By Linda A Smith Samantha Healy Vardaman Melissa A Snow

52Shared Hope Internationalminor sex trafficking victims is consistently misunderstood as an acceptance or even complicity in theirexploitation through prostitution rather than a desire to be freed. While there is much to learn from thefield of child sexual abuse — this is where the sexual exploitation began — the level and type of abuse isdifferent and requires a specialized response and understanding in order to foster an environment wherethe victims of sex trafficking can become valuable witnesses in the cases against their perpetrators.Prostitution and Prostitution-Related ChargesThough the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) clearly defines minors involved incommercial sex acts as victims, still juveniles often are arrested on prostitution and prostitution-relatedcharges. Further, the law clearly states that purchasing sex from a minor is illegal, yet this law is notenforced sufficiently.Many children are arrested because they have identification documents which falsely indicate that they areadults. Though law enforcement officers may not knowingly arrest children given the false identification,once identified as juveniles, many prostituted children are charged with prostitution and proceed throughthe juvenile justice process.A sampling of arrest statistics from the 10 assessment sites reveal the reality of minors being chargedwith prostitution — a crime the federal TVPA says they cannot commit without simultaneously beingvictims of domestic minor sex trafficking. Since 2000, the Tarrant County Juvenile Services encompassingFort Worth, Texas, identified 25 youth charged with prostitution — domestic minor sex traffickingvictims under the federal law. These minors were brought into the juvenile justice system on referralsfor “prostitution of self,” though it is well-recognized that juveniles in prostitution nearly always have atrafficker operating as their pimp. 144 In fact, Fort Worth police interviewees confirmed that all six domesticminor sex trafficking victims that they identified between September 2006 and the time of the assessmentinterviews in May 2008 stated they had pimps. 145In the Sixth Circuit Court of Florida (Pinellas and Pasco Counties) which encompasses Clearwater, thejuvenile public defender reported prostitution charges as follows: in 2000, four minors; 2001, four; 2002,six; 2003, one; 2004, three; 2005, three; 2006, three; 2007, three minors (in all, 27 children in eight years). 146However, when viewed from a statewide perspective, a review of the Department of Juvenile Justiceintakes from 2000 to 2006 reflects the much higher numbers of youth referred to DJJ for prostitution asfollows: 102 (2000-01), 75 (2001-02), 57 (2002-03), 69 (2003-04), 61 (2004-05) — a total of 364 children injust five years. 147In Utah, according to data generated by the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts specifically for theShared Hope International site assessment, a review of statistics from 1996 to 2007 revealed a total of 42juveniles arrested and detained on delinquency charges of prostitution (26 minors) or sexual solicitation(15 first offense, one second offense). The numbers of minors charged with prostitution or sexualsolicitation peaked in 1996 with nine referrals, and in 1997 with 10 referrals. More recently, from 2001 to144Stevens, Eve, Smith and Bing, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Assessment Report — Fort Worth, Texas, pg. 63.145Id. at pg. 21.146Reid, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Assessment Report — Clearwater, Florida, pg. 29.147Id. at pg. 14.