More Help Coming to Trafficking Victims

Instead of arresting children who are bought and sold for sex on prostitution-related charges, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has launched a new program for juveniles in Compton and Sylmar that seeks to help them get out of the life.

The First Step Program, will have a dedicated team of prosecutors, law enforcement officers, children’s services providers and victim’s advocacy groups identify children who have been trafficked for sex.

Instead of being arrested and sent through the juvenile justice system, these children will be brought into a 10 week program that offers mental health services, substance abuse treatment, educational programs and shelter.

“We in law enforcement mostly ignored the underlying issues,” said District Attorney Jackie Lacey at a press conference to announce the program. “Fortunately we are changing the way we view these crimes. We believe that minors that engage in sex for pay are victims not criminals. We believe we should help these children, not detain them.”

At the press conference, Lacey was flanked by interim Los Angeles County Sheriff John Scott, high ranking members of the Los Angeles Police Department and representatives from victim advocacy groups Saving Innocence, Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST), Valley Trauma Center as well as the YWCA.

The program will be rolled out in Sylmar and Compton due to the high number of children arrested in those areas. Minors diverted to the program must agree to participate and when they complete it, they will not have a record of arrest. Although the district attorney’s office would like for the victims to cooperate with law enforcement so they can arrest pimps and Johns, it will not be required.

“We hope to save children’s lives,” said Lacey. “And also identify and prosecute the traffickers who exploit these children.”

The news conference capped a recent series of positive steps being taken at the state and local level to combat sex trafficking. The City of Los Angeles will begin posting a hotline number for victims in establishments like bars and emergency rooms, with Los Angeles County soon following suit. Four bills related to sex trafficking soon will be introduced in the state legislature; they call for stiffer penalties for Johns who solicit children for sex, enhancing penalties for gang members involved in trafficking and to expand wiretap authorization for people suspected of human trafficking.

In addition, the Board of Supervisors approved a motion authored by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to fund CAST for a pilot program to increase services for young victims. And recently, a community based service provider, Restoration Diversion Services, celebrated its grand opening to help victims along Long Beach Boulevard in Compton receive counseling and GED certification.

“We are seeing an unprecedented level of cooperation among leaders in California and Los Angeles to combat the issue of human trafficking,” said Kay Buck, CEO of CAST. “It is exciting and reassuring to see this much commitment toward helping our most vulnerable victims in society get out of a life of being exploited by modern-slavery.”

Added Supervisor Ridley-Thomas, “We must bring an end to the sexual exploitation of children that is happening everyday on our streets. We are sending a message loud and clear to the victims that we are here to help. We are also determined to bring severe punishment to the pimps and Johns that perpetrate these heinous crimes.”

For a look at a one-on-one interview with District Attorney Jackie Lacey see the video below:

A Haven for Victims of Human Trafficking


For years, community activist Sinetta Farley saw too many young girls walking the streets of Long Beach Boulevard, a popular “track” for human trafficking. And so Farley was moved to do help the young victims of the sex trade.

She founded Restoration Diversion Services in 2009, an organization devoted to helping young victims get out of the life by counseling to them and helping them find services. This year, however, she finally was able to establish a storefront on the boulevard. It is the first drop in center in Compton that offers victims a refuge from the pimps and Johns that who exploit and abuse them on a daily basis.

Her center, which runs in partnership with the Compton Clergy Council, the non-profits Mary Magdalene Project and Children of the Night, is now open three days a week and offers victims food, drink, shelter, clothing and counseling. It also GED preparation through a program run by Children of the Night, which has been helping children escape the life of prostitution since it was founded in 1979.

“Long Beach Boulevard is the track,” said Farley at the grand opening before a crowd of community supporters, volunteers, sex trafficking survivors and elected officials. “We are in the center of the battle; in gang territory. To meet the girls in their environment is very challenging. We hope to make these girls aware of the services they can have. Now the community doesn’t have to ask, ‘what can I do?’ they can just walk through the door.”

The two-room center, which has a comfortable sofa in the entry way and a conference table in another room, is packed with thoughtful amenities the children might want such as tissues, nail polish, candy, a prayer board with names of victims, blankets and even a few stuffed animals. Throughout, there are inspirational signs such as “Make Your Life Worth Living,” to give victims a sense of hope. There is a computer available to help them receive training for their GED. Only the locked wrought iron door in the front and the constant vigilance by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies are a reminder that many of these children are escaping very dangerous situations.

Sex trafficking victims, whose average age is 12-14, often come from dysfunctional backgrounds and many have neither parents nor loving guardians, and instead have been brought up in the foster care system. Already low on self-esteem, many are “owned” by gang members acting as their pimps who beat them, threaten them and take away any form of identification to make the victims more vulnerable. It is estimated that in L.A. County there are 3,000 children involved in sex trafficking, a lucrative trade increasingly run by gangs.

Changing the perception of these victims in society at large is important, said Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who attended the ribbon cutting. “These children are not prostitutes,” said Supervisor Ridley-Thomas. “Children cannot give consent to have sex with a grown person.”

Indeed, as Brenda Allmond, part of the training team at RDS, put it, “This could be your daughter, your granddaughter, your sister, your mother. We are in a battle for the life of our children.”

Survivors like D’Lita Miller said having a resource like Restoration Diversion Services available at ground zero of the sex trafficking epidemic sends a huge statement to the abusers.

“We are sending a clear message to the enemy: this has got to stop,” she said. “Each and every one of these victims came from a place of broken-ness. This is a place of restoration. It is going to take all of us to change this. I ask you to put down your judgment. I ask you for compassion.”

For more information please call: 310-639-1695
Restoration Diversion Services is located at 208 North Long Beach Blvd., Compton.

Our Children are Not for Sale: Hundreds March Against Sex Trafficking


Chants of “Our children are not for sale!” echoed loudly along a stretch of Long Beach Boulevard as nearly 400 residents, members of church organizations, community activists and elected officials marched from Compton to Lynwood, ignoring a light evening drizzle to bring attention to the plight of children who are sexually trafficked.

“Every day, children as young as 12 are bought and sold by adult men,” said Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who organized the march. “We will shine a light on this despicable behavior. You, who come here days, nights, weekends to buy these girls, we see you. And we will bring changes throughout Los Angeles County and the state of California.”

[raw]The march, which began at Palmer Avenue in Compton and ended at Helen Keller Elementary School in Lynwood, was attended by Assemblymember Holly Mitchell, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, Compton Mayor Aja Brown, attorney and social justice advocate Sandra Fluke and other local officials as well as community residents. Marchers followed a 1.6-mile route that is often the site where “johns” and “pimps” buy and sell young victims. Seedy motels and some businesses along the corridor also contribute to this activity.

Human sex trafficking is a $32 billion dollar business increasingly run by gangs. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that 100,000 children in the United States are sold for sex each year. In Los Angeles, it is estimated that as many as 3,000 children are trafficked.


Sheriff Baca pledged that his department would arrest the men who have sex with underage girls.

“These young girls are victims. Our strategy is not to put them in a prosecutorial place but to save them from those who should be prosecuted,” he said.

At the event, survivors moved the crowd by telling their stories and calling for action.

“As a child, I was bought and sold here on these streets,” said D’Lita Miller, who was kidnapped and raped at 11 and ultimately forced into the life of sexual exploitation. Miller, who is now an advocate for girls, with the organization Saving Innocence, urged the crowd to look at girls on the street with compassion and love.

“I stand here as a voice for the voiceless. These are not prostitutes. These are children of God. Stand up because they need you. All of you here are making a statement.”

Maria Suarez, with the National Council of Jewish Women, was purchased for $200 at the age of 15 and endured years of beatings and sexual exploitation, thanked the crowd.

“It is so beautiful to see everyone here,” she said. “We are human beings. We are not disposable. I encourage all of you to keep on fighting.”

Many residents said they turned out for the march after witnessing too many lewd acts committed by men with young victims in parked cars, or coming in and out of a row of seedy motels and the adjacent alleyways. Much of the activity occurs in front of the school or in the school parking lot when children are getting in and out of school.

The march even drew residents from Long Beach, who said that what happens on the stretch of boulevard in Compton and Lynwood can also affect their own community as well.

“We are neighbors,” said Carlos Valdez of the Coolidge Triangle community in Long Beach, noting that whenever law enforcement cracks down on the trafficking activity in Lynwood and Compton, it gets pushed into their neighborhood. “We know that this can be a cat and mouse game. So we like to get involved.”

Assemblymember Mitchell pledged to the crowd that her first pieces of legislation in January would attack the issue of sex trafficking in California.

“If you are here tonight, that means you intend to do something about this travesty happening in our state and our country,” she said. “Thank you for making a public commitment to do the right thing for our children.”
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D’Lita Miller: From Victim to Advocate

D’Lita Miller stared at a picture of herself at 11, where she smiles proudly, wearing a white dress and pearls as her teacher hugged her on her 6th grade graduation. She was a straight-A student, president of her class, attended church and was all around a good kid.

But only a few months later, her life crumbled around her.

In the fall of that year, she was kidnapped and held against her will for three days by a neighbor and other men who repeatedly raped her. When she was finally able to escape, she ran out of the house, barefoot, to a neighbor who took her to the hospital.

She was never the same.

Miller, now an advocate for young girls who are sexually trafficked, knows “the life” all too well. After the rapes, feeling worthless and lost, she became prey for older men, and ultimately became one of the hundreds of teenage girls that are trapped in a life of prostitution, selling her body to men three times her age.

Now an adult who has been out of the life for 13 years, she works to rescue young victims from the streets, leading them out one at a time.

“I was a victim, then a survivor. Now I am a leader,” she said. “When children are in that situation, they want to be able to relate to someone. I can’t express more strongly, how important it is to have survivor advocates.”

In Los Angeles County, an estimated 3,000 children are trafficked for sex. Some are runaways, others are in the foster care system, others are duped into the trade by pimps and traffickers who pretend to be boyfriends – many have been assaulted and raped early in life, as was D’Lita, and believe they deserve nothing better.

It is an increasingly sophisticated and lucrative trade, run by gangs as part of a criminal enterprise and one that is becoming more profitable than drug dealing.

While much of the trafficking happens online, a great deal of the action occurs along popular “tracks” such as Long Beach Boulevard and Figueroa Street. Along these stretches, in alleys and run-down motels, men pay to have sex with girls as young as 12. On any given weekend night, as many as 1,000 cars line up along Long Beach Boulevard with men waiting to buy sex with girls, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Traffickers are also on site. These gang members and pimps are increasingly violent and have taken to tattooing their victims on the face, neck or legs to further humiliate them and discourage them from running away.

In trainings and presentations she makes throughout the state, Miller helps those working to end sex trafficking — family members, foster parents, case workers, social workers and medical professionals — to recognize the signs of trafficking.

These include: youth who are interested in, or are in relationships with older men; inexplicable tattoos, children who seem depressed, fearful, full of tension or ones who suddenly have access to newfound, unaffordable luxuries such as expensive clothing or jewelry.

Many victims blame themselves for their situation and do not recognize that they are being exploited, she said.

“A young lady I was talking with didn’t consider herself a victim. She wanted to go back to the life. And I said, ‘I’ve been where you are but I know this is not the path set for you.’ In their minds they believe this is their choice. And if they ran away, they believe it is their fault,” she said.

Furthermore, law enforcement traditionally has arrested the girls, charging them with prostitution even if they are minors and cannot legally consent. Because many of their buyers are not arrested, a deep mistrust of law enforcement is created.

“These children watch as the adult man is set free,” she said. “And they are thinking, ‘this is the man who just raped me.’”

Miller remembers those men. Her customers were husbands, fathers, grandfathers, lawyers, politicians and businessmen. They owned homes and were employed. She reflects back on those days and wishes she had received mental health help to deal with her trauma. She longs to address the customers one day in a training session. And what would she tell them? Simply this: “Stop buying girls.”

March Against Child Sex Trafficking

To combat the sex trafficking of children in Los Angeles County, and to put their buyers and sellers on notice that trafficking will not be tolerated, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas is sponsoring an evening march on November 21 along Long Beach Boulevard.

“I encourage anyone who is concerned about the welfare of our children to join us Friday, November 21,” said the Chairman. “A concerned community must turn out to let these victims know we care, tell the neighborhood that this blight will not be tolerated and to send a warning to the customers and traffickers that we are watching you and we will come after you.”

On any given day along a stretch of Long Beach Boulevard that traverses the cities of Compton, Lynwood and into South Gate, scores of young girls can be seen walking along in short skirts and tight tops while older men in cars slow down to arrange a purchase. It continues to be called prostitution, yet in many cases it is not – it is actually the sex trafficking of children.  Trafficking is an increasingly sophisticated and lucrative trade that is now largely run by gangs as part of a criminal enterprise.  With victims often expected to have sex with as many as 20 adult men per night, and a nightly quota set by the pimp to bring in between $1,000 to $3,500 per day, it is also becoming more profitable than drug dealing.

These victims are controlled by pimps who beat them, threaten them and manipulate them into selling their bodies.  They are typically U.S. citizens, including adults, girls, boys, and transgender youth.  Although less common, immigrants may also be victimized. Their buyers also are typical: Married, middle class men with a job and a college education.

As Rachel Lloyd, founder and executive director of the anti-sex trafficking nonprofit group GEMS, said to the Polaris Project, a sex trafficking monitoring group. “Throughout the U.S., girls are being bought and sold by adults to adults. Girls are sold on the streets, in strip-clubs, brothels, truck-stops and with increasing frequency on internet sites like Craigslist and Backpage.”

In Los Angeles County, an estimated 3,000 children are trafficked for sex. Some are runaways, others are in the foster care system, others are duped into the trade by pimps and traffickers who pretend to be boyfriends – many have been assaulted and raped early in life, and believe they deserve nothing better.

While much of the trafficking happens online, a great deal also occurs along popular “tracks” such as Long Beach Boulevard and Figueroa Street. Along these stretches, in alleys and run-down motels, men pay to have sex with girls as young as 12. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, on any given weekend night as many as 1,000 cars line up along Long Beach Boulevard as men wait to buy sex with children.

Click here to download the flyer in English.  Click here to download the flyer in Spanish.

Battling Sex Trafficking in L.A. County

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Introduction


Commissioner Catherine Pratt has been at the helm of Los Angeles County’s STAR Court program, which identifies and supports victims of sex trafficking who are under age and refers them to specialized help. In partnership with the Los Angeles County Probation Department, local law enforcement agencies, counseling groups and foster care agencies, Pratt has helped dozens of under-age girls receive help and guidance. It is a challenging job, where the victims are often unwilling to participate in their own recovery due to fear or hopelessness. Through the STAR program, the court and probation received $650,000 per year in federal grant money for three years. The grant is set to expire at the end of 2014. Although it is a struggle, Pratt is optimistic that more people are realizing the prevalence of underage sex trafficking. This is particularly challenging, Pratt says, in a society where pimps are glorified in popular culture and where men who solicit sex with underage girls are rarely prosecuted. (She once bought the handbook on how to become a pimp, called Pimpology, under the self-help/relationships category at a local bookstore.) Pratt, who has worked in juvenile delinquency for seven years and dependency court prior to that for a decade, is hoping funding for the program will continue and will evolve into more services like specialized housing for these victims.

Q.

    

A.      For the first five years in court, I was in Compton and saw a lot of girls who had been involved in prostitution. Most of these kids would not have homes to go to. They would spend three to four weeks in juvenile hall and return every couple months. They were not going to school or building any relationships. I realized they were spending as much time in custody as kids in juvenile camps on serious felony violations. And then, Judge Donna Groman came to me and asked if I wanted to try out a program where we could think about different ways of working with these kids.

Q.

A.       It is very much like domestic violence. They say that women will often leave their husbands or spouses six or seven times before they are strong enough to stay away and this is similar.

Q.

     
A. In doing the research for the grant, I realized that of the arrests that happened in 2010, 85 percent were from South LA, Compton, Long Beach and Inglewood and 94 percent of the girls were African American. And, there is a big connection with foster care. These kids are pretty disenfranchised. Most don’t have a stable family. They have been in and out of group homes and foster homes and relative’s homes. So, I realized that the key was having them make a connection. That became my goal.

    
A.Well, by working with Saving Innocence, a mentoring program for the girls. Also, the way the foster care system works, when a girl leaves a group home [goes AWOL], the foster home or group home does not want her back. So we sat down with a handful of group home providers and said, “these kids will AWOL and you will take them back.” We would have the girls meet with the group home providers while they were in juvenile hall so that the girls could make some sort of connection with the group home before they moved in. Saving Innocence also meets with them and continues to be with them. That is the way to start making these personal connections and having these kids trust people in authority.

Q.

A.Yes, in the last six years, I have seen an increase in the violence. I think it is because it is a gang related business now. It is very lucrative. The estimates I have seen is that if one pimp has four girls working for him, he can make $1.5 million a year, tax free. And you can sell it ten times a night. With a drug you can only sell it once.

Q.

    
A.      Once a girl gets arrested, the undercover cops know her so the pimps rotate her between the Valley, Pomona, the Figueroa corridor and then Oakland, Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles. The average age they start is between 12 and 14. By the time they come to me in court they are 14 or 15 so they have been doing it for a couple years, which is a long time. But these are girls arrested for street prostitution. A lot of it is done online and we haven’t figured out how to find those people..

Q.

A.The basic step is to say this is not a crime. If you are under the age of 18 then you don’t have the capacity for consent. If you are not old enough to consent to sex, how are you old enough to consent to sell sex? I think changing the law is a relatively easy thing and once there is the political will it can be done. The hard thing is how are we going to provide them with services? The funding just doesn’t exist for it.

Q.

  
A. The truth is that it is a very sticky cultural and political question. Once we start looking at who the customers are they are going to be a lot of normal everyday people and people who have high profile jobs. You are going to have to have a lot of political will to make sure these cases are prosecuted. In the six years that I have been dealing with underage prostitution cases, I have not seen one instance of a “John” arrested in a police report.

Q.

A.I would like there to be a lot more awareness of what this is and that we are letting our kids be used like this. These kids are not as invisible as we think they are. We just have to look.
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County to Help Victims of Sex Trafficking

Hoping to establish clear guidelines and a county-wide protocol for dealing with children that are trafficked for sex, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors asked the county’s chief executive office to coordinate with other county departments to create a plan by the end of the year.

The motion, co-authored by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Don Knabe, directs the Chief Executive Office to bring together the departments of Probation, Children and Family Services, Public Social Services, Mental Health, Public Health, Health Services, the District Attorney and the Sheriff’s Department and come up with an implementation plan.

Currently, the county does not have a protocol to help children that are trafficked and so many end-up without services or help and go back out on the street. The protocol would ensure they are placed in a safe environment, enrolled in school and given proper physical and mental health services.

“We must get rid of the silos and the bureaucracy that hinders good communication and collaboration,” said Chairman Ridley-Thomas. “The County must step forward to provide a uniform service delivery model. Each department must be engaged and actively involved in the creation of the response model.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation determined that Los Angeles is one of the nation’s thirteen high intensity child prostitution areas. In 2010, Los Angeles County Probation Department identified 174 sexually trafficked youth; nearly 70 percent were a part of the child welfare system.

Supervisors Ask State to Stiffen Penalties for Adults Soliciting Sex from Children

As part of an ongoing effort against sex trafficking of children, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has called on state legislators to dramatically stiffen penalties for adults convicted of soliciting and having sex with children. Acting on a motion sponsored by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Don Knabe, the board asked the state to substantially raise fines so that California becomes the most expensive state in the nation in which to be convicted of soliciting sex from children. The same motion also calls for improved services and treatment for the victims.

Several speakers addressed the board about the ongoing problem of child sex trafficking and the challenges of cracking down on so-called “Johns,” including District Attorney Jackie Lacey, Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell, Compton Mayor Aja Brown, the head of the LA County Probation Department’s sex trafficking unit Michelle Guymon as well as a survivor, Jessica Midkiff. Midkiff said she was groomed for work on the streets at age 11 and escaped shortly before turning 21.

“This motion represents a change in our view as to who are the true victims of these crimes and who are the true criminals,” said Lacey. “This motion addresses the market. That “John” who is out there trolling for a child should be treated more harshly by the system. If you are out there specifically looking for sex with a child you should not be treated as if you’re out there looking for sex with an adult.”

Chairman Ridley-Thomas announced that California State Senator Darrell Steinberg, Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell and Assemblyman Ted Lieu have indicated their support for a state bill addressing the demand side of child sex trafficking. In addition, in accordance with a request from the Los Angeles District Attorney, the motion asks that the law be amended so that not knowing a victim’s age cannot be used as a legal defense.

“When adults engage in sexual acts with children it should be called what it is: statutory rape,” said Supervisor Ridley-Thomas. “These are children, and children cannot consent. There have been strong efforts to appropriately punish sex traffickers, and there are efforts afoot to provide more services and treatment to the victims – mostly girls. But what’s missing from this equation are efforts to halt the demand for these children and meaningful consequences for their predators; that’s what we’re doing today.”

Supervisor Knabe said: “We have a good opportunity now, as the new legislative season in Sacramento is gearing up, to continue to promote awareness of this horrific crime and develop effective legislation to help the victims and go after the scumbags who purchase and sell girls for sex,” he said. “We must address the “demand” side of this crime and make the penalties severe enough so that these “Johns” don’t continue to be nameless and free of any criminal record, while the girls are criminalized. No 12-year-old little girl is choosing this life and we must do everything we can to protect them.”

Every day, children – primarily girls – as young as 10 years-old are being coerced and sold into prostitution in Los Angeles County and in counties throughout the state. According to experts in the field, the average life expectancy of these children once they enter the sex trade is seven years, due to the ravages of HIV/AIDS and the violence to which they are regularly subjected. At the low end, a victim could make $3,500 a week while some victims earn as much as $1,000 a day, making child sex trafficking a highly lucrative business increasingly run by gangs.

“Like narcotics, we’re seeing the proliferation of sex trafficking being put forth by the gangs. We’re seeing girls as young as nine or 10,” said McDonnell. “The pimps set the minimum for them to make, they stay out there until they do or they’re beaten.”

The men who solicit sex from children, however, often are not arrested and prosecuted, and even when they are, typically face only a proverbial slap on the wrist. The motion, asks lawmakers to amend the state penal code to make soliciting sex with a minor a felony. It also requires the “customers” to register as sex offenders and increases the fine from $1,000 to $10,000. It calls on law enforcement to refocus its priorities and actively arrest and prosecute these predators.

“The buyers of sex can be anyone,” said Guymon. “They are professionals, tourists, the diversity of buyers allows them to blend into our communities. The majority are men, usually they are married, hold a good job and have an average to high IQ.” Evidence suggests that predators are seeking to have sex with younger girls who are perceived to be both healthier and more vulnerable.

Helping the survivors and changing the perception of young girls who are trafficked is essential, said Midkiff.

“For every teenage girl there were 20 adult customers per night who were purchasing her. This equals up to 140 customers per week for one single girl,” she said. “As long as sex buyers are prowling the streets and lurking in the internet demanding sex without any perceived consequences, we will not curtail this problem.”

Ridley-Thomas, Knabe Call for Stronger Penalties for Adults Soliciting from Children

In an unprecedented step in the fight against sex trafficking, Los Angeles County Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Don Knabe are calling on state legislators to dramatically stiffen penalties for adults convicted of soliciting sex from children. There have been numerous efforts over the past several years to combat the growing scourge of sex trafficking, but the majority of those efforts at the local and state level have focused either on the pimps who exploit the girls, or on providing treatment and help for the victims. While these efforts are to be applauded, there is a loophole that must be closed with regard to the so-called “Johns” – whose punishment should fit their crime, according to a board motion by Ridley-Thomas and Knabe.

Every day, children – primarily girls – as young as 10 years-old are being coerced and sold into prostitution in Los Angeles County and in counties throughout the state. According to experts in the field, the average life expectancy of these children once they enter the sex trade is seven years, due to the ravages of HIV/AIDS and the violence to which they are regularly subjected. The men who solicit sex from children, however, often are not arrested and prosecuted, and even when they are, typically face only a proverbial slap on the wrist. But this is not consensual sex; it is child molestation and rape, and the punishment should fit the crime. Only the state legislature, however, can mandate criminal penalties.

The motion, to be presented Tuesday, authored by Supervisors Ridley-Thomas and Knabe, asks lawmakers to amend the state penal code to make paying for sex a felony, rather than a misdemeanor, if the victim is a minor. It also requires the “customers” to register as sex offenders, and increases the fine from $1,000 to $10,000. And it calls on law enforcement to refocus its priorities and actively arrest and prosecute these predators.

“I am proud of the work Los Angeles County has done over the past 18 months to bring awareness to the horrific crime of child sex trafficking,” said Knabe. “However, in addition to doing all we can to protect the young victims, we must aggressively penalize those who solicit girls for sex and ensure they are the ones prosecuted, not the victims.”

In addition, the motion calls on the board to support federal legislation currently under consideration that would strengthen federal laws against child sex trafficking.

Chairman Ridley-Thomas emphasized that all levels of government and law enforcement must work together to protect these children, mainly girls, from being exploited and terrorized. While children cannot legally consent to sex, they are often charged with a prostitution related offense and become enmeshed in the criminal justice system.

“This is not a victimless crime,” said Chairman Ridley-Thomas. “These are children who are being exploited for the enjoyment of unscrupulous men, and it is our duty to protect them. To that end, California should step up and create the toughest laws in the nation that will either deter or, if necessary, punish those who purchase children.”

Helping Victims of Human Trafficking

When Michelle Guymon first heard the term “sex trafficking,” she figured it was not her problem. After all, as a probation officer in Los Angeles County, she had no control over what happened in faraway places like Thailand or Belarus.

“The only thing I knew about trafficking was that it was a bad thing happening to kids in other countries,” she said. “I had heard about them on TV.”

But to her dismay, she quickly learned that these girls were here in Los Angeles. Even worse, she had been dealing with them for years as a probation officer and therapist helping kids through childhood traumas and their arrests as prostitutes. Like many in law enforcement, she just didn’t comprehend it.

“I realized that these were the girls that I had always worked with. They were being exploited sexually rather than being a teenage prostitute,” she said. “I think looking back on it, that realization was a hard moment. There were things I could have done better to move them forward and help them along that path, if I had known better. Now that I know better, we have to do better.”

And do better, she has. As the head of the Probation Department’s Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Project, Guymon is one of the key players in getting better services to the young victims as they enter the probation system. She was instrumental in applying for a state grant that allowed the county to begin a separate court program that diverts young girls away from incarceration and into programs and therapy that might help them get out of the life of commercial sexual exploitation. She has also established a pilot program in South Los Angeles—the epicenter of the sex trafficking problem—to create a safety net with a protocol for these girls.

Addressing the issue of human trafficking is a priority for Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas.

“I intend to do everything in my power to address this problem and help these young people leave conditions that absolutely no one should endure,” said Chairman Ridley-Thomas.

There is much, however, that can be done. Through her work Guymon came to realize that before girls are trafficked they come into contact an average of 33 times with local authorities — whether it is through law enforcement agencies,  social workers  or health care workers. Both the officials coming into contact with the girls and the community at large need more education in order to help them. Most importantly, these girls must be seen as victims—not as criminals. The average age of girls coerced or forced into sex work is 12, and for many, the consequences are tragic. In just the last two months, one victim of sex trafficking was found dead in the sands of Newport Beach and another burned to death in South LA.

“Young girls go to the emergency room and to public health clinics—that is a huge point of contact,” she said. “If nurses and health practitioners knew and they asked, ‘wait a minute, why is this girl at 15 here by herself, why is she beat up?’ Then when she comes in contact with people, different questions will be asked.”

Ideally, Guymon would like the county to launch similar public awareness campaigns on sex trafficking as the domestic abuse and the Safe Surrender Don’t Abandon Your Baby campaigns. Also, the laws have to change. Some progress has been made with the passage of Proposition 35 ordering tougher sentencing laws against traffickers. However, girls are still treated like criminals, arrested for prostitution, sent through the criminal justice system and are punished more severely than the clients paying to have sex with them.

“These kids run a lot. So the more people are aware, the more we can make services available sooner,” she said. “Right now there is no countywide educational outreach.”

Growing up in Utah, she realized how sheltered her life had been when she moved to Los Angeles to work in a group home as the recreational director. Although she originally wanted to be a women’s college basketball coach, she found her true calling was working with at-risk kids. In 1989, she joined the probation department and has not looked back since.

As a ball player at the University of Utah, her father always told her she was better on offense than defense. Although she no longer plays basketball, she is still better at offense—especially when it comes to helping out these young girls. She has learned from her mistakes. She no longer asks them too many questions about their traumas; too many of the kids she saw began unraveling when she delved too deeply into their pain. She no longer believes these kids should be locked up to be protected. Instead, she could be seen as a lighthouse, where kids can seek her out when they are ready to find their way.

“You have to get to a place where you believe in their resilience and make a strong connection with these kids and love them through it,” she said. “No matter how many times they run, they can always reach back and we will always be there to support them. That is the best thing we can do.”