Mainstream Media Calls Teen Sex Trafficking Victim a Criminal
Published October 19, 2009 @ 04:44PM PT
Human trafficking is not black and white, and all those different shades of nuance require the media to use that gray matter that fills up their heads. Unfortunately, the mainstream media often has their heads so far up their asses that actual analysis becomes a difficult, smelly task. Take the recent case of a Phoenix, AZ teen who was sentenced to three years in jail for soliciting other underage girls into prostitution. The twist that the media missed? She was convicted of the crime that she was a victim of herself.
The basic story is that Jazmine was 17 years old and in prostitution herself when she began recruiting other teen girls into the lifestyle. All minors under 18 in prostitution are legally human trafficking victims, so Jazmine was one of them. She and her 16-year-old friend arranged dates for girls as young as 14, charging as little as $50 per sex act. She got caught, was tried as a criminal as opposed to being treated as a victim, and now must spend three years behind bars and live with a criminal record. Jazmine's case is not an easy one. Yes, she knowingly recruited teen girls into prostitution, though it was against the law. But she was also a victim of teen prostitution herself. These girls weren't people she had physical, social, or economic power over and were exploiting; they were her peers. While Jazmine's actions may have been illegal, her circumstances are completely different than the more common situation -- an adult man forces or coerces a young girl into prostitution.
The case may be murky, but what it has made plexi-glass clear is how little the mainstream media understands child trafficking in prostitution. I would bet my hefty blogger salary that Jazmine was recruited into prostitution herself, probably by an older man like a family member or boyfriend. But no mention is made in any media coverage I found of that likelihood. Perhaps Jazmine was protecting the person who introduced her to prostitution. Perhaps no one thought to ask her how she got started. But the truth is that young teen girls don't just decide to go into prostitution -- they almost always have some grooming.
But perhaps the greatest failure of the mainstream media in the coverage of this case was that they published the photos and full names of Jazmine and her friend. And they did it a long time before any conviction took place. Regardless of what these girls have been accused of or even what they are guilty of, they are and were first victims of the crime they perpetrated. The fact that they did something illegal doesn't diminish their right to some protection as victims, part of which is the privacy of not having their photos plastered across television and the Internet. Living through the experience of being in prostitution as a teen is enough of a burden without spending the rest of your life fighting that stigma publicly. I'll buy the argument that despite her victimization, Jazmine deserves some level of punishment for her crime, but she also deserves a chance to put this is behind her. She's a new mother, and she deserves a fresh start for her and her family.
The cynical parts of me wonder if Jazmine were whiter or thinner or from a wealthier background, would she have been so disregarded as a victim and cast as a criminal? The really, really cynical parts of me wonder if the mainstream media is so clueless about child trafficking in the U.S., that even a change in race, appearance, or money wouldn't have helped her? But the optimist in me gives those cynical parts a solid kick in the shins and reminds me that every time the mainstream media misses the truth due to Headstuckinass Syndrome, there is an opportunity for education.
Photo credit: speednutdave
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Comments (8)
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Amanda has been a full-time abolitionist for six years. During that time, she has created reports, documentaries and training materials on human trafficking in the United States and around the world.
Amanda, you raise many good issues here, but just exactly how would you propose to deal with this young lady?
The main points as I see them are:
-- Once again this highlights the depths to which the media will go in their frenzy to sensationalize a story. It is obviously completely unacceptable that they should be allowed to publish the personal details of a minor at all.
-- On the other hand there is an assumption that Jazmine was recruited and did not choose a life of prostitution, albeit that a person at the tender age of 17 may be confused about their life choice. Choosing that lifestyle is different to being forced into it, despite the technical label of Human Trafficking for a person under 18 years of age.
-- The fact that does stand out is that she acted as a ‘role-model’ for younger and more impressionable children and as you rightly say there is therefore some level of correction/education required.
This leads us to one of the biggest solutions for how we attack the problem of Human Trafficking – education of the law enforcement agencies and the victims involved. What are your proposals for this?
I guess your final point about whether she would have been treated differently if she were white boils down to a different problem – prejudice and bigotry. But lets face it, that comes down to education again. It’s about what’s acceptable within a persons own social circle, peer group pressure, and role models.
Isn’t that the very crime, if ‘crime’ is the right word, that this young woman committed?
john stack
http://www.svetna.com
Posted by john stack on 10/20/2009 @ 12:37AM PT
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I agree with John but I will touch on a view topics as well. The fact that her name and picture was shared before conviction is not right. But the fact that she was treated as a criminal instead of a victim is the correct choice I think and I will tell you why.
If someone is abused their whole life and grows up twisted and then eventually murders someone or some kid brings a gun to school and guns down his classmates, he may have been a victim first, but that does not diminish the severity of his/her crimes. Just as in this case, Jasmine may have been a victim, (like John mentioned, this is an assumption), but she still did the recruiting. And if you know anything about kids and peer pressure, her job would not have been that easy if she was doing it under duress, which means she liked what she did.
Also like you said about the grooming, she was grooming her friends and most probably she did it by sharing how glamorous or fun it can be(I am not saying it is, just that she would have to say something appealing about it in her recruitment speak).
Posted by Glenn Barres on 10/20/2009 @ 07:09AM PT
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Miss kloer...
Im most certainly not as knowledgable as you are about this issue but untill I know the whole of the story...
I cant just say that she was also a victim...
Other than that, I do agree that the media fumbled the ball by in effect casting her as guilty before she was convicted.
Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/21/2009 @ 05:35PM PT
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I think that "technically," police can not release the names of minors until they are convicted, but if the media got hold of that detail from other reliable sources, then "technically" they have the right to publish it. Do I agree with it, maybe not, but I think this is where the legalities lie.
I also think that Jazmine should have to serve some kind of punishment because, like you said Amanda, it seems she knew what she was doing when she was getting these other girls to join her, and it seems she enjoyed it. It doesn't sound like coercion, but then again, perhaps there were other factors that play into the reason she got into prostitution in the first place.
Posted by Melissa Hale on 10/21/2009 @ 07:29PM PT
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surely the real victims here are the younger, impressionable, children that she enlisted and made dates for.......
Posted by john stack on 10/22/2009 @ 12:41AM PT
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This article is really sad in that it assumes Phoenix is behind in understanding this issue. In actuality, I'd say Phoenix Authorities, VICE Squad and County/City Attorneys are among the most educated in the country when it comes to dealing with child prostitution cases! The PHX VICE go around the country to train other squads methods in how to regard the girls as victims. http://www.brandedphx.com/learn-more/the-faces/
In this particular case, these girls were dual prostitute/pimps. Though we understand that they are also victims themselves, realize that the 3 yr plead out for Miss Jazmine is about 10 years less than any other Pimp in Phoenix gets with a guilty plea.
I hope another blog can come out to share how progressive and educated the Phoenix Authorities are on this topic.
www.brandedphx.com
Posted by David Curtis on 10/27/2009 @ 09:33AM PT
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what an excellent, informative post.... the links open up a whole spectrum of information.....
thanks David.....
Posted by john stack on 10/29/2009 @ 12:59PM PT
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THIS STORY SUPPORTS WHAT AMANDA HAS SAID:
US | October 27, 2009
Running in the Shadows: For Runaways, Sex Buys Survival
By IAN URBINA
"Nearly a third of the children who flee home engage in sex for food, drugs or a place to stay ..." NYT,10/27/09
It is not a matter of opinion, as many comments seem to profess, that Jazmine was in fact a minor and therefore should have (and should still be) treated as a victim.
This country is becoming Dickensian, Debtors' Prisons and all! (Remember your horror when, in jr. high, you read about them? Didn't young Oliver Twist learn to steal from the thief who saved him from starvation? Did ANYone think he or the older boy who mentored him should be imprisoned?!)
Some states have begun imprisoning homeless people for being homelesss (see the Homeless blog); "illegal" immigrant children & their parents are kept in "detention centers" indefinitely; and readers of this blog seem mostly in agreement that Jazmine needs to be punished!
The fact that minors commit other, more horrendous crimes & are punished 'as adults' is hardly a source of pride for a nation which fails to protect millions of children growing up with the neglect, abuse, drugs and crime which accompany poverty. Nor are you cynical, Amanda, to factor in race, a known predictor of how our in-justice system works.
Our lack of compassion for (& inefficient punishment of, rather than assistance to) children who commit crimes is intrinsic to our self-destructive social framework - just as we KNOW that abused children often grow up to be abusers who are then villified!
Imprisoning teens leads to releasing hardened adult criminals into society; it's also far more expensive than (actual, effective) rehab & counseling for not-as-yet hardened felons would be.
Helping young offenders - which includes teaching them to take responsibility for their acts - in the form of community service, for example, might actually reduce the astronomical number of prisoners we now house, as well as result in a few of them becoming productive citizens!
At least two other topics spring from this discussion of young Jazmine: 1)The American justice system & its horrifically crowded prisons, housing a disproportionately high number of minorities (more than any other Western nation's); 2)Our society's neglect of the needs of young children, particularly those who grow up in poverty; specifically, our willful ignorance of developmental effects on personality.
We already have a blog on Poverty, a scandal in itself for the wealthiest nation on earth. Now, when recession is costing millions their jobs, homes and health insurance, we face unprecedented numbers of homeless people, sick and untreated people, and their children.
What kind of citizens do you suppose these children will become?!
Posted by Nikki Longaker on 10/28/2009 @ 01:59PM PT
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