American Superbowl A Prime Showcase for Child Prostitutes
Each year, 100,000 to 300,000 American kids, some as young as 12 years old, are exploited in the sex trade, he says. The traffickers use the Super Bowl and other large events such as the World Cup to ply their trade, Allen says. "The traffickers try to seize that opportunity to do business," he says.
...Super Bowl XLV on Sunday in Cowboys Stadium is of particular concern because of Texas' 1,200-mile border with Mexico, which makes the state a bigger target for international rings, says Abbott, the attorney general. Agents are monitoring websites for signs of underage sex offerings and launching undercover investigations in the region, he says.
"We are watching them, we will find them, and we will prosecute them," Abbott says _USAT
Child prostitution and human trafficking is an international scourge. Large criminal rings and international human trafficking groups often zero in on huge sporting events -- such as American Football's SuperBowl. The FBI and other US law enforcement agencies are taking a special interest in the Dallas, Texas, area for the next several days:
Incidents of underage prostitution have spiked during previous Super Bowls, leading to some arrests, says Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.Mexico is only one of several international centers of global human trafficking. Eastern Europe, Russia, and the Arab middle east are other particular trouble spots for international law enforcement. Such global gangs of human slavery tend to prey on children as young as they can find, in an effort to satisfy the perverse sexual tastes of persons in possession of more wealth than decency.
His office, working closely with the FBI, is bringing in at least a dozen extra agents from Austin and other cities to monitor and combat cases of trafficking in underage prostitutes during Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, Texas, he says.
"The Super Bowl is the greatest show on Earth, but it also has an ugly underbelly," Abbott says. "It's commonly known as the single largest human trafficking incident in the United States."
FBI agents often team up with federal, state and local law enforcement officials during Super Bowls to prevent terrorist attacks, ticket scams and other crimes, including high-priced prostitution. Law enforcement agents increasingly are linking up with child advocate groups to crack down on the trafficking and exploitation of minors during the event, says Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. _USAToday
The US SuperBowl is one of many large sporting and cultural events which bring out these vultures, and compel their prey. The solution to this sad problem must be multi-faceted, and far more clever than virtually all law enforcement is capable of imagining.
Previously published at Al Fin, You Sexy Thing!
Labels: child prostitution, prostitution
posted by al fin at 7:11 am
5 Comments:
http://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/hidden-hordes-of-hookers/
She's worked a superbowl, and says that even major sporting events aren't amazingly lucrative for hookers, not enough to attract hoards of outsiders--conferences are better for her (former) business. In her experience, there wasn't a major problem with child prostitutes in the US, nowhere near what is claimed. She also points to a whole lot of arguments that sound amazingly similar to the ones made by gun control activists.
One of the best things we could do is to separate the various issues involved here--The legal status of prostitution gets in the way of making sure it is done only voluntarily by adults.
Interesting, thanks. Prostitution should be legalised, licensed, and monitored for contagious diseases. Some societies could do away with the licensing, but for most North Americans, just making it legal would be shock enough.
My experience as a casual observer of human societies, is that child prostitution is a larger problem in many other parts of the world besides North America.
Having said that, anyone who denies that there is a problem with underage prostitution inside US cities must walk around with his eyes closed all the time, or walk around on clouds so as to be unable to perceive life at street level clearly.
The problem anywhere in the world generally tends to swell and subside with changes in economic conditions. Bad times breed more prostitutes of all ages.
Watching part of the SuperBowl last evening, I was unaware of any child prostitutes on the field, sidelines, or in any of the paid advertisements.
I think even child prostitution(so long as it involves teens) should be legalized. I mean if the price is high enough say a million dollars. Can we honestly say the child is not better off? what? Is losing virginity to a poor high schooler who's only interested in sex better? Or is it better to lose it to a rich patron willing to pay 100,000s of thousands or even millions for the privilege of virginity?
I myself having dominion over multiple languages and a highly developed mind from early on, could easily have made the right choice in my teens.
Maybe a test could be administered for maturity, intellectual capacity, etc and licenses given accordingly.
I deliberately don't know much firsthand about street level anything. I won't take a stand one way or another on whether child prostitution in the US is at levels that would make it a large problem--rather, I strongly suspect that it is exaggerated by people with an agenda other than helping children.
Yes, almost everything you see in the media has been exaggerated by people with an agenda. Except the truly important things which are almost univerally and studiously ignored by politicians, media, and the academy.
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