Effective prevention and response to child sexual exploitation in Indiana and throughout the U.S. requires that we all work together to understand, support, and engage in efforts to support our youth. Review the following information to learn more.
- Child Exploitation: the act of using a minor child for profit, labor, sexual gratification, or some other personal or financial advantage. Child exploitation often results in cruel or harmful treatment of the child, as the activities he or she may be forced to take part in can cause emotional, physical, and social problems. (Finkelhor, et al., 2021)
- Human Trafficking: a crime that involves compelling a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in commercial sex acts through force, fraud, or coercion. The coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological. Exploitation of a minor for commercial sex is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used (U.S. Department of Justice, 2022)
- Grooming: grooming is the process used by a potential abuser to approach and gain the trust of a child for sexual gratification
(Gillespie, 2002). Grooming is a persistent issue which affects children both online and offline. Reports of grooming and child
exploitation have grown exponentially (NCMEC, 2017). - The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations define human trafficking as (22 U.S.C. § 7102(9)):
- 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
- 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 involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
- Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM): Any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor (a person less than 18 years old). CSAM is a more appropriate way of referring to "child pornography" which is a legal term (NCMEC, 2022).
- Child Pornography: A legal term for Child Sexual Abuse Material, which doesn't accurately reflect what is depicted in regard to humans under the age of 18. It is important to utilize CSAM as the preferred phrase, as the use of child pornography is confusing as pornographic images are legal if it includes individuals over the age of 18 (NCMEC, 2022).
Across Indiana
Sexual exploitation can include the capture and sharing of child sexual abuse imagery, child abuse, and human trafficking.
In December 2022, the US Department of Justice identified an "explosion of online sextortion cases involving children of over 1000% in the last six months victims of these crimes generally range in age from 10 - 17 and include the request for explicit images, gift cards, or other items of value.These cases target boys and girls and have been linked to more than 12 youth dying by suicide in the past year (Johnson, 2022).
Additionally, there have been reports of human trafficking in each county in Indiana. In 2020, Polaris reported
- 116 reports of sex trafficking
- 13 reports of labor trafficking
- 8 reports of trafficking that were not specified, and
- 3 reports of sex and labor trafficking (Polaris, 2020).
Across the United States
The two organizations that report national trafficking reports are National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH) operated by Polaris.Ninety-eight percent increase in online enticement reports between January and September 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, reports to their CyberTipline doubled to 1.6 million (NCMEC, 2021).
Their were 10,583 trafficking situations and victims identified in 2020 (Polaris, 2022).
To download the Polaris data from 2020 click on this link.
Across the World:
The United Nations Global Report on Trafficking in Persons indicates that an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked across international borders (some international and non-governmental organizations place the number far higher), and the trade is growing (Trafficking in Persons Report, Washington D.C., U.S. Department of State, 2021).
When to contact:
911: If you believe an individual is in imminent danger
Indiana Department of Child Services: Any time you call 911 about the imminent danger of a youth under 18 in Indiana. If you suspect human traffiking be sure to say that when you call so that they can respond appropriately. Contact 800-800-5556
Local Law Enforcement:If you have a concern about an individual share your concern and the information you have with your local law enforcement to allow them to investigate.
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: NCMEC’s CyberTipline is the nation’s centralized reporting system for the online exploitation of children. The public and electronic service providers can make reports of suspected online enticement of children for sexual acts, child sexual molestation, child sexual abuse material, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child, misleading domain names, and misleading words or digital images on the internet.Contact
If you or someone you know are in immediate danger, please call 911 or your local police immediately.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please reach out immediately to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Text or call 988. You can also chat with a trained, live, person at https://988lifeline.org/chat/.