namerica1

WASHINGTON—Tens of thousands of U.S., Mexican and Canadian children and youths
become victims of juvenile pornography, prostitution and trafficking each year. So
significant is the problem that even most law-enforcement and child-welfare officials do not
realize its scope.
"Child sexual exploitation is the most hidden form of child abuse in the U.S. and North
America today. It is the nation's least recognized epidemic," said Richard J. Estes, a
University of Pennsylvania professor of social work and the author of "The Commercial
Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada and Mexico." Neil Weiner of Penn's
Center for the Study of Youth Policy co-authored the international report.
The three-year project was funded by the National Institute of Justice of the U.S.
Department of Justice, the W.T. Grant Foundation, the Fund for Nonviolence and the
Research Foundation of the University of Pennsylvania. Estes reported that his and
Weiner's research identified 17 groups of children in the U.S. who are at "substantial risk"
of being sexually exploited.
"The largest of these groups are runaway, thrownaway and other homeless American
children who use 'survival sex' to acquire food, shelter, clothing and other things needed to
survive on America's streets," Estes said. "These children are solicited for sex repeatedly
by men, many of whom are married and have children of their own," Estes said. "Like other
groups of sexually exploited persons, street children are exposed to violence, drug abuse,
rape and, sometimes, even murder at the hands of the pimps, 'customers' and traffickers
that make up their world."
Estes also reported that some U.S. children engage in commercial sex while living at home.
"The majority of these children trade sex for money or for more expensive
clothes and other consumer goods. Most of the 'customers' of these children are members
of their own junior and senior high school peer groups," he said. Many of these children
live in secure middle-class homes, and few parents are aware of their children's
involvement in pornography or prostitution. This group also includes American youths who
cross into Canada or Mexico in pursuit of cheaper drugs, alcohol and sex. Mexican
authorities report that border towns are little more than "cantinas for America's youth,"
Estes said.
The sexual exploitation of children is not limited to particular racial, ethnic or socioeconomic
groups, according to the Penn professors' report, although children from poorer families
appear to be at a somewhat higher risk of commercial sexual exploitation. In fact, most of
the street children encountered in the study were Caucasian youths who had run away
from middle-class homes.
But, "a disproportionate number of street youth have histories of recurrent physical or
sexual abuse at home and took to the streets in a desperate effort to bring their abuse to
an end," Estes said. "It is ironic that running away from home increases their risk of
physical violence and sexual abuse."
Many street youths use drugs "to deal with the emotional pain of being sexually victimized
at home and, once on the streets, by four to 10 'customers' a day," Estes said.
Just as the exploited children come from all parts of society, so do the perpetrators of sex
crimes against children. These sexual predators include relatives and other adults known
and trusted by the children or their families.
"Despite popular notions to the contrary," Estes said, "strangers commit fewer than four
percent of all the sexual assaults against children." In the case of street children, their
"customers" include pedophiles, pederasts, pimps and traffickers.
Other customers are transient males, including members of the military, long-haul truck
drivers, seasonal workers, conventioneers and sex tourists. "In the U.S., child sexual
exploitation affects as many boys as girls, but boys are less well served by human-service
and law-enforcement systems because of the widespread belief that boys are better able
than are girls to fend for themselves," Estes reported. Given the high levels of emotional
dysfunction, drug abuse and violence that exists for boys living on America's streets,
however, this is not true. In time, many boys shift from being victims of sexual abuse to
victimizing other boys and girls as pimps and traffickers.
Other groups of commercially sexually exploited children in the U.S. include girls in gangs;
transgender street youths; foreign children brought into the U.S. illegally, especially from
Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and elsewhere in the Americas; and U.S. youth who are
trafficked nationally and internationally as part of organized sex crime rings. Estes and
Weiner have identified an 11-point action agenda focused on eliminating the further
commercial sexual exploitation of America's youth.
"There is an urgent need," Estes said, "for systematic public and professional education on
the causes, nature and extent of child sexual exploitation in the United States. The situation
in the U.S. must be understood within the broader content of child sexual exploitation
occurring throughout both the North American region and the rest of the world. Only
through such understanding will the U.S. be able to act decisively in protecting her children
from such heinous abuse."