Schwartz, H. S.2015-05-262015-05-262015Schwartz, 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.http://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1233&context=childrenatriskhttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/2294This 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.enminor sex traffickingresearchrisk factorsdevelopmental modelArticle