Texas Couldn’t Help This Sex-Trafficked Teen, So Authorities Sent Her To Jail

No one wanted Lena behind bars. She was not a prostitute; she was a child who had been sexually exploited. But teenage sex-trafficking victims in Texas end up in jail for one simple reason: There’s nowhere else for them to go.

Neena Satija
Morgan Smith
Edgar Walters
By Neena Satija
And Morgan Smith
And Edgar Walters
17-year-old Lena waits to be released from the Harris County Jail, with a small bag of her possessions. Her mentor gave her a blue jumpsuit to wear over her skimpy clothes. (Photo: Callie Richmond/The Texas Tribune)

HOUSTON (REPORT) — For three months in the fall of 2016, Lena was one of the youngest inmates in the Harris County Jail. The 17-year-old lived with two dozen women in a single room. She slept on a metal bunk and wore an oversized orange jumpsuit every day. She went to the bathroom with no privacy, using a toilet attached to the wall. Yet compared

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Automated Police Tracking System Will Notify Your Wife If You Drive Past A Prostitute

Denounced by both the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU, the plan would allow automated license plate readers to generate letters informing households that the specific car was observed habituating certain areas known for prostitution.

Jake Anderson
By Jake Anderson
prostitutes

(ANTIMEDIA) — The Los Angeles City Council is considering a controversial plan that would involve tracking license plates and automatically issuing letters to the homes of ‘Johns’ suspected of visiting sex workers. While privacy advocates are criticizing the plan as an unconstitutional breach of civil liberties, others say such measures are

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‘Comfort Women’ Who Serviced US Soldiers Demand Justice

They are suing the South Korean government for allegedly encouraging the prostitution that ruined their lives.

Geoffrey Cain
By Geoffrey Cain

UIJEONGBU, South Korea — Growing up in hardship in this once-poor Cold War outpost, the young Kim Kyeong-sun decades ago met a job recruiter who promised her housing and a paycheck to support her family. Her real job? A sex worker for American GIs. In a former neon-lit shantytown right outside an army base entrance, the hostess eked out a living

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#YesAllWomen, Except Sex Workers

Is feminism excluding sex workers?

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke

Following Elliot Rodger’s killing spree in Isla Vista, California, last month, in which the 22-year-old killed six people and injured 13 others as he sought revenge on women for refusing to date him, many women turned to social media networks to share stories of sexual harassment they have encountered, as well as tell tales of unwanted cat-calls

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(VIDEO) Bureaucracy, Corruption And Fear Thwart Justice For Trafficked Women In Thailand

Human trafficking is big business, bringing in $32 billion annually. In 2012, the Thai government prosecuted just 27 cases, obtaining 10 convictions.

Global Post
By Global Post

YANGON, Myanmar — Thazin knew she was in trouble as soon as the car pulled up to her new place of employment. It wasn’t a convenience store, as promised. It was a guesthouse with a bar. And then the truth dawned on her and the others brought with her. “We realized that we would not only work at a beer bar,” Thazin said, “but also as

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North Dakota Asks Nation For Help In Human Trafficking Epidemic

North Dakota’s male-dominated oil fields have created huge demand for sex workers. This demand has led to a human trafficking epidemic that the state can’t remedy on its own.

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke
Bakken sign

It’s an unfortunate reality seen throughout the world: where there are men and money, there are prostitutes. And where there are prostitutes, there are victims of human trafficking. Not all individuals selling sex choose to do so willingly -- some reports estimate that about 70 percent of “prostitutes” are actually human trafficking victims.

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