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6 U. St. Thomas L.J. 96 (2008-2009)
Child Prostitute or Victim of Trafficking

handle is hein.journals/usthomlj6 and id is 98 raw text is: ARTICLE CHILD PROSTITUTE OR VICTIM OF TRAFFICKING? WENDI J. ADELSON* ABSTRACT Is child prostitution a crime committed by minors, or against them? Federal laws on trafficking consider the prostitution of children to be akin to the crime of human trafficking, which raises questions about how states categorize child prostitution. At present, most jurisdictions' prostitution statutes fail to distinguish between adult and child prostitutes. Given the recent rise in state legislation geared toward punishing traffickers and pro- tecting child victims of trafficking, it appears counterintuitive to retain state statutes that punish child prostitutes when the federal anti-trafficking stat- utes could protect those same minors. Highlighting the dichotomy between criminal and protected treatment of children who are prostituted, this article identifies gaps in both the law and social services and assesses public policy solutions designed to aid this vulnerable and growing population of commercially sexually abused chil- dren. The article argues that state legislation criminalizing child prostitution should change in light of trafficking legislation that treats children who are prostituted as victims of crime. Moreover, states should divert available anti-trafficking resources toward the rehabilitation and care of prostituted children regardless of their immigration status. When the police are out on a sting and catch a pimp with his fourteen year old prostitute, they will consider her a victim of traffick- ing. Hypothetically, the police can arrest the same girl for the crime of * Program Director of the Human Rights and Immigration Law Project, Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, Florida State University College of Law; BA, Brandeis Univer- sity; MPhil, University of Cambridge; JD, University of Miami School of Law. For conversations and comments on this project, I owe thanks to: Dan Markel, Terry Coonan, Marisa Cianciarulo, Robin Thompson, Vania Llovera, Kelli Alces, Kathleen Kim, Sandy Skelaney, Sara Yousuf, and the members of the law review at the University of St. Thomas School of Law for convening this symposium.

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