Letting Kids Be Kids: Employing a Developmental Model in the Study of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk
Abstract
This article aims to shed light on the developmental struggles that
early adolescents, the most common age group to be recruited and thus
the most vulnerable, are experiencing. This information will reveal why
pimps and traffickers, keenly attuned to the perverse benefit of exploiting
innocence, calculatingly target young, immature, and impressionable boys
and girls. As an anonymous vice president of a child advocacy
organization noted, traffickers recognize the developmental process and
are thus “the most brilliant child psychologists on the planet.4
” While this
article will focus primarily on those who are under pimp-control, the
majority of whom are female, the pertinent developmental issues also
relate to individuals who engage in survival sex, who were not recruited by
a pimp, or who operate independently within the world of commercial
sexual exploitation.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
minor sex trafficking, research, risk factors, developmental model
Citation
Schwartz, Hadar S. (2015). Letting Kids Be Kids: Employing a Developmental Model in the Study of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking. Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 6(1), Article 2.