Eliminating the Third Party Control Barrier to Identifying Juvenile Sex Trafficking Victims

Outline:

This paper evaluates the fundamental importance of defining sex trafficking to include all instances of commercial sexual exploitation of minors.

Beyond the question of whether force, fraud or coercion was used by the offender, this discussion addresses the impact of requiring that a third party, in particular a trafficker, has caused a minor victim to engage in commercial sexual activity in order for a minor to be recognized as a sex trafficking victim.