Treating Victims as Offenders: Incarceration of Trafficked Minors

• In Event: Roundtable: Victims & Offenders Special Issue on “Reforming the Criminal Justice Response to Human Trafficking"

Abstract

Minors under the age of 18 involved in commercial sex acts are defined as victims by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA, 2000). However, local and state systems continued to arrest and detain prostituted minors years after the passage of the TVPA, often under the guise of protecting such youth from the potential risks of being away from home (e.g., sex trafficking or substance abuse) or to ensure they appear at their court date. Despite agreement that youth involved in commercial sexual exploitation are victims, or that there is no such thing as a “youth prostitute,” the criminal justice system’s (CJS) response often treats these youth as offenders, rather than victims.

Author

• Calli M. Cain, Florida Atlantic University