Will Prostitution or Rape Ever be Stopped?
I don't like prostitution for what it does to the sex workers, the mind-set of the johns and the damage to their families. Personally I consider prostitution to be PAID RAPE. Period. But to use children! Just disgusting -- I will never be able to wrap my brain around it.
However, I have said before - law enforcement has to start GOING AFTER THE JOHNS MORE AGGRESSIVELY if they expect this to make any difference.
FBI says 345 arrested, 21 children rescued in prostitution busts in 16 cities
Hundreds of people have been arrested and 21 children rescued in what the FBI is calling a five-day roundup of networks of pimps who force children into prostitution.
The Justice Department says it targeted 16 cities as part of its "Operation Cross Country" that caps off five years of similar stings nationwide.
Many of the children forced into prostitution are either runaways or what authorities call "thrown-aways" _ kids whose families have shunned them. Officials say they are preyed upon by organized networks of pimps who lure them in with shelter or drugs, then often beat, starve or otherwise abuse them until the children agree to work the streets.
The cities targeted in this week's sting are: Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; Detroit; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, Md.; Oakland, Calif.; Phoenix; Reno, Nev.; Sacramento, Calif.; Tampa; Toledo, Ohio and Washington.
The problem of child prostitution has taken on a new urgency in recent years with the growth of online networks where pimps advertise the youngsters to clients. The FBI generally investigates child prostitution cases that cross state lines.
The cases aren't easy to convict.
In April 2006, for example, charges against a Nevada man resulted in a hung jury after his 14-year-old victim refused to testify against him. Months later, however, a second jury found Juan Rico Doss of Reno, Nev., guilty of forcing two girls _ ages 14 and 16 _ to sell sex in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco and Oakland.
A University of Pennsylvania study estimates nearly 300,000 children in the United States are at risk of being sexually exploited for commercial uses _ "most of them runaways or thrown-aways," said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"These kids are victims. This is 21st century slavery," Allen said. "They lack the ability to walk away."
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Tipline
If you think this considering using another person's body (even a child's) for money is shocking -- make sure you have a strong stomach before you read my friend Chaim's latest post on how CHEAP some people consider human LIFE to be -- HERE!
And yet - we can't get the Court to O.K. the death penalty for CHILD RAPISTS! When the reality is that the rapist has truly "ended" the child's chance at a normal, healthy life -for ever. Where's the justice or accountability?
By ARIANE de VOGUE
In a closely divided opinion today, the Supreme Court found that while the crime of raping a child is a "revulsion" to society, it does not merit the death penalty.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for a 5-4 majority, found that "a death sentence for one who raped but did not kill a child, and who did not intend to assist another in killing the child, is unconstitutional."
Louisiana and five other states have laws imposing the death penalty for that crime. The ruling today overturned those laws.
The decision and a fiery dissent from the conservative justices explored the controversial moral questions society must face in addressing the topic of child rape.
Kennedy acknowledged as much, writing that such a crime "cannot be recounted in these pages in a way sufficient to capture in full the hurt and horror inflicted on the victim."
"We cannot dismiss the years of long anguish that must be endured by the victim of child rape," he wrote. But he said that capital punishment is not a "proportionate" penalty for the crime.
In an emotional dissent, Justice Samuel Alito criticized the majority for finding that the crime of child rape should be penalized differently from that of some murders. He said, "With respect to the question of moral depravity, is it really true that every person who is convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death is more morally depraved than every child rapist."
Alito said, "In the eyes of ordinary Americans, the very worst child rapists & predators who seek out and inflict serious physical and emotional injury on defenseless young children are the epitome of moral depravity."
While the majority said that only a small number of states had enacted the death penalty for child rape, Alito argued that such efforts could have grown in the upcoming years, but the court's decision "snuffs out" such a possibility.
Advocates for child's rights praised the decision. They condemned Louisiana's law because they were fearful that the if a child rapist knew he might face the death penalty he would have an incentive to kill his victim.
The case that went before the court dates back to 1998, when Patrick O. Kennedy called 911 to report that his 8-year-old stepdaughter had just been raped.
Kennedy blamed two boys from his suburban New Orleans neighborhood for the attack and told police that the boys had fled on bicycles, but police soon suspected Kennedy of the crime.
At trial, the girl, who had required surgery after the attack, testified that Kennedy had raped her and that he had coached her to lie to police.
Testimony at trial also revealed that Kennedy had called a carpet cleaning company about removing bloodstains from his carpet even before dialing 911.
Kennedy's crime was considered so heinous that he was sentenced to death under Louisiana law, which imposes the death penalty for the rape of a child.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a group opposed to the death penalty, there are more than 3,300 people on death row in America, and Kennedy is one of only two who did not commit murder.
Kennedy had argued that laws in Louisiana and five other states that impose the death penalty for child rape violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Kennedy's lawyers praised today's decision.
"The Court makes clear that Louisiana's experiment with the death penalty for rape ran afoul of the United States Constitution," Ben Cohen, of the New Orleans-based Capital Appeals Project, said.
The organization has represented Kennedy for the past four years.
"Given the Court's decision, we can only hope that the money that Louisiana has been spending drafting and defending this anomalous and unconstitutional statute will be reallocated to efforts at treatment for victims of sexual abuse and for measures that actually reduce the risk of such abuse in our communities," Cohen said.
Representatives of Louisiana had argued strenuously for the law.
"In this instance, the victim was an 8-year-old girl who was asleep in her own bed in the morning and found her 300-pound stepfather violently physically raping her," Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz said during oral arguments.
But some victims of child rape also supported Kennedy. Jody Plauche, now 36, who was raped and kidnapped as a child, says that the possibility of the death penalty adds too much burden to the child.
"A child who's been raped has been through enough," he said.
He points out that the offenders are usually a trusted adult and he worries the children will feel "extra trauma" if they know that the offender might die if the child reports the crime.
ORIGINAL
However, I have said before - law enforcement has to start GOING AFTER THE JOHNS MORE AGGRESSIVELY if they expect this to make any difference.
FBI says 345 arrested, 21 children rescued in prostitution busts in 16 cities
Hundreds of people have been arrested and 21 children rescued in what the FBI is calling a five-day roundup of networks of pimps who force children into prostitution.
The Justice Department says it targeted 16 cities as part of its "Operation Cross Country" that caps off five years of similar stings nationwide.
Many of the children forced into prostitution are either runaways or what authorities call "thrown-aways" _ kids whose families have shunned them. Officials say they are preyed upon by organized networks of pimps who lure them in with shelter or drugs, then often beat, starve or otherwise abuse them until the children agree to work the streets.
"We together have no higher calling than to protect our children and to safeguard their innocence," FBI Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday. "Yet the sex trafficking of children remains one of the most violent and unforgivable crimes in this country."In all, authorities arrested 345 people _ including 290 adult prostitutes _ during the operation that ended this week. Since 2003, 308 pimps and hookers have been convicted in state and federal courts of forcing youngsters into prostitution, and 433 child victims have been rescued, Mueller said.
The cities targeted in this week's sting are: Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; Detroit; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, Md.; Oakland, Calif.; Phoenix; Reno, Nev.; Sacramento, Calif.; Tampa; Toledo, Ohio and Washington.
The problem of child prostitution has taken on a new urgency in recent years with the growth of online networks where pimps advertise the youngsters to clients. The FBI generally investigates child prostitution cases that cross state lines.
The cases aren't easy to convict.
In April 2006, for example, charges against a Nevada man resulted in a hung jury after his 14-year-old victim refused to testify against him. Months later, however, a second jury found Juan Rico Doss of Reno, Nev., guilty of forcing two girls _ ages 14 and 16 _ to sell sex in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco and Oakland.
A University of Pennsylvania study estimates nearly 300,000 children in the United States are at risk of being sexually exploited for commercial uses _ "most of them runaways or thrown-aways," said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"These kids are victims. This is 21st century slavery," Allen said. "They lack the ability to walk away."
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Tipline
If you think this considering using another person's body (even a child's) for money is shocking -- make sure you have a strong stomach before you read my friend Chaim's latest post on how CHEAP some people consider human LIFE to be -- HERE!
And yet - we can't get the Court to O.K. the death penalty for CHILD RAPISTS! When the reality is that the rapist has truly "ended" the child's chance at a normal, healthy life -for ever. Where's the justice or accountability?
Or as I say about many abuse victims like myself:
No Death Penalty for Child Rape"the spirit has been murdered but the body's still walking around."
By ARIANE de VOGUE
In a closely divided opinion today, the Supreme Court found that while the crime of raping a child is a "revulsion" to society, it does not merit the death penalty.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for a 5-4 majority, found that "a death sentence for one who raped but did not kill a child, and who did not intend to assist another in killing the child, is unconstitutional."
Louisiana and five other states have laws imposing the death penalty for that crime. The ruling today overturned those laws.
The decision and a fiery dissent from the conservative justices explored the controversial moral questions society must face in addressing the topic of child rape.
Kennedy acknowledged as much, writing that such a crime "cannot be recounted in these pages in a way sufficient to capture in full the hurt and horror inflicted on the victim."
"We cannot dismiss the years of long anguish that must be endured by the victim of child rape," he wrote. But he said that capital punishment is not a "proportionate" penalty for the crime.
In an emotional dissent, Justice Samuel Alito criticized the majority for finding that the crime of child rape should be penalized differently from that of some murders. He said, "With respect to the question of moral depravity, is it really true that every person who is convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death is more morally depraved than every child rapist."
Alito said, "In the eyes of ordinary Americans, the very worst child rapists & predators who seek out and inflict serious physical and emotional injury on defenseless young children are the epitome of moral depravity."
While the majority said that only a small number of states had enacted the death penalty for child rape, Alito argued that such efforts could have grown in the upcoming years, but the court's decision "snuffs out" such a possibility.
Advocates for child's rights praised the decision. They condemned Louisiana's law because they were fearful that the if a child rapist knew he might face the death penalty he would have an incentive to kill his victim.
The case that went before the court dates back to 1998, when Patrick O. Kennedy called 911 to report that his 8-year-old stepdaughter had just been raped.
Kennedy blamed two boys from his suburban New Orleans neighborhood for the attack and told police that the boys had fled on bicycles, but police soon suspected Kennedy of the crime.
At trial, the girl, who had required surgery after the attack, testified that Kennedy had raped her and that he had coached her to lie to police.
Testimony at trial also revealed that Kennedy had called a carpet cleaning company about removing bloodstains from his carpet even before dialing 911.
Kennedy's crime was considered so heinous that he was sentenced to death under Louisiana law, which imposes the death penalty for the rape of a child.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a group opposed to the death penalty, there are more than 3,300 people on death row in America, and Kennedy is one of only two who did not commit murder.
Kennedy had argued that laws in Louisiana and five other states that impose the death penalty for child rape violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Kennedy's lawyers praised today's decision.
"The Court makes clear that Louisiana's experiment with the death penalty for rape ran afoul of the United States Constitution," Ben Cohen, of the New Orleans-based Capital Appeals Project, said.
The organization has represented Kennedy for the past four years.
"Given the Court's decision, we can only hope that the money that Louisiana has been spending drafting and defending this anomalous and unconstitutional statute will be reallocated to efforts at treatment for victims of sexual abuse and for measures that actually reduce the risk of such abuse in our communities," Cohen said.
Representatives of Louisiana had argued strenuously for the law.
"In this instance, the victim was an 8-year-old girl who was asleep in her own bed in the morning and found her 300-pound stepfather violently physically raping her," Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz said during oral arguments.
But some victims of child rape also supported Kennedy. Jody Plauche, now 36, who was raped and kidnapped as a child, says that the possibility of the death penalty adds too much burden to the child.
"A child who's been raped has been through enough," he said.
He points out that the offenders are usually a trusted adult and he worries the children will feel "extra trauma" if they know that the offender might die if the child reports the crime.
ORIGINAL
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