This study released on 08.08.13 provides substantiation of a
long held belief on the part of law enforcement and social service providers
that selling young girls for sex is a big time business in the Portland area.
The study reports that at least 469 children were exploited as sex workers in
the Portland area from 2009-2013. This is likely an underestimate of the true
numbers. Many of these girls are controlled by gangs which are increasingly
turning away from drugs and gun running to the sex trade which is safer and
more lucrative. The study detailed that the average age of victims was 15.5 years
and the youngest was 8 years old.
This study was
commissioned by Amanda Marshall, U.S. attorney for Oregon. She exclaims that by
cracking down on both the supply and demand side of sexual slavery, Oregon is
stating that “our kids are not for sale.”
By quantifying the extent of child sex trafficking in this
area, the PSU study will likely provide a continued stimulus to law enforcement
efforts to continue to make inroads on this important social problem.
Representative Carolyn Tomei sponsored two bills through the
legislature this term with one increasing penalties for Johns who purchase sex
and another providing stiffer penalties for Pimps who coerce young girls into
prostitution.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden cosponsored federal legislation that
would beef up identification and case finding re sex trafficking cases. Wyden’s
bill would change the practice of treating victims as criminals and recognize
that they have been exploited and victimized and in need of social service.
Let’s hope that studies like this one bring the problem of
sex trafficking out of the shadows and into the public consciousness to spur
more widespread outrage and action against sex trafficking.
Richard Lazere, East Portland Rotary Human Trafficking
committee
