Rethink Resources

Last week I read a couple of news articles that had me thinking about a much more complicated topic and I needed a moment to even start to address it. It’s about women in the sex trade who are a few years older outside of being juveniles and are charged or convicted of crimes along with the pimps.

One 23 year old woman was convicted in federal court of trafficking children by force and sentenced to 1 year with 10 more years of probation (an almost surefire way to ensure she’ll be back in prison for some violation of that). The man who pimped her and the juvenile involved was convicted and sentenced to 17 ½ years in federal prison and lifetime supervision.

A 20 year old woman was charged with the man who pimped her for the brutal rape and murder of a 18 year old in Hudson County NY. From the news report it seems that she is being charged because of her role as an accomplice and witness to the crime.

The two above are recent examples but this has been a trend for some time. For as much as the federal government stresses they see minors as victims the moment someone turns of legal age, they have complete ability to be charged along with pimps as accomplices and active partners.

And to be clear, on a state level, it’s rare for minors to receive even that special consideration. Plenty of minors are arrested and charged with prostitution offenses and in many states youth at 16 or 17 years old are considered to be adults in the eyes of the law (although just so they can be charged as adults, not when it comes to being able to rent an apartment).

As youth workers, we often work with youth between 12-23 years old. And while there are significant differences between someone at 13 and 21 years old, there are also a great deal of similarities and needs as street youth or youth in the sex trade.

Youth themselves often point out the strange divisions made by legal markers of 18th and 21st birthdays and how your access to services and ability to make decisions can change dramatically when you are emancipated from the foster care system or become pregnant.

Levels of responsibility and accountability are important for all young people, even at 11 or 12 years old. All of the youth I’ve talked with (even the youngest at 11 or 12) have struggled with the decisions they’ve made in complicated situations they didn’t create but had to respond to.

And what of the role that trauma and witnessing traumatic events can play in this? One read of the above news reports is that the young women played active roles and either didn’t have to or could have stopped the violence. But I close my eyes and picture someone terrified that they’re next if they don’t comply.

Kind of ironic that the 23 year old was in a similar situation as the juvenile (was physically and emotionally abused and her family threatened) but was found by the pimp after her 18th birthday so somehow it doesn’t count. Sure the courts gave her a lesser sentence and again, I don’t know the whole story but I’m pointing out the complications.

Something to think about.