Abuse, drugs prevalent with sex-trafficking victims, study finds

Childhood sexual abuse, drug use, violence and fractured families are among the common threads in the victim stories told to researchers examining the scope of sex trafficking in Hawaii.

A report to be released today by the Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention and the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women also indicates missed opportunities for police, social service agencies, schools, doctors and others to identify victims of sex trafficking and possibly intervene to get them help.

“Sex Trafficking in Hawaii: The Stories of Survivors” is the second segment of a multi-part study on Hawaii sex trafficking, which federal law defines as the recruitment, provision and patronizing of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act in which the act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or when the person is under 18 years of age.

The first part of the study, released in September, attempted to gauge the market for online sex buyers in Hawaii. Today’s report is based on interviews with 15 adults who are sex-trafficking victims and seven people who are parents, guardians or close family members of children who were ensnared in the sex trade.

The sample is admittedly small “because it’s so hidden,” said Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, an associate professor of social work at ASU and director of the Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention. “Researching sex trafficking in Hawaii has been complicated by the secrecy, shame and stigma associated with disclosing their experiences, regardless of the level of coercion.”

In many regards the stories the 22 participants told were not unlike those of sex-trafficking victims elsewhere, but in some ways they were special to Hawaii, Roe- Sepowitz said.

“Drugs were somewhat more involved in sex trafficking here,” she said. “When we do research in other places, we don’t see 100 percent drug involvement,” as was the case with the Hawaii victims who were interviewed. Roe- Sepowitz attributed that to ready access to crystal methamphetamine.

“Meth is an easy way to get victims hooked on drugs or to find someone who is hooked on drugs and is vulnerable,” she said.

Other differences include a culture that tolerates hostess bars and game rooms, two of the sex- selling venues mentioned by interviewees.

“There was also a unique level of violence. It’s really high and something to be noted is that the trauma these victims experience is profound,” she said.

The length of time from the victims’ first experience in sex trafficking to exiting the sex trade ranged from 5-1/2 months to 32 years, according to the ASU report. On average, they made more than five attempts to leave the sex trade.

Seventeen of the 22 study subjects are Native Hawaiian. Sixteen reported childhood sexual abuse and nine said a family member also was involved in prostitution or sex trafficking.

Many of those interviewed said they came from unstable homes where their parents suffered from mental illness and/or drug abuse, and had close family members who were in jail or prison, according to the study. Almost three-quarters said they witnessed drug use at home as children, and all said they used illegal drugs themselves, often as a minor.

Nine victims were in special education programs at some point and 16 reported problems at school that led to suspension or expulsion.

That information and victim accounts indicating that all but four of the 22 were under the age of 18 — and as young as 11 — when first sex trafficked shows the importance of training school staff to recognize when youngsters may be at risk, the report said.

Seventeen of the subjects also had contact with the child welfare system and 16 had been placed in foster care, according to the report. All but one had run away from home.

Lacking support at home and feeling adrift without positive connections in their lives made it easier for sex traffickers to “groom” at-risk youths, the ASU study said.

“Contrary to media depictions of abduction by strangers, all of the participants were lured into sex trafficking. What looked like affection and nurturing quickly turned to violent exploitation and emotional manipulation,” the report said. “The grooming and recruitment techniques of the sex traffickers were based on conditional affection, supplying drugs and extreme dating violence.”

Six of the victims reported they were raped or gang raped by their first trafficker as part of the grooming process. Six said their first sex trafficker was a boyfriend; only one said a stranger was involved.

The study stated that most of the women felt love and a connection to their trafficker despite their abusive and violent behavior.

Other takeaways from the “Stories of Survivors” report underscore the need for staff offering services to victims to be cognizant the complexity of factors such as childhood sexual abuse, foster care experiences, dating violence and forced prostitution.

Meda Chesney-Lind, a professor of women’s study at the University of Hawaii, said the participants’ stories are consistent with other research on sex trafficking showing a history of trauma, troubled families and mental health and drug issues among victims.

“These are not the choices that young kids would make if they had good choices available to them,” Chesney-Lind said. “So the question becomes how best to service this population.”

She said most experts in the field advocate an approach that decriminalizes youth prostitution and allows victims to access services or to seek help from police without fear of prosecution.

Chesney-Lind was among those who questioned the methodology and conclusions of the earlier ASU study on the demand for online sex in Hawaii. While she was not surprised by findings showing a robust online sex market, Chesney-Lind said the study seemed to assume that all of the activity documented involved sex trafficking without providing supporting data.

Tracy Ryan, executive director of Harm Reduction Hawaii, also criticized the demand study for “stretching” research findings to push for eliminating the sex trade altogether.

She said the research is “extremely biased” and “anti-prostitute,” failing to make a distinction between coerced prostitution and consensual sex transactions. “Their bias is that prostitution is inherently evil and bad for women, and their research shows it’s evil, with the goal of abolishing prostitution,” she said.

In response, Roe-Sepowitz said she supports the right of individuals to participate in a consensual sex trade, but that based on her years of research, many of those who do choose sex work because they don’t have a lot of options.

Khara Jabola-Carolus, executive director of the Commission on the Status of Women, said the ASU research is necessary to establish a foundation for legislative and law enforcement reforms and to devise effective programs to assist sex-trafficking victims.

“If we don’t know who’s being targeted or how they are targeted, all of these efforts to do prevention don’t make a lot of sense,” she said. “Right now we are overly dependent on law enforcement as the primary intervention, as the front line, when it really should be the medical field and the Department of Education.”

In the meantime, the Commission on the Status of Women plans to submit legislation for the coming session that would require all criminal justice personnel to undergo training on human trafficking and current laws.

“Training would help folks understand the issue better and where there are inefficiencies in the law to build more sustainable investigations and adjudications across the state,” Jabola- Carolus said. “Right now we’re lacking a cohesive and concerted effort.”

The “Sex Trafficking in Hawaii: The Stories of Survivors” report will be available at humanservices.hawaii.gov/hscsw/ following its release today.

GET HELP OR REPORT SEX TRAFFICKING

>> National Human Trafficking Hotline: 888-373-7888

>> Child sex trafficking: 808-832-1999 (toll-free from neighbor islands 888-398-1188)