Domestic minor sex trafficking and the detention-to-protection pipeline

Musto, Jennifer

doi:10.1007/s10624-013-9295-0

Cited by 61 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Americans have the most concern, are the most likely to get involved, and seek the most punitive responses when presented with a scenario in which a minor is being sex trafficked. These results are not particularly surprising in light of legislation on sex trafficking, which does not require force, fraud, or coercion to prosecute trafficking of a minor, and the public view of minors as lacking agency/choice, and therefore being true victims (Musto, ). In line with our hypothesis, Americans expressed more concern when presented with U.S. citizen victims, though victim citizenship did not impact personal involvement or seeking higher penalties.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The public consistently expresses concern about the victimization of children and prioritizes state intervention toward the prevention of crimes against children (Best, ). With sex trafficking crimes, there is little disagreement that sexually exploited minors lack the ability to consent and therefore are legally presumed as victims (Musto, ). This shared understanding of consent does not exist in conversations surrounding adults involved in prostitution; there is an intense debate in feminist, legal, and political circles about what choice and coercion mean in the adult prostitution context (Doezema, ; MacKinnon, ).…”

Section: Dominant Sex Trafficking Victimization Framesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Challenging the Dominant Frame: The Moderating Impact of Exposure and Knowledge on Perceptions of Sex Trafficking Victimization*

Bouché

Farrell

Wittmer-Wolfe

2018

Social Science Quarterly

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Objective Human trafficking problems have largely been framed by political elites and the media as a sexual crime involving innocent victims who are largely women and children. It is unclear how this framing impacts the public's attitudes about the issue. Here, we ask what types of sex trafficking victim frames produce the strongest response among the American public and how does increased exposure and accurate knowledge about the issue moderate the impact of the victim frames? Methods To answer these questions, we utilize data from a unique nationally representative survey experiment fielded to 2,000 Americans in which we designed a 2 × 2 × 2 experiment manipulating the gender, age, and nationality of sex trafficking victims. Results We find the age of the victim has the greatest impact on affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to human trafficking, but that these victim frames are conditional on the amount of exposure a subject has had to the issue of human trafficking and the level of correct knowledge he or she possesses about human trafficking. Conclusion Victim framing in public discourse on sex trafficking does make a difference, and the reasons these frames elicit different responses are complex and moderated by respondents’ exposure to information and knowledge about the issue.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Dominant Sex Trafficking Victimization Framesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenging the Dominant Frame: The Moderating Impact of Exposure and Knowledge on Perceptions of Sex Trafficking Victimization*

Bouché

Farrell

Wittmer-Wolfe

2018

Social Science Quarterly

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“…State and local judges tend to abide by their municipalities' statutes, which could be conflicting even within a state. Without legislative consistency, a DMST victim's adjudication depends upon the laws of the locality in which the minor finds herself and the discretion of the government officials implementing those laws (Musto, ; Nichols & Heil, ).…”

Section: Problem: Transitioning Social Construction and Contradictorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This transition has resulted in positive legal outcomes for this population at the federal level. However, this change has yet to be reconciled with the laws and policies of many state and local jurisdictions across the country (Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, ; Halter, ; Musto, ; Roby & Vincent, ). This unresolved problem has produced conflicting federal and state laws.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Obtaining social justice for victims of domestic minor sex trafficking

Micetic

2018

Sociology Compass

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In 2000, the U.S. Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) which focused on social justice for victims of human trafficking in foreign countries.The TVPA was soon revised to include domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) victims. Two major problems continue to complicate the lives of DMST victims: (1) the transitioning social construction of this population and (2) conflicting federal, state, and local laws that yield inconsistent policies for these youth. The numerous institutions involved with these minors which hold different values and perspectives further complicate the issue. This article examines the effect of transitioning social constructions on this population and the problems, policies, and politics that result in social injustice toward the youth who fall victim to this crime.

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“…I see the point made by some law enforcement representatives who underscore notable changes in the discourse on underage individuals engaged in the commercial sex trade. "Where once they may have been profiled by police as juvenile offenders, they are now, thanks to widespread U.S. attention to human trafficking and the passage of federal and state anti-trafficking legislation, provisionally viewed by local and federal law enforcement agents as potential victims of domestic minor sex trafficking, replete with traumatic pasts and turbulent family histories that authorize state intervention" (Musto, 2013). However, I continue to question whether commercially sexually exploited minors need be subsumed under the human trafficking label or whether it would be actually more beneficial for this population to have its own label and system of advocacy and care.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Low Hanging Fruit: How Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Erased Foreign-born Victims of Child Trafficking from Anti-trafficking Efforts in the United States

Goździak

2020

Journal of Human Trafficking

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I have been conducting empirical research on child trafficking in the United States ever since the passage of the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000. I began by "studying up": 1 looking at existing decision-makers, policies, and programs set up to prevent child trafficking, protect trafficked children, and prosecute perpetrators. Access to trafficked children and adolescents, guarded by their protectors almost as closely as by their traffickers, was impossible and research funds scarce; most of the money appropriated by the U.S. Congress for anti-trafficking activities was spent on direct services to victims or information campaigns. Later on, as I gained trust of service providers, I was slowly able to meet a few survivors of child trafficking and begin "studying down": examining the perspectives of survivors of child trafficking, analyzing the meaning they ascribe to their trafficking experiences, and identifying the matters that concern them as they rebuild their lives in America. In 2005, I received a grant from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and started interviewing survivors of child trafficking and their helpers in earnest. This research has served as a springboard for a book project on survivors of child trafficking (Goździak, 2016). At the time of my first foray into the field of child trafficking, the anti-trafficking efforts focused solely on foreign-born victims of child (and adult) trafficking. Under federal law, enshrined in the TVPA, child victims of severe forms of human trafficking were defined as individuals under 18 years of age who have been induced to perform commercial sex acts or have been recruited, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained for labor or services through the use of "force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude" (DOS, 2000). While the TVPA of 2000 was silent on the issue of victims' place of birth, the assumption was that the law was created to provide services and benefits to undocumented victims who otherwise might have been simply deported. It was presumed that U.S. citizens and other lawful residents already had access to state and federal programs unavailable to their undocumented counterparts (Carr, 2012). However, by late 2005, human rights and child advocates started expanding the category of trafficked children. Victims of child trafficking were no longer limited to foreign-born minors trafficked across international borders. "Advocates argued that there was a class of domestic trafficking victims: U.S. citizens and residents who travelled inside national borders as forced laborersinvariably young people and children used for sex" (DeStefano, 2008, p. 12). As a result of these advocacy efforts, the TVPA was amended in 2008 to include domestic trafficking victims: U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs). This cohort is comprised mainly of persons whom we used to call commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC). More recently, this phenomenon is referred to as "domestic minor sex traff...

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Domestic minor sex trafficking and the detention-to-protection pipeline

Cited by 61 publications

References 37 publications

Challenging the Dominant Frame: The Moderating Impact of Exposure and Knowledge on Perceptions of Sex Trafficking Victimization*

Challenging the Dominant Frame: The Moderating Impact of Exposure and Knowledge on Perceptions of Sex Trafficking Victimization*

Obtaining social justice for victims of domestic minor sex trafficking

Low Hanging Fruit: How Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Erased Foreign-born Victims of Child Trafficking from Anti-trafficking Efforts in the United States

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