Protected Innocence Project - Pennsylvania Fails!

Shared Hope International has recently completed a project called Protected Innocence, based on research performed by Shared Hope International and compiled in “The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking.”  This project gives grades to states for their response to domestic minor sex trafficking, as well as providing suggestions for policy changes.  The Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) has made sex trafficking of a minor a crime.  Federal law defines sex trafficking as the “recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.”

When considering the crime of domestic minor sex trafficking, under the TVPA, the victim’s age is the critical issue—there is no requirement to prove that force, fraud, or coercion was used to secure the victim’s actions if the victim is a minor.  This is key because many minor sex traffickers do not need to use force or coercion.  The victims they target may be vulnerable, due to a variety of factors, including previous victimization, lack of parental involvement, or addiction.  The traffickers need only promise a better life than the one they are living to ensnare victims.

There are an estimated 100,000 American juveniles that are victimized through prostitution per year.

One of the barriers that many organizations are looking to overcome is the labeling of minors engaging in prostitution as criminals.  They are being prosecuted as if they had a choice to engage in this lifestyle.  Victims of domestic minor sex trafficking often end up in juvenile detention centers or runaway youth shelters, where they are not exposed to the type of counseling and treatment that they require.  When minor sexual assault victims are treated as criminals, it enforces their trafficker’s lie that no one cares about what happens to them. 

To be specific, often the traffickers are what is commonly referred to as a pimp.  These individuals may manipulate minor victims into thinking they have a relationship.  This person might be the only individual who has consistently provided food, shelter, or attention to the minor.  This is another barrier for law enforcement and for organizations looking to help victims of domestic minor sex trafficking.

The Protected Innocence Project gave Pennsylvania a grade of 55.5 out of a possible 100, with a letter grade of F.  Pennsylvania does have a law prohibiting human trafficking, but it does not include the crime of trafficking adults or minors for commercial sex acts.  The commercial sexual exploitation of children law does not identify victims as trafficked victims. The law covers promoting prostitution of a minor, hiring a minor to engage in a sexual performance, and unlawful contact with a minor for prostitution offenses.  The law that applies to patronizing a prostitute does not differentiate between a minor and an adult prostitute.  Unlawful contact with a minor for prostitution is a third degree felony and currently has a maximum sentence of 7 years.

Read the full report here.