Every year in America, an estimated 100,000 children are trapped, often by people they know and trust, in a life of abuse, fear and hopelessness called child sex trafficking. It is modern-day slavery in which children are forced to have sex against their will, sometimes upwards of 20 times a day. The average age of entry is only 12 to 14 years old. The victims are threatened with beatings, starvation, confinement and harm to their families if they do not comply with their pimp. They are stripped of their innocence, dignity and self-worth. They are told that escaping alive is not an option.
The horror of child sex trafficking touches every corner of the country, and Georgia is no exception.
What can be done to stop it?
First and foremost, we must have tough laws in place in every state so that the punishment fits the crime. For too long, traffickers have gotten off with just a slap on the wrist, making the profit well worth the risk — at least in their minds. Before 2011, the minimum jail time for sex trafficking in Georgia was just one year. But the state passed a groundbreaking law that strengthened the penalties for traffickers, who now face a minimum of 10 years in prison. If the trafficking involves a minor, offenders now receive 25 years to life in prison and can also be fined up to $100,000. And the new law prohibits defendants from using the age of consent (16) or claiming a lack of knowledge of the victim’s age as a defense.
We must also address the root cause of the problem: demand. Purchasers fuel the market and are just as responsible as the pimps and traffickers. As long as there are willing buyers, there will always be a sex trade market.
The profile of a buyer is not what most would expect. A study by the advocacy group youthSpark projected that 42 percent of men who purchase girls in and around Atlanta are from the northern suburbs, one of the most affluent areas in the metro region. It also estimated that nearly 50 percent of the buyers are between the ages of 30 and 39. These men are businessmen, husbands and dads.
It is time to draw a line in the sand and make it clear to buyers that we will not tolerate the sexual exploitation of our children. Men, in particular, have an important role to play in changing attitudes and speaking out to other men about respecting women and girls. That is why the Georgia attorney general’s office launched “Georgia’s Not Buying It” earlier this year, a campaign targeting demand.
As attorney general, I decided to send a strong message personally by joining the 3,000 men who have signed the Defenders USA pledge, an initiative of Shared Hope International that requires men to sign a pledge making a commitment not to purchase or engage in commercial sex in any form and to uphold these values with friends and family.
Together, we are proclaiming that enough is enough. It is time to take the fight against child sex trafficking directly to the buyers. We have chosen not to ignore it, and we hope America will join us.
Sam Olens is Georgia's attorney general. Linda Smith is president and founder of Shared Hope International and a former congresswoman.
