Child Abuse by Another Name: Why the Child Welfare System Is the Best Mechanism in Place to Address the Problem of Juvenile Prostitution
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CHILD ABUSE BY ANOTHER NAME:
WHY THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM IS THE
BEST MECHANISM IN PLACE TO ADDRESS THE
PROBLEM OF JUVENILE PROSTITUTION
We're no longer talking about teen prostitutes, bad girls. We're
talking about kids who are being bought and sold by adults.'
I. INTRODUCTION
Lucilia was thirteen years old the first time she was sold for sex.2
After being physically and sexually abused at home and chancing that
life on the streets could not be worse than life at home, Lucilia ran
away.3 Ultimately, however, the streets dished up more of the same
abuse and Lucilia was soon gang-raped at a party.4 Little did she know,
but the man who intervened during her rape and promised to protect her
from the rapists, her knight in shining armor, would quickly turn her
back out onto the streets and sell her for sex.5 The United States is
patently aware of the devastating tragedy of sexual slavery.6 Federal
laws have been enacted to provide protection to sexually exploited youth
when they are brought into the United States from abroad.
Unfortunately for Lucilia, she was not from Russia or Thailand; Lucilia
was from New York. As a result, when she was discovered prostituting
1. Rachel Lloyd, Executive Dir. of Girls Educ. and Mentoring Servs., in Cassi Feldman,
Report Finds 2,000 of State's Children Are Sexually Exploited, Many in New York City, N.Y.
TIMES, Apr. 24, 2007, at B6.
2. Jessica Lustig, The 13-Year-Old Prostitute[.] Working Girl or Sex Slave?, N.Y. MAG.,
Apr. 9, 2007, at 36.
3. Id. at 38.
4. Id.
5. Id. at 38-39.
6. See infra notes 56-61 and accompanying text.
7. See infra notes 57-69 and accompanying text.
8. See Lustig, supra note 2, at 38.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/hoflr36&div=65&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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