress was right to take on the problem of sexual trafficking. Now it needs to pass a more effective law; one that will provide real protection and help for all exploited women and children.

Posted by mel at 02:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)