I can't even make a joke about this.
A: Toledo, Ohio.
Other than Peoria, Illinois, I can’t think of a place more frequently thought of as “typically middle-American” than Ohio. Which makes the latest report about human trafficking even more disturbing. And it’s really fucking disturbing to begin with.
According to a study conducted in 2008 with the cooperation of state and federal law enforcement, state agencies, and led by researchers at the local university, Toledo (population 316,000; the metropolitan area more than doubles that figure) is the fourth largest hub in the United States for human trafficking–and the largest, on a per capita basis.
Although the researchers themselves admit that their numbers are soft, they indicate that close to 1100 young Ohioans and nearly 800 foreign citizens were victims of trafficking, either for sex or forced labor, last year. They also estimate more than 6,000 others were “at risk” of being victimized. I fear those numbers are low-balls. While the vast majority of trafficked people are women and girls, boys and young men, often gay, are targeted, as well as transgender people, undocumented workers, and others already at a disadvantage (I realize there’s overlap among these groups).
The study indicates that Toledo’s easy access to and from Canada, and its location at the convergence of a number of major highways, make it a natural “distribution” site for traffickers moving their merchandise throughout the nation.
Weak laws concerning trafficking compound the problem. Battery and solicitation charges are rarely pursued, except when prostituted women and children are arrested, of course. Ohio governor Ted Strickland signed an anti-trafficking bill into law last year, but thanks to opposition from the state’s Prosecuting Attorneys Association (why, WHY?), it doesn’t treat trafficking as a crime on its own, merely as a way to tack on penalties for those charged with “real” crimes, like selling drugs or producing child pornography. Supercalifragilisticexpialifuckme.
Toledo’s nasty reputation isn’t new news; the city was implicated in an interstate child prostitution ring back in 2005. I don’t know whether to hope that the data collected in the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study will lead to better laws–and better enforcement of current laws–to prevent this exploitation and care for those who have already been victimized.
If you’re an Ohioan, you might see what you can do to be part of the solution to this horrible state of affairs (donate, lobby, etc.). If you’re in the business of paying for sex, you might reconsider that practice. In any case, you might read up on the facts here (PDF).
This story, coupled with the story about the security guards watching a 15 year old girl get assaulted in Seattle seemed to suggest I should put the news away for a bit.
I’d happily repurpose the Rockefeller laws so that if you get caught doing even a little human trafficking, your ass goes to jail for 20 years. We’ll put someone away for a long time over selling a bag of crack but not over selling an underage girl? SHEEEEEEEIT.
Is there some sort of jurisdictional reason why the Prosecuting Attorneys Association would oppose an anti-trafficking bill? Is there something weird about the bill? I echo you: “Why? WHY?”
I don’t know, Odonata. I was hoping some of our great legal minds could weigh in. This is definitely outside of my area of expertise.
On its surface, I can’t imagine why they’d be so hostile to it. I’d have to read the text.
Middle America is a scary, scary place.
I have no idea what Seattle’s problem is.
All the terror, abuse, beatings…all that is NOT A CRIME? What sick fuck thinks that this is ok? Because they are women and children? Is it that sick mantra of “oh they will have sex eventually anyway?”
Fuck that. And because it’s gay men and people who are immigrants it’s not our problem? Excuse me? This is a terrifying world we live in.
thanks to opposition from the state’s Prosecuting Attorneys Association (why, WHY?), it doesn’t treat trafficking as a crime on its own, merely as a way to tack on penalties for those charged with “real” crimes, like selling drugs or producing child pornography.
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Okay, now that I’ve picked up the fragments of my exploded brain, I can…
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Sorry, it exploded again. Honestly, I read this post earlier today and have been trying to come up with some incisive comment. But I have nothing to offer other than to echo your righteously angry WHY?!
I’m always worried about how much trafficking goes on in my city. My partner’s from Atlanta, and he tells me that compared to there, there are practically no highly visible prostitutes visible here. He’s been approached by several women, but compared to a bigger city there’s not a lot of sex work here. Most people even go across the border into Ontario for strip clubs, so we don’t have very many of those here either. The laws there are apparently more lenient about nakedness on stage, or something. But once my partner ended up in a strip club in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and he said that there were lots of women who were obviously prostitutes there, and his description was basically one of hell on earth (that’s actually the phrase he used), so I’m assuming that they aren’t the happy-go-lucky-craigslist-prostitute of legend. Living so close to the border, and having a large number of immigrants and refugees in the refugee or immigration limbo (either for US or Canadian citizenship/refugee status) has always seemed like a prime zone for trafficking.
Though, several months ago a chain of massage parlors that were a front for some people who had trafficked women in from China got busted by the cops and immigration. I was shocked that the Buffalo news quoted the cops as saying that they were concerned that it was more than just prostitution, and everyone involved made a point that they were concerned about the “girls” (don’t know how old they were) that were working at the brothel and were making sure that they were getting help, talking to people and trying to make sure that they were taken care of and not just arrested immediately for being “illegal immigrants” or prostitutes.
I saw an ad campaign on New Jersey Transit not long ago advising riders to “look out” for trafficking victims (people who appear to be under duress). I think there was a hotline.
I’ve heard that we also can credit trafficking for the super cheap mani-pedis now available on the east coast.
This is from the last page of the report linked in the post above. These are standard suggested screening questions, and are a big clue as to why anyone with a lick of sense should be opposing these anti-trafficking scams.
“”Appendix 1: Interviewing Questions for Suspected Victims of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
Questions are most helpful during a comprehensive assessment process and/or when the interviewer has an ongoing relationship with the child/youth. The child may not answer the questions directly and may display uneasiness, fearful behaviors or aggressive resistance to
answering the questions. This may indicate a need for further investigation by child protection and/or law enforcement.
1. Tell me about your boyfriend…..
(sorry bout that, first got cut off)
1. Tell me about your boyfriend…..
Have you met his family?
How old is he?
Did he promise to take care of you and does he give you nice things?
Does he share much about himself? What do you know about him, his job, his
friends?
Has he asked you a lot of questions about your life, your family?
2. Do you know anyone who has exchanged sex for something that they needed or wanted,
for money, drugs, shelter, clothes or food? When was the last time you did?
3. Have you ever stripped, danced or worked in an escort service?
4. What’s your school attendance like? Do you go to school? How many days do you miss
in a week?
5. Do you have frequent Sexually Transmitted Infections? Multiple sexual partners?
Interviewing questions developed by the Prostitution Roundtable in Toledo, Ohio.
FW, I don’t understand your “anti-trafficking scam” comment. Are you implying that asking questions of minors who may have been trafficked is a problem? How? Who is being scammed? Who is benefitting from the scam?