I sent this letter to the Village Voice on July 1st, 2011 in reference to their article “Real Men Get Their Facts Straight” by Martin Cizmar, Ellis Conklin, and Kristin Hinman. This article makes assumptions that current human trafficking statistics being used by anti-human trafficking advocates are wrong.
The reality is that since human trafficking is illegal there are no actual proven statistics. Looking at arrests of traffickers is ridiculous since underage children found in the commercial sex trade are almost always arrested not rescued. The current statistics being used are only a fraction of the possible number when looking at the overall number of at risk minors. If you have a problem with the Village Voice’s article, let them know.
Dear Village Voice
On June 23rd a story was printed in the Daily Oklahoman about a mother who sold her three year old to a trafficker for meth who then sold time with the toddler to two men who allegedly raped the boy, strapped him to the ceiling by a dog collar and somehow inflicted lye and bleach burns to his body. The only way the crime was discovered was because the mother brought the boy to the emergency room after he stopped breathing.
I believe real journalists find stories like these and don't attack the character of people who are trying to draw attention to vicious crimes. According to the Polaris Project anyone under the age of 18 who is found in the commercial sex trade is a victim of human trafficking, but throughout the U.S. minors found in the commercial sex trade are almost always arrested.
This would indicate that arrests of traffickers are a poor way to decide how many under 18-year olds are actually being trafficked. It also seems to me that looking at at-risk youth would be better way to discover a real number.
If you take what the U.S. Justice Department statistics say, that 115,000 under 18 year old are kidnapped by a stranger each year, and add that to the youth runaway switchboard's statistics that 1.3 million to 2.8 million youth run away, then actually 100,000 to 250,000 trafficked minors actually sounds not only reasonable but likely.
It is clear from your advertising that your paper supports escort services. Do you ensure that all of the escorts are over the age of eighteen? I don't think so. So, I would say that your publication attacks people trying to stop human trafficking while making money at human trafficking.
Therefore it's not shocking you would attack the credibility of people trying to stop crimes that affect your financial stability.
Malika Cox
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