Several large sex trafficking cases have occurred in Minnesota over the past several years. One case that occurred in 2010 consisted of investigators from three states, who determined that Minneapolis was the home base of a large domestic sex trafficking ring that comprised of three generations of one Minnesota family (Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, n.d.). This sex trafficking ring was known for trafficking mostly young girls throughout the U.S. (Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, n.d.). Another case was an FBI led operation and 72-hour sting during the summer, which rescued 105 children and netted 152 pimps, or traffickers, in 76 cities nationwide, including four alleged pimps in the Twin Cities (Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, …show more content…
The sample consisted of data from 372 homeless and runaway youth. Researchers found that for females, running away from home for the first time at an early age was associated with sexual victimization by both a stranger and a friend. Whereas, engaging in deviant subsistence strategies, survival sex, and grooming predicted being sexually victimized by a friend. For males, survival sex and grooming predicted a sexual victimization from a stranger and sexual orientation was associated with sex victimization from a friend. Overall, 35 percent of the participants had been sexually victimized and the percentage for females experiencing sexual victimization was two times greater than males when they have been on the street. The results suggest that it is important for early intervention for youth who are new to the streets to occur, increased funding for safe-houses, and drop-in shelters. However, the results are based on youth self-reports and there may have been some over or underreporting that occurred (Tyler, Whitbeck, Hoyt, & Cauce, …show more content…
The purpose of the study was to examine the pathways into and out of CSEC. The results indicate that it is critical to look beyond the mental health impact of witnessing violence and the modeling of the violent interpersonal relationships. Instead, it is important to consider the material impact on the youth and the ways in which not only the lack of emotional nurturance and extreme poverty that is concurrent with family turmoil and dissolution, which places youth at an increased vulnerability to CSEC. This research found that coping and survival is a key theme for high-risk runaway and homeless teens. These findings suggest that future research is needed that focuses on the issue of harm and surviaval for prostituted teens over time. The future research will play an important in empowering and building upon a CSEC survivor’s strengths. However, the research approach was not well attuned to gaining access to commercially sexually exploited boys. The research sample is also not demographically representative of all prostituted teens or CSEC survivors (Williams & Frederick,