10/27/09

Random Tuesday Thoughts


My thoughts today are prompted by the news of a joint effort by police and FBI agents which resulted in 52 children being rescued from the world of prostitution. 60 pimps were arrested and charges were brought against 700 suspects in 36 cities across the country. The children rescued were between the ages of 10 and 16!

In a bit of research I did on the internet I read that there are between 300,00 and 600,00 juveniles involved in the world of prostitution in the United States.

Approximately 293,000 of these children tend to be either runaways or so-called throw away kids, abandoned by their parents. Some of the children are recruited, many through social networking sites. Too many of them, mostly the younger ones, are brought in by way of agreements between the parents and the traffickers. The average ages of these kids is; 12-14 years old for the girls and 11-13 years old for the boys.

The numbers for women and children trafficked into the U.S. for the purposes of prostitution and child pornography are so wide ranging. I read numbers between 100,000 and 3 million. Some of these children are sold into captivity to pedophiles.

I know this is a very weighty subject but my mind was reeling when I read these things. The U.S. is not alone either. These children are shipped around trading from one country to another to get these kids as far from anything familiar as possible.

Obviously we all get a great deal of information, relaxation and friendship from the internet. This serves as a reminder to be ever cautious.

12 comments:

Lee said...

That is a great post and so true. You never know who is sitting behind the computer on the other side.

VanillaSeven said...

Salute to the police and FBI. Hope they can crack down more syndicates.

I am Harriet said...

All that prostitution makes me sick.
And, it's everywhere.

Have a great RTT!
http://iamharriet.blogspot.com/2009/10/woman-scares-off-burglar-by-acting-like.html

Liz Mays said...

I read a book about this not too long ago and it's horrible!

Jude said...

This whole subject is horrifying to say the least. I watched a 20-20 expose a while back on the prostitution rings in Asia and other places of all those babies used for the pleasure of stinking old grown men from the USA and other places caught on tape by undercover journalist and it made me sick to my stomach thinking about all those perverted creeps out there.

Ann said...

Those numbers are horrifying. When we first got internet at our house I always warned my daughter about being very cautious, kids tend to be way too trusting of what people tell them. Mine were no different, my daughter was giving out her phone number and she said but he sent me a picture he's only 16, I got on the next day while she was at school and pretended to be a young girl and then copied the conversation I had with the jerk just to prove my point to her.

Stacy Uncorked said...

Those numbers are absolutely mind boggling. I'm with VanillaSeven - here's hoping the police and FBI crack more syndicates.

The Peach Tart said...

Thanks for sharing this information. So sad for the young innocent girls being exploited.

Unknown said...

It's extremely sad and makes me angry. Child predators, pedophiles, exploiters or whatever the politically correct terminology is should be sentenced to death if convicted of any crimes against children. It's shameful!

Staci at Just Bloggled said...

I saw a special the other day where a teenage prostitute was being interviewed. She and her cousin were abducted on their way to Wendy's. Due to their age, the cops just wrote it off as two runaways. The girl being interviewed was rescued at a truck stop by a trucker who thought she looked underage and called 911. However, her cousin was kept for several more days. Her aunt and father tracked down the house where they were holding her. It was an 1.5 hours before the police would even respond to the 911 call. By then, the pimp had thrown her out the window and beat her father.

Anyway, it was scary to listen to the interview and realize how easy it is for the girls to disappear and the police do nothing.

On a different note, I gave you the Honest Scrap Award on my blog. Stop by when you get a chance.

Maria @ Conversations with Moms said...

This is so scary. Those creeps deserve the worst punishment.

MikeWJ at Too Many Mornings said...

It's all so shocking and difficult to believe. Thanks for keeping us up to date, and for warning us. Parents need to be more aware than they are. The internet's not always safe.