Evidence Based Paper

Jennifer Rabago
University of Central Florida

Introduction
This paper includes an annotated bibliography whether there is a link between child sexual abuse and later sexual exploitation and reviews the literature on prevention strategies and effective interventions in child sexual abuse services. It shows that children are sexually exploited in other ways through the Internet. It focuses on Barnardo's response to the problem of sexual exploitation and sets it in both a historical and a contemporary context. It provides factors that influence police conceptualizations of girls involved in prostitution in six U.S. cities and if the children are sexual exploitation victims or delinquents. It explains that sexually exploited children are vulnerable to this type of abuse. It explains that sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) as one of the most destructive forms of child abuse. It explains the international sexual trafficking of women and children. It includes data on the amount of women and children that are being trafficked and experiencing sexual exploitation. It includes a dissertation that includes an empirical study and a quantitative study. This study is the first of its kind to describe a sample of commercially, sexually exploited children in foster care.
Empirical Peer Reviewed Articles
Barnitz, Laura. (2001). Effectively responding to the commercial sexual exploitation of children: A comprehensive approach to prevention, protection, and reintegration services. Child Welfare: Journal of Policy, Practice, and Program, Vol 80(5), Special issue: International Issues in Child Welfare. pp. 597-610.
This peer reviewed journal explains sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) as one of the most destructive forms of child abuse. The efforts that have been made by individuals to stop the trafficking in children and youth are not good enough to stop it from occurring. It explains how there is a profit being made from the child sex trade in physical and sexual violence and the risks of being involved in sexual exploitation of children. This article explains that there is a need for a coordinated local and global response to the commercial sexual exploitation of children. It states that this exploitation is violating the children’s rights, and these children should not be compromised for gain of money. The quantitative research shows that more than two million children around the world are affected by being commercially sexually exploited. That broad estimate includes one million children in Asian countries, hundreds of thousands in the former Soviet states and Eastern Europe, and hundreds of thousands in the United States. This estimate does not imply that children and youth in other parts of the world are less likely to be involved in CSEC. The average age of children that are brought into this is estimated at 13 or 14 years old. Since there is no precise, universal data existing, some research suggests that the age of the children being sexually exploited is decreasing. Child and youth victims are both male and female; however, adult males are estimated to constitute at least 90% of the customers of prostituted children and youth of both genders. In a clinical perspective, the abusers that are considered to be pedophiles only consist of a small percentage. The worldwide sex trade is an industry believed to be generating billions of dollars. These physical and sexual acts are being committed in many different places worldwide, and these places recognize that they are doing it and do not stop due to profit gain. The Internet has made this a high-tech, profitable trade when it comes to dealing with commercial sexual exploitation of children. Children involved in the sex trade are vulnerable to immediate harm and long-term damage as well as death. The immediate risks include beatings, rape, torture, and murder. Long-term damage includes potential drug addiction, acquisition of sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV), mental illness, a range of self-destructive behaviors, and ostracism by society. The human rights organizations report that more and younger children are being abused. This is an issue that compels the need for child advocates to think and act both locally and globally. More individuals should be made aware and educated on this issue since it has grown so much nationally and globally.
Finkelhor, David., Jones, Lisa M., Mitchell, Kimberly J., & Wolak, Janis. (2011). Internet- facilitated commercial sexual exploitation of children: Findings from a nationally representative sample of law enforcement agencies in the United States. Sexual Abuse: Journal of Research and Treatment, Vol 23(1), pp. 43-71. doi: 0.1177/1079063210374347
This peer reviewed journal consists of an empirical study, a longitudinal study, an interview, and a quantitative study that explores the variety of ways in which the Internet is used to facilitate the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and provides national incidence estimates for the number of arrests involving such technology-facilitated crimes in 2006. This article talks about sexual exploitation of children and how individuals are using the Internet to exploit them. The National Juvenile Online Victimization Study was a longitudinal study that was completed on more than 2,500 local, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies across the United States to find out how many individuals are being arrested for sexually exploiting children over the Internet and their history. The article utilizes Wave 2 data, which surveyed arrests in 2006 for Internet-related sex crimes against minors. Detailed data were collected via telephone interviews with investigators on about 1,051 individual arrest cases. The data findings show that an estimated 569 arrests for Internet facilitated commercial sexual exploitation of children (IF-CSEC) occurred in the United States in 2006. Offenders in IF-CSEC cases fell into two main categories: (1) those who used the Internet to purchase or sell access to identified children for sexual purposes including child pornography (CP) production (36% of cases), and (2) those who used the Internet to purchase or sell CP images they possessed but did not produce (64% of cases). Offenders attempting to profit from child sexual exploitation were more likely than those who were purchasing to have (a) prior arrests for sexual and nonsexual offenses, (b) a history of violence, (c) produced CP, (d) joined forces with other offenders, and (e) involved female offenders. Although the number of arrests for IF-CSEC crimes is relatively small, the victims of these crimes are a high-risk subgroup of youth, and the offenders who try to profit from these crimes are particularly concerning from a child welfare perspective. There were an estimated 569 arrests (unweighted n = 106) for IF-CSEC in the United States in 2006 (95% confidence interval [CI] range: 440 to 699). This estimate does not measure the full number of youth victimized in IF-CSEC crimes, but rather the number of arrests made by law enforcement in cases involving IF-CSEC in a 1-year period. This represents 8% of all arrests for Internet sex crimes against minors, which constituted approximately 7,010 arrests in the same time frame (Wolak et al., 2009b). If these sexual exploiters were to have harsher punishments for sexually exploiting these children, they might not commit this crime against children, and they will be safe from these monsters.
Halter, Stephanie. (2010). Factors that influence police conceptualizations of girls involved in prostitution in six U.S. cities: Child sexual exploitation victims or delinquents? Child Maltreatment, Vol 15(2), pp. 152-160. doi: 10.1177/107759509355315
This peer reviewed journal has an empirical study and a quantitative study that explains how the police conceptualize juveniles involved in prostitution as victims of child sexual exploitation (CSE) or delinquents. Case files from six police agencies in major U.S. cities of 126 youth allegedly involved in prostitution: 125 were female, and only one was male. Youth ages ranged between 12 and 17, with a mean age of 15.4. The distribution of age is as follows: 1%12, 9%13, 18% 14, 19% 15, 29% 16, and 24% 17. Most of the youth in the sample were either Caucasian (50%) or African American (41%), but also 7% were Asian, 1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and 1% Mixed race. Twenty-one percent of the youth in the sample were of Hispanic ethnicity. Most of the youth either resided locally (44%) or were from other areas within the state (44%); only 11% resided out of state. This study found that 60% of youth in this sample were conceptualized as victims by the police and 40% as offenders. Logistic regression predicted the youths’ culpability status as victims. The full model predicted 91% of youth’s culpability status correctly and explained 67% of the variance in the youths’ culpability status. This article explains how the police consider youth with greater levels of cooperation, greater presence of identified exploiters, no prior record, and that came to their attention through a report more often as victims. In addition, the police may consider local youth more often as victims. It appears that the police use criminal charges as a paternalistic, protective response to detain some of the youth treated as offenders even though they considered these youth victims. Legislatively mandating this form of CSE as child abuse or adopting a "secure care" approach is needed to ensure these youth receive the necessary treatment and services.
Hodge, David R., & Lietz, Cynthia A. (2007). The international sexual trafficking of women and children: A review of the literature. Affilia: Journal of Women & Social Work, Vol 22(2), pp. 163-174.
This peer reviewed journal explains the international sexual trafficking of women and children. It includes data on the amount of women and children that are being trafficked and experiencing sexual exploitation. This article explains that human trafficking is a huge, growing, global problem. “According to the U.S. Department of State (2004), 600,000 to 800,000 persons are trafficked across international borders annually and on the basis of U.S. estimates, approximately 2 million to 4 million persons are trafficked within their home nations.” The amount of women trafficked reveals that 70% to 80% are female, and approximately 50% are children. 70% of them are all trafficked for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. The article provides a very extensive definition of what human trafficking is. The international globalization of sexual trafficking has been affecting these following regions: Africa, Asia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS—the countries of the former Soviet Union), Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the industrialized nations. The article explains that there are factors of war, poverty, and the lack of a promising future, which all help to foster discontent that, in turn, contributes to sexual trafficking. Criminal organizations have an interest in manipulating pull and push factors to recruit and traffic women because of the high reward profits that are involved in trafficking and because it is considered to be low-risk. They use employment, modeling, and marriage agencies to offer access to a better life in another, typically richer, nation in order to recruit them. When a trafficker arrives at his or her destination, the victims are commonly told what they are expected to do and how much money they must repay to regain their freedom. The article explains there are macro, mezzo, and micro level interventions that social workers are making to help these women and children.
Lalor, Kevin. & McElvaney, Rosaleen. (2010). Child sexual abuse, links to later sexual exploitation/high-risk sexual behavior, and prevention/treatment programs. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, Vol 11(4), pp. 159-177.
This peer reviewed journal explores the link between child sexual abuse and later sexual exploitation and reviews the literature on prevention strategies and effective interventions in child sexual abuse services. This article talks about how sexual abuse and sexual exploitation are greater than they were just 10 years ago. It explains that numerous studies that were completed on individual’s shows that child sexual abuse victims are vulnerable to later sexual revictimization, as well as establishes the link between child sexual abuse and later engagement in high-risk sexual behavior. It explains that a child growing up into an adult can experience different psychological issues, including low self-esteem, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression. It explains that there are mediating variables involved that will make a child develop drug/alcohol use and distorted sexual development because of sexual exploitation happening to him or her. It explains that data on perpetrators are not always reported but that they were well known to the child they are exploiting. Data shows that 86% were family members in the New Zealand study described above; 76% of perpetrators were family members or known to the child (Ireland); 78% were boyfriends, neighbors, or a male relative (Swaziland); and, in South Africa, 64% were teachers, relatives, or boyfriends. In some regions, ‘‘strangers’’ are significant abusers (69.7% in Bangladesh ‘‘city’’ and 69.5% in Japan ‘‘city’’). By contrast, they account for only 8.7% of abusers in Brazil ‘‘city.’’ There was a report on a five-year longitudinal study of sexual assault among a sample of 1,569 female college students that was completed, and it found that victims of childhood assault were significantly more likely to experience either moderate (unwanted or verbal coercion) or severe (attempted or completed rape) adolescent victimization than non-victims. It explains that the micro system is the immediate (interpersonal) context in which revictimization occurs. It notes that literature on prevention, media campaigns, school-based prevention programs, psychotherapy, and therapeutic interventions can be helpful when trying to find the best therapy for the individual, a therapy that should include a strong monitoring and evaluation component.
Lebloch, Evelyn Kerrigan. & King, Siobhan. (2006). Child sexual exploitation: A partnership response and model intervention. Child Abuse Review, Vol 15(5), pp. 362-372. doi: 10.1002/car.957
This peer reviewed journal explains sexually exploited children are vulnerable to this type of abuse; there have been services for years for them and presenting their related damage that is done to them is misinterpreted. The children who are adolescents that experience sexual exploitation are a challenge to the most experienced professionals in terms of engagement and successful interventions. This article explains that victims of child sexual exploitation were not being identified. This was considered to be a problematic and neglectful relationship because children were being left out to find themselves in dangerous situations ‘beyond parental control,’ resulting in child sexual exploitation. The Children Abused through Sexual Exploitation Project (CATSE) found that there is a combination of issues that explain why a child is hard to treat and support after being sexually exploited. The CATSE procedures made a commitment to recognize the problem in each child and work together to prevent the abuse and investigate and prosecute those who coerce and abuse children through sexual exploitation. There are vulnerability factors and risk indicators that are used as part of an approach to identify the overall level of risk for a child or young person. There were different models of intervention that were developed for each category of risk for each child that involves diversion planning for a category one case, which is the diversion plan and multi-agency planning (MAP) meetings for children and young people identified as falling into categories two and three. A team of professionals consisting of a Child Protection Procedures individual and a team manager, and a social worker will have to agree to a plan of intervention and service provision aimed at diverting the child and addressing his or her vulnerabilities. “Quantifying the scale of child sexual exploitation is problematic due to the often hidden nature of the abuse and the clear practical constraints and ethical issues in conducting appropriate research.” In Camden, they are currently working with 42 children within these child protection procedures, 14 of them referred directly from the Miss U Scheme. Fifteen per cent are subject to diversion plans and 75% to multi-agency planning meetings. Sixty nine percent are between 12 and 15 years and 31% between 16 and 18. Only four out of the 42 are boys.
Montgomery-Devlin, Jacqui. (2008). The sexual exploitation of children and young people in Northern Ireland: Overview from the Barnardo's Beyond the Shadows Service. Child Care in Practice, Vol 14(4), pp. 381-400. doi: 10.1080/13575270802268059 This peer reviewed journal gives an explanation of child sexual exploitation in Northern Ireland and related issues that affect it. It focuses on Barnardo's response to the problem of sexual exploitation and sets it in both a historical and a contemporary context. Barnardo is one of the UK’s leading children’s charities, supporting over 110,000 children and their families through 383 services in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It recognizes the importance of acknowledgement of child sexual exploitation as being considered child abuse. This article discusses how Barnardo was started in the United Kingdom and how it has helped many children that have been sexually exploited. It was developed in 2002, specifically to protect children by working to prevent the sexual exploitation of children and young people. It defines sexual exploitation as incorporating “a spectrum of experience ranging from what is generally referred to as ‘child sexual abuse’ at one end, to ‘formal prostitution’ at the other. Many young people are first drawn into ‘informal exploitation’ where sex is exchanged for drugs or somewhere to stay.” The article states that there are underlying factors that stem from early childhood combined with unmet emotional, social or physical needs, which leave them open to exploitation by manipulative, predatory adults who are only too ready to take control of them. It explains that the history is from the turn of the twentieth century when a man could rape a woman in the belief that it would rid him of depression or as a medical ailment for what he was experiencing. The definition given by the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000) of trafficking of people is “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by the use of threat, force, coercion, abduction, and abusing power for payment and control in order to exploit.” The article explains how the Internet and Mobile Phone Technology are different ways that children are experiencing sexual exploitation. According to the article, the only data provided are information on the men who are sexually exploiting these children. The profile of these men are that they have a mean age of 36 years (range: 31_63 years), are most probably employed (87%), and there is a 50% chance of Child Care in Practice 391 of them being married or co-habiting. The men come from many walks of life, including those involved in professions such as medicine, teaching, and law. The paper lays out the four main aims of the service and provides an overview of its work. It concludes by challenging the audience, legislators, policy-makers and service providers to respond strategically and operationally to the experiences and needs of children and young people who are sexually exploited or at risk of this.
Smith, Gwyneth F. (2011). Dissertation abstracts international: Section B: The sciences and engineering, Vol 72(1-B), pp. 557.
This dissertation includes an empirical study and a quantitative study. This study is the first of its kind to describe a sample of commercially, sexually exploited children in foster care. The goals were to understand the demography of this population, document the mental and physical health problems they present, and to propose legally and clinically informed policy recommendations to address the needs of these children. This article discusses the data of the studies that were completed on sexually exploited children that are in foster care. The sample was comprised of 75 commercially, sexually exploited children who were evaluated at a foster care assessment center in Alameda County, California. Data collected by clinicians who evaluated each child upon entry into foster care were coded and analyzed. Demographically, it was found that the group clearly most at risk for commercial sexual exploitation in this sample was African American adolescent females. Rates of mental illness, physical health problems, developmental delay, substance use, and pregnancy were also calculated for this population. It was found that commercially sexually exploited children showed high rates of mental and physical health problems generally comparable to, though not exceeding, their non-exploited counterparts in foster care, and a population also rife with risk factors. Commercially and sexually exploited children are therefore at extremely high risk for physical and mental health deterioration given the nature of their exploitation. These policy recommendations were based upon both in person interviews conducted with professionals from a variety of disciplines who work with commercially sexually exploited children and legal and clinical research. The discussion revealed that solutions for commercially sexually exploited children depend on innovations in both the law and treatment methodologies, and well as improving collaborations between disciplines. It has shown that children that are in foster care are more likely to have experienced sexual exploitation because they have nowhere to go. Type | Name | Search Phrases | Why I chose them? | Gov | http://www.ahrq.gov/ | Sexual exploitation and children in poverty | Has abstract database/statistics | DB | Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) | Children and sexual exploitation | Full text article covering social sciences | Web | http://www.medicinenet.com | Commercial sexual exploitation and services | Provides data and statistics to child abuse | DB | http://tripdatabase.com | Factors that influence and child exploitation | EB research for MH clinicians | Jou | http://thefreelibrary.com | Young people and sexual exploitation | EB treatments and practices | Dis | http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ucf.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=105&sid=894c6d9ecb654ec598ee26ed9badef11%40sessionmgr112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=psyh&AN=2011-13835-006 | Prevention of sexual exploitation and children | Treatment efficacy | Dis | http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ucf.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=105&sid=894c6d9ecb654ec598ee26ed9badef11%40sessionmgr112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=psyh&AN=2007-99014-205 | Low income children and sexual exploitation | Treatment efficacy | Dis | Dissertations & Theses: Full Text (ProQuest) | International sexual trafficking and children | To find current, cutting edge therapies |

Conclusion
This paper shows that there is a significant problem that women and children are facing: sexual exploitation in a variety of different ways. It provides the data and number of statistics that support the idea that women and children experience sexual exploitation. The articles establish that this is a growing problem in the United States and in other countries. It has been proven that that there is a need for the state and Federal governments to make the identification and services of children who are victims of sex trade a priority.