Sex Trafficking of Girls With Intellectual Disabilities: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Few researchers have examined sex trafficking of girls with intellectual disabilities (IDs). Drawing from 54 juvenile sex trafficking (JST) cases, this exploratory, mixed methods study compared 15 JST cases involving girls with ID with 39 JST cases involving girls without ID. Findings revealed a disproportionate risk for exploitation in JST for girls with ID, endangering circumstances creating vulnerability among this population, as well as the perpetrator-victim dynamics that complicate prevention and intervention. Complicating dynamics included victim lack of awareness of exploitation and its endangerments, inability of victims to self-identify, and the relative ease with which traffickers manipulated these girls. The disproportionate risk faced by girls with ID substantiates the need for enhanced safeguards to prevent sexual exploitation of girls with ID including stiffer penalties for those who exploit and buy sex with youth with disabilities.

The views and experiences of families and direct care support workers regarding the expression of sexuality by adults with intellectual disabilities: A narrative review of the international research evidence

“…Evidently, there is an increased opportunity and need to fully engage adults with ID in the future development of organisational policies and guidelines related to sexuality issues. Areas that should be addressed include autonomy and sexual decision making, sexual health, LBGT+ relationships, capacity and consent, sexual abuse, protection and safeguarding, developing relationships and responding to potential risks related to use of the internet and mobile phones(Evans et al, 2009; Gilmour & Chambers 2010;Pownall et al, 2011;Eastgate et al, 2012;Gürol et al, 2014;Overmars-Marx et al, 2014;Saxe & Flanagan 2014;Chadwick et al, 2017;McCann et al, 2016;Pebdani 2016;Brown & McCann 2018;Reid 2018). Adults with ID are sexual beings and many are sexually active, policies and guidelines should aim to be enabling and facilitative and be embedded in organisational culture and practice, while reflecting the need to protect and safeguard where indicated(Pebdani 2016;Saxe & Flanagan 2016;Baines et al, 2018;Franklin et al, 2018).…”

Examining Commonly Reported Sex Trafficking Indicators From Practitioners’ Perspectives: Findings From a Pilot Study

“…While some work indicates those who have an intellectual disability (ID) may be at higher risk (Reid, 2016), this did not appear as a strong indicator. There are several possible explanations for this finding.…”

Substance Use, Mental Health, and Child Welfare Profiles of Juvenile Justice-Involved Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth

“…ACEs and other social determinants of health are driving factors associated with entry into CSE (Naramore et al 2017). Contributing factors for CSE that have been empirically documented include the following: familial poverty, housing insecurity, and lack of educational resources (Clarke et al 2012); family participation in the commercial sex industry (Fedina and DeForge 2017); sexual assault and polyvictimization (Fedina and DeForge 2017;Hopper 2017); cognitive or intellectual impairment (Reid 2018); runaway behaviors (Fedina and DeForge 2017); self-identification or being perceived as a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community (Greenbaum 2018); experiences of child maltreatment, most significantly childhood sexual abuse (Roe-Sepowitz 2012; Reid et al 2017; De Vries and Goggin 2018); substance use and addiction (Massey et al 2014;Reid et al 2015); and involvement in criminal activity and the juvenile justice system (Greenbaum 2018). These factors may lead to disrupted family bonds, social support scarcity, and developmental trauma, and exacerbate youths' risk of recruitment by peers or traffickers (Cecchet and Thoburn 2014).…”