[StBernard] La. sex trafficking targeted

[Westley Annis]

La. sex trafficking targeted
By KIMBERLY VETTER AND STEVEN WARD
Advocate staff writers
Published: Jun 18, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.
Comments (2)
Girls and boys are being sold for sex in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, a
federally funded report released Tuesday says, even though no one yet has
been charged in Louisiana under federal or state sex-trafficking laws.

The problem intensified in the days after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, with
relief workers soliciting the services of the enslaved children, the report
says.

State and nonprofit agencies have served at least 100 victims of sex
trafficking in the area since 2006, says the report, conducted by the
nonprofit Shared Hope International.

Staff members at Youth Oasis, a Baton Rouge shelter, say in the report that
57 percent of the 157 minors they served in 2006 qualified as
sex-trafficking victims.

The state Office of Community Services reported 35 instances of parents or
caretakers being involved in the prostitution of their children since 2006.

Founded by Linda Smith, a former U.S. congresswoman, Shared Hope
International was organized 10 years ago to help women and children caught
in the sex-trafficking trade.

The organization's report on domestic sex trafficking of minors was funded
by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs and the Bureau
of Justice Assistance.

The purpose was to examine the identification of child victims of domestic
sex trafficking and the access to services for those victims in 10 U.S.
locations, include the Baton Rouge/New Orleans area.

The Louisiana area was chosen because of an influx of sex trafficking to the
area after Hurricane Katrina, Smith said in a Tuesday telephone interview.

"When Katrina happened, sex traffickers moved into the area because there
were buyers in the relief workers," she said, adding that there also was a
vulnerable population of girls who could be persuaded to join the
sex-trafficking trade.

Three Toledo, Ohio, men were recently convicted of several sex-trafficking
charges in a Pennsylvania court for selling minors for sex in several
states, including Louisiana, Smith said. The traffickers were targeting
relief workers.

"They are very proud of their business model," she said. "Their attitude is,
we are businessmen, that's what we do and that's what we sell, and, in this
case, they were selling kids who were devastated by Katrina."

No such cases have been prosecuted in Louisiana, the report says, primarily
because state laws don't parallel federal laws.

The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, passed in 2000, says victims
of human trafficking cannot be held accountable for crimes committed while
they were victimized.

The law also removes the requirement to prove fraud or coercion when the
victim is a minor.

Louisiana's anti-trafficking law, passed in 2005, does neither. As a result,
victims are brought before the juvenile court system on charges related to
their exploitation, the report says.

"The result is a mislabeling of trafficked minors as delinquents, child
prostitutes, sexual abuse victims, runaways, etc.," the report says. "The
various labels can cause conflict and confusion between relevant agencies
and can lead to inappropriate treatment and placement of a victim."

Area officials involved with The Louisiana Human Trafficking Task Force said
Tuesday they agree with the report's findings but added that cracking a
sex-trafficking case is difficult because victims often don't want to
cooperate.

Katherine Green, a Baton Rouge attorney who works with the task force, said
the girls being sold are terrified.

"There was a point when young girls would be forced to get the name of their
pimp tattooed on the back of their neck," she said. "There are cases now
where some (victims) do that on their own."

According to the report, a mixture of fear and affection frequently develops
between the child victim and the perpetrator.

"A known tactic of traffickers/pimps is to systematically employ a
combination of violence, affection and survival dependency against the
child," the report says.

Bobby Gaston, manager of special programs for the Louisiana Sheriff's
Association, which works with the state's human trafficking task force, said
sex-trafficking victims usually have other issues going on in their lives.

"Usually these girls have a drug problem. They are runaways. But then they
are taken advantage of," Gaston said.

As a result, he said, they "clam up," making it "hard to make a case."

Educating all arms of law enforcement and first responders about the
characteristics of a sex-trafficking victim is key to putting the sex
traffickers behind bars, Smith said, adding that her organization will be
offering training in September.

Green said law enforcement has to start asking why a young girl or boy would
be involved in that kind of life.

"When you see a young woman or girl who looks like a prostitute, think about
it," she said. "There may be more to it than you think."

To report a sex-trafficking case, call (888) 373-7888.

  
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