Study Shows Stronger Measures Needed Against Child Exploitation
by Mary Reittig
October 6, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A former Congresswoman, now working with an international children's advocacy organization, says more attention needs to be paid to child exploitation in America. Linda Smith is the founder of Shared Hope International, a group dedicated to helping victims of child exploitation. Her organization released a study last week to Congress on the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the United States.
Smith says the results of the study revealed some shocking areas of insufficiency in measures taken to address these problems. "These were the issues," she notes. First of all, there is a "total lack of programs focusing on the buyer; you can demand children for sex and pornography, and you can get away with it in America."
Then there is the shocking proportions and rapid growth of child exploitation as an industry, particularly a growing demand for the "sexual services" of children and "a huge growth in online child pornography," the Shared Hope spokeswoman points out. And "there's a total lack of available resources at the local level for secure shelters for victims of pornography," she says.
Also, Smith adds, "There's very little awareness at the local level, and there's little law enforcement cooperation with non-government groups or the federal government." And while laws have been passed to help child victims, she notes, more effort needs to be directed toward the adults involved.
In many cases, the exploited children's advocate says, the authorities "are arresting the child who is being prostituted and pimped, and they are letting the man go. In most of America, there is no focus on it being wrong to be a buyer." The study conducted by Shared Hope International indicates the need for major changes in the approach to dealing with both victims and exploiters.
Smith says her group's findings will be presented in December to an international conference that will consider stronger efforts to combat child exploitation. The conference is part of an effort by a number of organizations and agencies to work toward strengthening laws against child pornography.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
