Teen Girls Tell Their Stories of Sex Trafficking and Exploitation in U.S.

ABC did NOT refer to "sexual" trafficking they referred to trafficking. While the story they did highlighted the sexual trafficking, the number they used referenced "trafficking" not "sexual trafficking" and there is a difference.

Looking at all the numbers the 100,000 is quite believeable. Every report out there references the difficulty in obtaining accurate statistics because of the very nature of this act.

Sorry but I give ABC the benefit of the doubt in this case because it hasn't been definitively shown they lied or exaggerated, especially on purpose.

Frankly, I find the number quite silly to be arguing over. It's a problem that's growing and affecting all parts of this country.

What does the report of more than 100,000 underage prostitutes with an average age of 11 imply?

You are making this up out of whole cloth.

Go read the origin of this post. It refers to 100,000 women and children trafficked in this country. No where does it say "sexual trafficked" in relation to that number. Moreover, no where does it infer the 100,000 number refers to "underage prostitutes."

You've made that inference and then go on to try and defeat the inference you've made up out of whole cloth.

That is because the media is scaring people into believing the United States has become dangerous since President Bush has come into office. I find the numbers impossible. I mean 100,000 9-19 and the average is 11. How can they even say that? Plus this has been going on forever and only now is getting the attention. It is like everything else in the world, you tell your kids the dangers that lurk around and get them up to speed on signs, preditors etc. It seems to me like these are mostly runaways as has always been the case. OK maybe a few are girls who want the case as in the Phoenix case. Let's not scare ourselves silly here because the media wants us to. Plus we have 260 million people here in America and were talking 100,000 odds are your and my kids are safe (at least from this).

You of course are right. I agree the problem is growing. And I lost focus on that. I applaud that the Bush administration is taking the problem both here and overseas seriously. I had used the term sex trafficking because that was the emphasis of the report. But I would not limit that to mean just prostitution. For instance I would include pornography in that definition.
It also needs to be emphasised that a lot of money is being made from these children and women. And big money always attracts organized crime. These people not only endanger the victims but the communities they operate in.
We are naive if we think prostitution, participation in pornography and the like are always victimless crimes.
And I apologize for losing the point. I think 300,000 at risk is even more chilling than 100,000 estimated. Because if we know there is a population at risk so do the bad guys and they are targeting them all the time.

You are making this up out of whole cloth.

In the context of the story, I’m sticking with my interpretation that it’s sex trafficking. The article’s headline is “Teen Girls Tell Their Stories of Sex Trafficking and Exploitation in U.S.” It goes on to say “International Sex Trafficking Is a Well-Known Problem, But It Happens Here as Well” and “The FBI estimates that well over 100,000 children and young women are trafficked in America today. They range in age from 9 to 19, with the average age being 11.” In the context, “trafficked” in the last sentence can only mean “sex trafficked.” Sex trafficking is defined as follows: “The term ‘sex trafficking' means the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.” (Source: http://www.bayswan.org/traffick/deftraffickUS.html)

The 100,000 figure includes both children and non-children, as it ranges from 9 to 19, and those who have attained the age of 18 are no longer children (at least under the law). However, the average age of 11 implies that there can be relatively few in that number as old as 18 or 19 (otherwise the average would be higher). (Mathematically, at least 78,000 of the 100,000 must be underage (i.e., less than 18) for the range to be 9-19 and the average equal to 11, but realistically a lot more.)

Solson would include pornography in addition to prostitution in the term sex trafficking. However, there can be no pornography without customers either, and it takes many more customers to support a pornographic “actress” than to support a prostitute. So where are all those customers? I doubt that they exist in anything like the required numbers.

Several people on this thread (e.g., lastchance) have said the problem of sex trafficking is growing. It may or may not be; it’s impossible to tell without accurate time-series data, which are in very short supply (as demonstrated by the subject article of this thread). No one’s personal experience of such a rare phenomenon permits a valid statement about whether it is widespread or growing.

My main point remains: stories in the press based on statistics are often dead wrong, and no careful reader can afford to drop his/her defense of skepticism.

"100,000?

Probably. I have no trouble believing it, but I assume that that number includes the many women and young girls who come here from other countries or brought in for jobs that are non-existent."

I agree with you. While I realize that "figure can't lie, but liars can figure." There is alot that is misleading about the 100,000 number. States like Montana and North Dacota, probably have very low numbers of teens involved in this. While states like New York and California have higher %'s.

A few things the Nay-sayers are missing.....

How many "left alone at home kids" are getting lured through the internet? You don't have to be "on the street" to be in the sex trade.

How many more kids are abducted today as compared to 20 years ago? I feel it is higher, therefore I tend to be a "helicopter parent." (Always hovering around my kids)

Last but not least...Maybe it is only 1 in 300 million, but if that kid is yours, and you could have done just one simple thing to prevent it, could you live with yourself. Jacob Wetterling disappeared in a very "safe", family values, rural area. He is still gone. That memory alone, aides in my decision to be a "helicopter parent."

Having said all that, I do think ABC was just looking for something flashy. If they wanted to deal with something that affects a much larger audience, they could have done something on, say, illegal Mexican border crossings, or the ridiculous nature of commiting violence over cartoons!?

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