My office has been working for three years to end trafficking of young and vulnerable teens in Arizona.
The Arizona Attorney General's Underage Sex-Trafficking Coalition was formed in 2011 to raise public awareness, educate the community and to advocate to affect chance in local, regional; even federal laws, as it relates to human trafficking.
My office drafted legislation, which ultimately passed, that greatly increases the penalties for those who pimp underage girls.
One of the ways to impact this is to follow the money trail. Our youth; and they are mostly female, are being victimized by abusers who sell their "victims" for financial gain.
Victim advocates and members of law enforcement know there are many aspects to this problem; such as child pornography, drugs, misuse of technology.
These girls are not only from poverty-stricken areas, but from every socio-economic background. The coercion of a vulnerable individual by these menacing predators must be stopped.
I am working to raise awareness of the force, fraud and coercion that is an integral part of sexual exploitation. Traffickers and those who prey on our children are masterful at deception and gaining trust online and in public places. Children who are most vulnerable are those without adult supervision.
I am coordinating strategies to stop human trafficking, training law enforcement and working to create awareness to improve overall public safety. By acknowledging the correlation between trafficking and people coming to Arizona for conventions and sporting events, we can begin to combat the sexual exploitation of our children.
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