Essay On Sex Trafficking In America

The DOJ issued a warning stating that: “Among children and teens living on the streets in the United States, involvement in commercial sex activity is a problem of epidemic proportion” and claiming that “Child sexual exploitation is the most hidden form of child abuse in the U.S. today.” Yet, it is an epidemic that has gone largely overlooked and untreated. The truth is, there is no way to be sure how many are forced into prostitution every year here in America. The estimated figure is that 15,000 women are trafficked into the U.S. each year, but that the number of American girls trafficked on American streets is 10 to 20 times greater. The most common estimate mentioned by the DOJ and child protection agencies puts the number at around 300,000-but believe it to be closer to 800,000. The average age of these girls is 12-14 years old. Some of these girls had “normal lives” or normal families that loved them who ran away from home after a silly argument with their parents. Others, were victims of abuse, often sexual abuse-and looked toward the streets for refuge. Those who do not return home within a week are often lured into …show more content…
But they mostly focus on international trade. Our own government offers programs and funding for foreign victims of trafficking but none for domestic. They seem unwilling to recognize that the majority of these victims are not foreigners, but the girls next door. Is it just easier to imagine that they are from other countries and that it can’t happen here to our own? A photo of a sad girl from Mexico sold across the border for sex makes for good fundraising, but few seem to care “about the black girl from the slums of Dallas or the white girl from the wrong side of the tracks.” It is a hidden crime that we turn our heads to and choose not to