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Monday, June 22, 2009 | 3:57 p.m.
Gov. Jim Gibbons
Archive
Assembly Bill (.pdf)
Her mother and grandmother were prostitutes. From a young age, Dettrea had little doubt about the path her life would follow.
She started selling herself for sex at age 12. A year later she worked for a pimp. Before she would finally break free, Dettrea was arrested four times and became a heroin junkie.
Now 18 and drug-free, Dettrea, who declined to give her last name, works with law enforcement agencies and Hookers for Jesus, a faith-based organization that addresses human trafficking and exploitation. She wants to help other girls like her leave the abusive and illegal world of child prostitution.
“No 12-year-old girl wakes up and says ‘I want to be a prostitute today,’” she said. “There is a way out.”
And now there is a new state law that levies the harshest punishments in the country against those who pander or prostitute children.
Today in Las Vegas, Gov. Jim Gibbons re-signed Assembly Bill 380, which allows for fines of $500,000 for those convicted of trafficking prostitutes younger than 14 and $100,000 for trafficking prostitutes ages 14 to 17.
Both houses of the Legislature unanimously approved the bill, which Gibbons initially signed May 22.
The law, which becomes effective Oct. 1, also allows Nevada district attorneys to seize the property and assets of those convicted and use those funds for the care and treatment of rescued children.
“A word of caution to those who exploit children: We’re after you. This will make you pay,” Gibbons said during today’s ceremony at the Grant Sawyer Federal Building.
Last October, the FBI made 642 arrests and rescued 47 children in a nationwide crackdown on child prostitution. Of those, 49 were arrested in the Las Vegas Valley, according to FBI statistics. Records show Metro Police handled 150 child prostitution cases in 2008.
In Clark County, seized funds could be used to establish a residential safe house to get teens out of the life of sex for money, said William Voy, a family court judge. At the safe house, teens would receive counseling in an attempt to break the bond with their abusers and join in the prosecution of their pimps.
Although the children are considered victims and the pimps are the real targets, the young prostitutes are often arrested and jailed because that’s the only way to keep them away from the pimps long enough to begin to break the cycle, Voy said.
“The hardest thing to do is to get a victim to testify,” said Voy, who leads a special court formed in 2005 to address the issue. “They’ll say anything to get out of the detention center. Our biggest hurdle is to keep them in one place long enough just to get them to a preliminary hearing.”
Voy has worked on creating a safe house for child prostitutes for two years. He said the last hurdle is finding a steady stream of revenue to support eight probation officers.
This bill won’t be able to provide officers’ salaries because the seized assets would be inconsistent, Voy said. Instead, the county or state would need to dedicate fees from a reliable revenue source to pay for the officers.
The safe house is just the start of services the victims of child prostitution need, said Stephanie Parker, executive director of Nevada Child Seekers. The new law is a positive first step, she said.
“I don’t know that you can put a price on the life of a child but it’s a step in the right direction,” she said.
Freshman Assemblyman John Hambrick (R-Las Vegas) sponsored AB380. Child prostitution has been a topic that no one likes to talk about, he said.
But Hambrick said he found support for the bill across party lines at every level of government and from many community organizations.
“I think people realized it was going on, but that’s the underbelly of the city that no one really likes to talk about,” he said. “One way to address a problem is open the window, pull back the shades and let some light in. Hopefully the bill will help that.”
Hambrick, who is chairman of the Nevada Juvenile Justice Commission, said he will introduce legislation before the next session that targets the clients of child prostitution and trafficking networks.
“Nevada is starting down a road we’ll never back away from,” he said. “This issue is not going away. We have to address it squarely and definitively.”
Why is child prostitution such a big problem in Nevada in the first place?
Some contradictions shown here:
1- the age of consent in this state is 16.
2- although this new law is presented as being aimed at pimps and those who "traffick" in young prostitutes, this article also presents this young girl as following the example of her mother and grandmother, not being forced or otherwise coerced into selling herself, at least when she started.
3- this young woman is now selling Jesus as the way to get other young prostitutes away from that life. Yet the New Testament shows Jesus as one who hung out with prostitutes among other street people, without condemning them, and I don't recall anything being mentioned about their ages.
david: Child prostitution is a big problem here because of sick, mentally deranged men that want to pay to have sex with a child. Pedophiles and child molesters that have cash to burn. Nevada attracts the worse kind of people, just read the post above for proof of the hideously sick people that live in this state.
We need to crack down on all perverts..check sexual predator websites and make sure your neighborhoods are safe.
My apartment complex does background checks and will not rent to sex predators..make sure your neighborhood is safe.
http://www.hookersforjesus.net/
Meagens law:
https://www.familysafetyreport.com
http://www.nevadasexoffenders.net/
rejco: Are you offering to put in hours to help get young girls out of the sex for hire business? Is it better to let them be used by the slime of the streets for filthy sexual gratification? What other options are YOU offering for these children of the night?
If you think "Jesus for hookers" is so bad, then get off your butt and create a safe haven that is not affiliated with Jesus and give them viable options for a descent life.
One of the reasons children for hire has gone undetected for so long is because no one wants to deal with ugly issues like child sex for sale. All the pretty stars have their own causes that are suitable for the dinner table, like breast cancer, HIV etc...but no one wants to even think about young girls having sex with old men for money.
Wake up! There are so many people in Nevada alone that have money to burn, and yet, nothing is set up for these kids..nothing! How can people sleep at night knowing that children on being used in cars, alleys and bathrooms for money.
Put your money where your heart is and build or buy a home where they can come safely and get some counseling. Keep God out of the house so the children have a neutral environment that does not ask anything from them in return.They can find God another time when they are well enough to make a choice.
Call it "Angels Place" and keep a figure of an angel burning in the window all night long so they know they can come in anytime.
Keep a counselor on hand at all hours to talk to them. Keep a doctor available to treat them and talk to them about sexual diseases etc.
Most importantly, give them viable choices for a place to live and a way to get off the streets. Even if we offer them group housing until they turn 18 it would be better than what they have now.
For everyone else that is human in Las Vegas I urge you to step up for these kids..you have money, why no do something good with your money? All the other causes of the week are just fine with all the pretty stars shining for them and having charity balls...YOU could make a real difference in the life of a child of the night...make it happen.
Hookers for Jesus is a fantastic ministry. Most of these girls are thrown away by society. At least they have stepped up to help, and whether you like it or not, Jesus is redemption. HfJ doesn't shove hell down peoples throats. You must have them confused with their detractors!
If you are complaining, you need to put your actions where your mouth is.
AB380 is certainly a step in the right direction, but those of us close to the issue know there will not be enough money from this legislation to support a comprehensive program.
Prostitution laws need to be enforced equally and that means the customer needs to be targeted across social lines-not just against Latinos.
American men who travel to Thailand to have sex with children face life in prison. Russians who travel to Las Vegas to have sex with children are called tourists.
The federal government is equally responsible for selective enforcement of prositution laws against the male customer. Eliot Spitzer should have been sentenced for the Mann Act and would have should he have been black.
Take a minute and look at Jeffrey Epstein in Miami, Florida who the federal government failed to prosecute. Many of us, civil lawyers and activists are now pursuing civil actions on behalf of the hundreds of young girls he ruined with his sexual antics.
I have put these issues to the Department of Justice and believe they are now listening.
Then you will have all the money you need to help these little girls and boys. Yes there are boy prostitutes who are not as much fun to help. You will of course include the young boys in your progams?
You hit it on the head - people in sex work can be of any gender and age AND religion. This is why I'm grateful to Sex Workers Anonymous. They are all over the country, in Canada and even other countries like France. Anyone can belong and they have the right to a Higher Power of their own choice. We have members who are not only christian, but jewish, buddhist, muslem, and even athetists. Plus so many of us have to leave Nevada once we get free of the sex industry - so it's nice to be able to go anywhere and hit a meeting. Their recovery guide is awesome and I don't know what I would do without their phone and internet support. They have been around since 1987 and have talked to over 250,000 members. In states where they have been used as part of alternative sentencing programs - they have an almost 80 percent rate of recovery past the two year mark that most relapse before making. Plus they don't require a two million dollar budget and probation officers like Judge Voy is insisting the teens need. Their support is free. www.sexworkersanonymous.com