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11 Overall Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 371-398

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From page 371...
... Commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors should be understood as acts of abuse and violence against children and adolescents.
From page 372...
... After reviewing the evidence, the committee came to the following overall conclusions: • There is substantial and compelling evidence that commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States are serious problems with immediate and long-term adverse consequences for children and adolescents, as well as for families, communities, and society as a whole. • Efforts to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States are essential but largely absent.
From page 373...
... If acted upon in a coordinated and comprehensive manner, the committee's recommendations have the potential to advance and strengthen the nation's emerging efforts to address commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States. The result would be a significant step forward in improving the prevention and identification of and responses to these crimes.
From page 374...
... Therefore, the committee makes the following recommendation: Recommendation 1: The Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Education, work ing with other partners, should increase awareness of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors by supporting the development, implementation, and evaluation of •  national, regional, state, and local evidence-informed training for professionals and other individuals who routinely interact with children and adolescents; •  ational, regional, state, and local public awareness campaigns; n and •  pecific strategies for raising awareness among children and s adolescents. All training activities and public awareness campaigns should be carefully designed to engage the public and service providers to act on the behalf of victims and survivors without doing further harm.
From page 375...
... In addition, as noted in Chapter 10, training activities need to be ongoing to ensure that training levels are sustained among professionals in fields that experience high rates of turnover and/or transfers. Based on its overall conclusion that efforts to address the commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors should build on the core capacities of various individuals and entities, the committee encourages the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
From page 376...
... As noted in Chapter 8, for example, schools could build upon current policies, programs, and resources that promote student health and well-being, many of which have proven efficacy, to develop effective, evidence-based programs for preventing, identifying, and addressing commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors. Further, the committee found that child and adolescent victims and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking may not view themselves as victims.
From page 377...
... , the committee concluded that current laws are inadequate to prevent, identify, and respond to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors. Therefore, the committee urges states and local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions to develop laws that, at a minimum, • prevent commercially sexually exploited children and adolescents from being arrested or prosecuted for prostitution; • provide victims and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors with needed support services; and • apply to children and adolescents at least up to age 18.
From page 378...
... The committee learned about a number of laws and emerging law enforcement strategies designed to address commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors, as reviewed in Chapters 4 and 5. For example, the Illinois Safe Children Act has provisions that enhance detection and investigation of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors using tools such as wiretapping.
From page 379...
... Other tools that may enhance prosecution of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking cases include permitting prosecution of solicitors/ purchasers regardless of whether they knew or should have known the victim's age -- so-called strict liability laws -- and imposing stricter penalties for facilitators of these crimes, such as taxi and limousine drivers. In addition to reviewing, strengthening, and implementing laws that respond to victims/survivors and exploiters after crimes have occurred, the committee urges state, local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions to consider how laws can be used to help prevent commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors.
From page 380...
... Based on difficulties entailed in measuring crime in general and in measuring commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors specifically, however, the committee concluded that it would not be useful to devote substantial resources to refining estimates of the problems' overall prevalence. At the same time, the committee concluded that more needs to be known about the prevalence of these crimes among and the associated needs of certain vulnerable and difficult-to-reach populations, including but not limited to boys; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)
From page 381...
... The committee recommends that particular attention be paid to understanding and developing interventions to address known risk factors, such as child abuse, sexual abuse, and separation of the child or adolescent from the home, including homelessness, that are associated with victimization through commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. As described in Chapter 3, the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study found that child sexual abuse affects 25 percent of women and 16 percent of men.
From page 382...
... The committee is equally committed to the need to develop effective strategies for identifying and assisting minors who are victims and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Strategies are needed for identifying minors victimized by these crimes where they come in contact with adults, such as schools and clinics, as are multisector strategies for meeting their many needs, such as safe housing; medical and mental health care, including substance abuse treatment; and rehabilitation to attain the skills needed for success in society.
From page 383...
... The committee believes comprehensive, coordinated approaches that bring together resources from multiple sectors will be most effective in identifying victims and survivors and in meeting their challenging needs. The committee heard testimony from several multisector groups that are working to identify and meet the needs of children and adolescents who are at risk of or are victims/ survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking, with leadership from many different sectors, ranging from law enforcement to victim services.
From page 384...
... For example, local police departments, which represent more than 12,000 of the 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States (Reaves, 2011) , may encounter commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors with less frequency than larger police departments.
From page 385...
... It is the committee's hope that the recommendations in this report will make a substantial contribution to the OJJDP's current and future efforts to address the complex problems of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States and help in making significant gains toward attaining this vision. Efforts to prevent, identify, and respond to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States are at the same developmental stage that efforts to deal with physical and sexual abuse of children were in during the 1970s, when a handful of multidisciplinary approaches for addressing those problems were emerging around the United States.
From page 386...
... 3-7 Substance use is a risk factor for commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors and also may perpetuate exploitation. 5-1 Law enforcement personnel at all levels often are the first to respond to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking cases involving minors.
From page 387...
... 4-12  Further attention is needed to the intersection of laws and the educa tion, housing, and employment needs of both children and adoles cents who are vulnerable to and those who have been victimized by commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking to ensure that their needs are met. 4-13  Existing provisions of state laws criminalizing prostitution have been used to arrest and prosecute minors whose actions fall within the technical ambit of these laws even when these children and ado lescents are in fact victims of commercial sexual exploitation or sex trafficking.
From page 388...
... 5-10  The judiciary, juvenile justice agency personnel, and prosecutors should all have the opportunity to use their discretion to refer youth identified as victims of commercial sexual exploitation and sex traf ficking to appropriate treatment services. Recommendation 3: All national, state, local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions should review, strengthen, and implement laws that hold exploiters, traffickers, and solicitors accountable for their role in commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors.
From page 389...
... to enhance esti mates of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors that may not involve law enforcement (e.g., instances in which police are not notified or the crime is not recognized)
From page 390...
... 3-9  general, an integrated public institutional response to commercial In sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors is lacking. 4-11 Further research is needed to examine whether child welfare agen cies have the necessary resources and are adequately prepared to meet the needs of minors who are victims and survivors of commer cial sexual exploitation or sex trafficking in states that have adopted, or are considering adoption of, a requirement for universal or wide spread reporting of cases of commercial sexual exploitation or sex trafficking of minors under child abuse reporting laws.
From page 391...
... 9-5 Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of existing commercial-sector initiatives aimed at supporting efforts to prevent, identify, and respond to commercial sexual exploitation and sex traf ficking of minors, with a view to developing models or best practices for commercial-sector entities seeking to address these crimes. Recommendation 5: The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delin quency Prevention, in collaboration and partnership with national, state, local, tribal, and territorial governmental and nongovernmental entities, should develop continued
From page 392...
... 10-6  Broad-based multisector and interagency collaborative approaches that are victim centered and tailored to the unique needs and circum stances of victims/survivors and their communities appear to hold the most promise for positively impacting commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States. Recommendation 6: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention should create and maintain a digital information-sharing platform to deliver reli
From page 393...
... 6-5 Broad consensus exists among professionals in each sector that serves victims/survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking that there are too few services available to meet current needs, and that services that do exist are unevenly distributed geo graphically, lack adequate resources, and vary in their ability to pro vide specialized care to victims/survivors of these crimes. NOTE: The supporting evidence in this box consists of the findings and conclusions presented in Chapters 2-10, which bear the numbers shown in the box.
From page 394...
... (Recommenda tion 4) •  irect states to review and amend, as appropriate, state laws addressing D commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States to ensure that exploited and trafficked children and adolescents are treated as victims/survivors, not criminals, and to promote reduction of demand.
From page 395...
... National, State, and Local Bar Associations •  xamine and report on the impact of existing and emerging federal, E state, and local laws addressing commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States. Particular attention needs to be focused on new laws that redirect young victims and survivors of com mercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking from arrest and prosecution as criminals or adjudication as delinquents to systems, agencies, and services equipped to meet their needs.
From page 396...
... (Recommendation 1) •  everage core capacities to support prevention, identification, and re L sponse efforts of law enforcement, social services, and other governmen tal and nongovernmental organizations working to address commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States.
From page 397...
... 2012. Workshop presentation to the Committee on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States, on Salvation Army STOP-IT, July 11, 2012, Chicago, IL.


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