Policy Initiatives

Even though children who are involved in prostitution are often victims of sex trafficking, in Ohio it is still legal to arrest and charge children with prostitution even though these children are often victims of sex trafficking. Second Chance believes that this inconsistency of arresting and charging victims with prostitution or other related crimes must stop. One way to do this is to create state legislation to address domestic trafficking of children. Currently 38 states have anti-trafficking criminal provisions, but Ohio does not. In order to advocate for victims of human trafficking Second Chance engages in policy advocacy efforts. These efforts include meeting with state legislators to advocate for the passage of state legislation, providing consultation to state legislators on human trafficking, providing research reports on human trafficking in Ohio and more.

Federal Legislation

Human trafficking is a serious federal crime with penalties of up to imprisonment for life. Federal law defines “severe forms of trafficking in persons” as: “(A) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or (B) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.” [U.S.C. §7102(8)]

In short, human trafficking is modern-day slavery. Under this federal legislation victims of human trafficking in the United States may be U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents, or foreign nationals. Children are considered victims of sex trafficking if a pimp, trafficker, family member, boyfriend, or another person is benefitting economically off of the sex acts of a child.

Sex traffickers target children because of their vulnerability and gullibility, as well as the market demand for young victims. The average age of entry into prostitution is 12 to 14 years old and traffickers (also called “pimps”) are known to recruit at schools and after-school programs. Recruitment can take multiple forms, including: 1) kidnapping; 2) solicitation by other women or girls recruiting on behalf of the sex trafficker; and 3) the “loverboy” approach of appearing genuinely interested in a romantic relationship while gradually coercing the victim into prostitution. (Human Trafficking of Children in the United States: A Fact Sheet for Schools, U.S. Department of Education)