Frequently Asked Questions
| How many child prostitutes are there in America? |
The epidemic of child prostitution in America ran from 1979-2009. Many of the pimp/trafficking cases in the media today were the result of arrests in 2008 – 2009. Children of the Night was founded in 1979 in response to liberal social and political policies which allowed children to live on the streets of our cities. In the late 70's, Congress amended the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act which prohibited police from arresting children for status offenses (truancy, curfew, runaway). The amendment also prohibited police from bringing children into a station house if there was a risk of the child having eye contact with an adult offender. Congress threatened states that violation of these new policies would result in the termination of federal funding for county and state detention centers for children. The result—thousands of children were left on the streets to fend for themselves. In 1981, the General Accounting Office estimated there were 600,000 American children, under the age of 16, working as prostitutes in the United States. In 2000, Dr. Lois Lee was sought out by government agencies, law enforcement and NGO's to estimate the number of American teen prostitutes working in the United States. She estimated nearly 1/3rd of all runaways had some brush with prostitution or a pimp – thus the 300,000 estimate has been accepted as authority. Today she estimates there are only 100,000 American children working as prostitutes in the United States due to the diligent, well funded Department of Justice effort to investigate, arrest and prosecute hundreds of pimps who preyed upon these children. As part of that effort the Department of Justice created tough sentencing guidelines resulting in long prison sentences for pimp/traffickers. Some pimps are serving life in prison and others are serving 20, 40, 60 or 80 years in prison. Pimps have changed up and now target girls 18 - 21 who have a baby so they can control the girl's visits with the baby based on how much money she earns. Pimping or trafficking an adult (someone 18 years or older in most jurisdictions) only carries probation as a penalty if arrested. In the 80's Dr. Lee worked with California State Senator David Roberti to pass legislation requiring a mandatory 3 years of state prison for anyone convicted of pimping or pandering. That legislation, though successful, was met with opposition because it eliminated a judge's discretion in sentencing. That law may be the toughest state law in the US for pimping adults. |
| What kind of help or care do these children need? |
| America's children victimized by prostitution require intense residential services where they are given an opportunity to be a child – sometimes for the first time in their lives. They need to attend school in a safe environment, to have their medical and psychological needs met and to have access to safe living arrangements when they enter adulthood. Residential care for American children is expensive and often times these children are not as sympathetic or inexpensive to care for as those in other countries. |
| What about government funding? |
In recent months, state and federal lawmakers from around the country have passed bills for federal funding to address the needs of America's sex trafficked children; but the devil is in the details and a close look at these grants show that most of the funds are dedicated to police officer salaries, patrol officers, detectives, investigators, prosecutor salaries, trial expenses, investigation expenses-wire taps and training for law enforcement and social service providers. Only token funding is appropriated for clothing and daily needs of the child victim and the grant awards naïvely state clothing and daily needs will keep children who are prostituting from returning to the pimp. For most of these children, life with a pimp was better than life at home and meager shelter settings cannot compete with the lifestyle afforded through prostitution and association with a pimp. In most cases, the pimp has provided the child with a motive to work as a prostitute and a rationale for deferred gratification. "If you work hard I will put together the money and buy a business and a home and you can have my baby" is a common rationale provided by a pimp. Without sophisticated shelter/home case management and comprehensive social services combined with adequate living quarters, these children will return to the streets because underfunded and underdeveloped shelter/homes cannot compete with the promises of a pimp. Furthermore, these ill conceived federal grants propose job training for children who have never even completed middle school. |
| Aren't there a lot of sex trafficking organizations? |
Although there is so much talk in the media today about the human sex trafficking of children, it is still only talk! We have tried repeatedly to reach the so-called shelters that other organizations claim they have in place for American child prostitutes. But no one answers their telephones, and there are no immediate beds available for the multitudes of desperate children trying to escape violent pimps. Today there is a "craze" of desperate people creating NGO's and hundreds of websites with phone numbers directed to their cell phones and promising rescue and restore efforts for American children victimized by prostitution. Most of these new organizations are lead by people without credentials, fingerprint clearances, or licenses to provide homes for children. And some of these agencies are advocating that State government eliminate the requirement to contact a child's parent for consent when providing housing to child prostitutes. This is a dangerous condition for parents and children who are desperate and have nowhere to turn for help. Children of the Night is the only full-service program in North America designed specifically for American children who have been forced to prostitute right here in the United States – girls AND boys. Most of these children have been forced to prostitute in hot-sheet motels and truck stops and many have been held in jails on "material witness holds" until they testify against a pimp/trafficker. Until they have reached the Children of the Night home, life with a pimp may have been better than home or the detention centers where they have been held. |
| Is there a difference in the impact of prostitution on boys versus girls? |
Boys and girls suffer from violence, rape and other forms of abuse as prostitutes. Boys are forced to also deal with the complexities of sexual identity. |
| What role do drugs play in child prostitution? |
A drug addict is going to do whatever is necessary to get his/her drugs. Most pimps do not want their victims using drugs because the drug becomes the pimp. A pimp does not want his prostitutes spending "his" money on drugs. While most prostitutes are not addicted to drugs, many drug addicts prostitute for money to buy drugs or in exchange for drugs.
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