Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Teen Sex Trafficking



Via olvlzl in my comments I learned about this article:

In a sleazy hotel room, "Brittany," then aged 16 and drugged into oblivion, waited for the men to arrive. Her pimps sent as many as 17 clients an evening through the door.

A "john" could even pre-book the pretty young blonde for $1,000 a night, sometimes flying in and then flying out from a nearby airport.

None of this happened in Bangkok or Costa Rica, places that have become synonymous with sex tourism and underage sex.

It took place in Atlanta, the buckle of the U.S. Bible Belt, where the world's busiest passenger airport provides a cheaper, more convenient and safer underage sex destination for men seeking girls as young as 10.

"Men fly in, are met by pimps, have sex with a 14-year-old for lunch, and get home in time for dinner with the family," said Sanford Jones, the chief juvenile judge of Fulton County, Georgia.

A new federal law passed in 2003 ensures that American sex tourists landing on foreign soil and hiring prostitutes under the age of 18 can get 30 years in prison.

But in Georgia, punishment for pimping or soliciting sex with a girl under 18 is only five to 20 years, according to Deborah Espy, the Deputy District Attorney of Fulton County.

"Men are coming to Atlanta to have sex with a child," said LaKendra Baker, project manager for the Center to End Adolescent Sexual Exploitation (CEASE).

Read the whole article. It also mentions that teens are more likely to have sexually transmitted diseases (STDS), not less likely. This is relevant because supposedly some johns look for very young girls in the belief that they wouldn't have STDS. Which reminds me of the story that in Africa some HIV-infected men believe that intercourse with a virgin would cure them. Folktales, both of these, and not nice for the teenagers.

Apropos of nothing, a member of the Homeland Security Department has been arrested on charges of seducing a child on the internet.





And then there is this one, also a little related to Homeland Security. I'm getting worried about how they pick the workers there.