Child-sex industry thriving in US
king and exploitation in the United States have become a booming industry for the wealthy at the cost of victimizing a huge number of many teenagers and even children.
Human rights advocates say the men that purchase mostly female subjects for sexual exploitation in Washington DC are often among the affluent professionals that include politicians and police officers, while the estimated 300,000 annual victims are mainly at-risk and run-away children and youth without a home, a Press TV correspondent reported on Tuesday.
With 13 as the average age, many victims of sexual trafficking are usually beaten and raped into submission by the men who hire and exploit them.
The booming prostitution and child-sex industry in the US has made human rights advocates fight for stronger laws to bring predators to justice and to help get the young kids off the streets.
Courtney's House, a non-profit organization committed to providing a safe place for child trafficking victims, passes out information to young at-risk girls so they know help is available.
“Now more than ever, it is easy to buy someone, and it is easier to buy a child,” says an assistant project manager at Courtney's House.
“Local traffickers in the DC area are preying upon predominantly girls but also boys who are homeless, facing a lot of poverty,” says the executive director of FAIR Fund - a Washington DC-based international non-profit organization that works to prevent human trafficking and sexual violence.
Despite efforts by human rights organizations throughout the United States to limit the impact of the industry on at-risk youth, experts admit that it is easier than ever for predators to buy young girls on the Internet, leaving law enforcement with a lack of paper trail.