Today, throughout urban, rural, and tribal regions of the nation, American-born girls are being trafficked and sold.  It is estimated that there are approximately 293,000 American children at risk of commercial sexual exploitation today.  The majority of them are girls, with the average age of entry into sexual exploitation being between just 12 and 14 years old.  They are generally runaways from troubled homes or foster care placements where they have been abused or thrown away by their families.  They are abducted or lured by traffickers and then routinely raped, beaten into submission, and sometimes even tattooed by their captors.  Instead of treating these girls as victims in need of services, they are treated as delinquents and routinely put behind bars.

The number of children being sold for sex increased in recent years because criminals have discovered it is more profitable and less risky to sell girls than, for example, drugs.  Yet punishment for traffickers and buyers is minimal.  Buyers are very rarely charged or convicted for solicitation or pandering, let alone statutory rape or child endangerment.  Demand is high because a sale can be executed quickly, conveniently, and anonymously over the Internet.  In most situations, it is the sexually exploited child who ends up in jail for “prostitution,” despite not being of age to provide valid consent.

Internationally, there are many organizations that rescue and rehabilitate victims of sex trafficking.  However, in the U.S. there are drastically inadequate services for victims.  Federal systems that benefit foreign victims of trafficking in the U.S. do not adequately contemplate American victims that share the same experiences of victimization, poverty, and abuse.  Sadly, these girls are left without the opportunity to receive state or federal benefits available to their foreign counterparts.

Rights4Girls works to ensure that all victims of trafficking are able to receive the same support systems and opportunities to heal.

When girls with economic stability are hurt by sexual violence, the protective layers of functional schools, safe neighborhoods, and access to mental health services tend to buffer them from further exploitation.  For girls at the margins, the experience of sexual violence funnels them into the criminal justice system.  A study on delinquent girls revealed that in California, 81 percent of chronically delinquent girls reported being physically abused, and 56 percent reported sexual abuse.  In fact, another study of chronically delinquent girls found that the median age of the first sexual encounter among detained girls was just seven years old.

Whereas boys experience the “school to prison pipeline,” for girls, it is the experience of sexual violence that renders them vulnerable to juvenile justice involvement .  According to the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention (OJJDP), approximately 600,000 girls are arrested in the U.S. annually, and nearly 12,000 girls under the age of 20 are detained or committed daily.  Most of these girls are arrested for nonviolent offenses such as truancy, running away, loitering, or alcohol and substance use-behaviors that are significantly correlated with enduring and escaping situations of severe abuse or neglect.

The Committee Against Torture and the Human Rights Committee in their 2006 reviews of U.S. compliance with the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment (CAT) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) identified sexual violence as a serious problem in the U.S. detention system.  The issue of sexual violence and other forms of violence distinguish girls’ experiences in detention.

Once girls become involved in the juvenile justice system they must navigate a punitive system designed for boys that is ill-equipped to deal with the specific needs of girls.  The traditional methods of asserting authority and order, isolation approaches, and severe discipline characterizing juvenile detention are inappropriate for girls given their distinct pathways into the juvenile justice system.  Often, girls in detention are subject to solitary confinement and restraints-practices that are especially injurious to victims of sexual and physical trauma.  Girls are strip searched throughout the duration of their detention, including when returning from family visitation hours, after a medical visit, or at the completion of a work shift.  Moreover, detention is not safe for girls.  Detained girls consistently report being physically and sexually assaulted by male staff.

In 2010, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) published its findings from the Survey of Youth Residential Placement in a bulletin called Conditions of Confinement in Juvenile Facilities.  The survey revealed a number of disturbing findings.  It was found that a large number of low-level offenders (e.g. nonviolent status and technical violation offenders) are housed in units with youth convicted of murder, felony sex offenders and gang members .  Moreover, 33 percent of youth reported the use of unnecessary force by staff, 28 percent reported the use of restraints (e.g. handcuffs, wristlets, security belts, chains, restraint chairs or pepper spray), 35 percent reported being placed in solitary confinement, and 59 percent reported that family members were forced to drive one hour or more to visit the facility where they were being held, thereby exacerbating the children’s sense of isolation.  The National Survey of Youth in Custody which was conducted between June 2008 and April 2009, found that of 26,550 children participating in the survey, 12 percent reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by other youth or facility staff in the last 12 months or since admission.

Pregnant girls in detention are also subject to shackling during transport, labor, and delivery.  While there is limited data available on pregnant and parenting system-involved girls and conditions of confinement, a seminal report by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency entitled No Place to Hide: Girls in the California Juvenile Justice System (1998), found that of the 1,000 girls participating in a statewide study, 16 percent had been pregnant while incarcerated.  Of those girls who had been pregnant while in custody, 29 percent had been placed in physical restraints, including shackled at the wrists, belly and/or ankles, during labor, delivery and/or post-delivery.