Rethink Resources

The PBS program NOW with Maria Hinojosa and David Brancaccio just posted this week’s story which is on child prostitution. From the site:

Living in the shadows of contemporary American society are tens of thousands of underage prostitutes–desperate, exploited kids robbed of their childhood and of hope. The Department of Justice says, on any given day, tens of thousands of children across America are involved in prostitution. NOW visits Atlanta to see how the growing problem of child prostitution is being tackled in the hopes of getting young people off the street.

I do think the program fairly represents the work being done in Atlanta on the issue. The mayor, Shirley Franklin, has done a lot to bring attention, funding, and changes to the law in Atlanta. She definitely got the attention of Craigslist by calling the site out specifically for not doing enough to prevent minors from posting or being posted in the erotic services section.

The adult women interviewed described the work that’s been done to advocate for the girls being seen in juvenile court as young as 10 arrested for prostitution and described the conflict between law enforcement who persist in arresting youth (under the idea that they need to be in a locked facility for their protection) and adults who want more for youth. NOW reporter Maria Hinojosa was able to explore how in fact, youth do want help but they want real help and keep getting failed by adults who abuse and try to control them.

The reporter also spoke with some teens on the street who were well aware of other youth involved in exchanging sex for money or gifts.

I’d have asked some different questions. But check it out for yourself. You can watch the video here. And listen to the streaming audio here.