Sex Trafficking in Dallas
Another of the insidious effects of racism in Dallas- sex trafficking.
The horrors of this reality are coming to light, and it is way past time or Dallas to do something about it:
"Sex trafficking is too complex an issue for a single ordinance to solve. But no city should stand idle while women and girls are made victims before our eyes."
Texas has the second-highest rate of human trafficking within the United States, said Jessica Brazeal, chief programs officer of New Friends New Life, a Dallas-based nonprofit dedicated to survivors. In Dallas, around 400 teens are sold for sex every night as part of a $99 million human trafficking industry, according to the organization’s website.
The problem has also gotten worse nationwide. From January to June, online enticement of children increased by around 93% when compared with the same time period the previous year, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Cyber tipline reports increased by more than 90% during the same time.
Sex trafficking frequently gets conflated with sex work, Brazeal said, but there is a difference between the two. The former can be defined as forced commercial sexual exploitation, where the victim doesn’t receive compensation. Those who engage in sex work, however, do so of their own volition, abd no one is benefiting financially other than themselves, she said.
Still, under the Texas Penal Code, the legal definitions of the practices can overlap, said Dallas Police Department Lt. Gerald Smalley. Consent is not always clear-cut, he said.
“If you were to talk to [sex workers] individually, you might feel that they’re doing it consensually, until they end up getting beat up or raped or stabbed or threatened,” Smalley said. “But it’s their mental state where they start to accept that violence is normal to them.”
Although anyone can become a victim, Byrd said that most aren’t snatched up off the street. Rather, they are frequently vulnerable people who experienced sexual abuse or neglect in their childhood, she said.
Byrd said that one study found that survivors usually have at least two things in common: Their basic needs were not being met, and they did not have healthy relationships with their caregivers.
“Every child should grow up with at least one, hopefully many, protective adults in their lives, but we know that that’s not always the case,” she said.
Stafford said that the coronavirus pandemic has encouraged sex traffickers to scour the web for victims. Children these days are schooling from home, so there’s an increase in their online activity, she said.
Dallas is a “hub” for human trafficking, Stafford said, but in recent years, the surrounding suburbs have also become hot spots. Now, much of the traffic is occurring “right out of the home next door that looks just like yours,” she said.
“It is happening everywhere and [people] don’t realize it,” Stafford said. “We have to just be vigilant right now.”
(https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/pandemic-could-increase-human-trafficking-in-north-texas-11944371)
