345 suspects, of which an estimated 290 where adult women charged as prostitutes, have been arrested in a child-sex sting. How many of the women arrested where actually victims of trafficking is unknown. In addition some 21 children where rescued as a result of the raids. Over a period of five days, in 16 cities, the FBI, have been conducting sting operations to catch the those involved with these criminal networks, which prey on young and vulnerable children. The cities targeted in the sting operation where: Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; Detroit; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, MD.; Oakland; Phoenix; Reno.; Sacramento; Tampa; Toledo and Washington.
The stings which are dubbed, "Operation Cross Country", is part of the FBI's Innocence Lost National Initiative, which combines efforts with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is now in it's 5th year. This is the largest operation of this type in the initiatives history, however some 308 individuals have been convicted and more importantly the initiative's efforts has see the recovery of 433 children. The Innocence Lost Initiative was established in 2003 in an effort to tackle the increasing problem of child sex trafficking and prostitution in the United States.
"Child trafficking for the purposes of prostitution is organized criminal activity using kids as commodities for sale or trade," said Ernie Allen, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. "These kids are victims. They lack the ability to walk away. This is 21st Century slavery. We are proud to have worked hand-in-hand with the FBI and Justice Department in a partnership that is unprecedented, historic, and working" (FBI press release).
In an FBI statement Our Criminal Investigative Division partnered with the Child Exploitation-Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice and with the nonprofit National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to bring together state and federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and social service providers. The initiative's 24 task forces and working groups have recovered 433 children to date and seized over $3 million in assets.
At a press conference, an excerpt of which can be seen in the video below, FBI Director Robert Mueller said ;
"The sex trafficking of children remains one of the most violent and unforgivable crimes. What is different as we stand here today is that we are faced with the increasing use of social network sites and other advances in technology to carry out these crimes and facilitate these criminal enterprises."
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/7TxjarKeNQA" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
While the efforts and scale of the Innocence Lost Initiative are grand, the full scale of the problem remains even more imposing than one could imagine. The US government has stated that there are some 17,500 victims of sex trafficking in the United States each year, more than half of which are children. Just how many more have been funneled through this high commodities market over the years is unknown, and each child is one child too many. Please see my previous article,Trafficking and Slavery in the US, for more information.
Please see my other posts on Child Trafficking. Please also see my pages on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Links, Human Trafficking and Slavery Related Movies and Documentaries, and Slavery and Trafficking Related Books for more information.
In other US news the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, June 25, 2008, that child rape doesn't merit capital punishment . In a 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision, which overturned death penalty laws in Louisiana and five other states. See more in the NY Times article, Justices Bar Death Penalty for the Rape of a Child.
