Sex Trafficking Black Women and Girls
On August 18, Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge David Wilk will hand down a sentence for 23-year-old Chrystul Kizer for the killing of Randy Volar, 34, who sexually abused her as a teenager. She faces a minimum of 20 years in prison for second degree reckless homicide.
Two years ago, an Iowa judge ordered 15-year-old sex trafficking victim, Pieper Lewis, to pay $150, 000 restitution to the family of her abuser, Zachary Brooks, who she fatally stabbed in 2020. Initially sentenced to 21 years in prison, the court reduced her sentence to five years of supervised probation and 600 hours of community service for “involuntary manslaughter and willful injury.”
In January 2019, then Tennessee governor, Bill Haslam, granted clemency to Cyntoia Brown, who had served 19 years of a life sentence for killing a man who bought her sex when she was 16.
Kizer, Lewis, and Brown are Black women. Although their criminal cases caught the attention of the media, the trafficking of Black women and girls, locked in cycles of poverty, family instability, sexual exploitation, and physical abuse, is underrecognized and under-reported.
According to a National Black Women’s Justice Institute report, 49 percent of sex trafficking victims are Black women, the highest percentage of any race. “Black girls who are victims are arrested on prostitution charges and punished as perpetrators rather than served or supported as victims.”
What is sex trafficking?”
The U. S. Department of Justice defines sex trafficking as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.”
Who traffics in sex?
A 2017 study on sex buyers in Minnesota showed that “the majority of buyers in their state are white, middle-to-upper class, married men.” According to Atlanta’s 11 Alive, court records show that buyers/abusers include “pastors, teachers, cops, or judges; they could be the guy next door.”
Oftentimes, family members, friends, intimate partners or spouses of victims, or acquaintances are abusers. According to a 2020 report published by Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), “Of women who called the National Hotline, 36.9 percent were trafficked by their partners.”
Traffickers—mostly white men--admit that, if caught, they face less jail time for trafficking Black women victims than trafficking white women.
Profile of a sex trafficking victim, or survivor
These factors (or some combination of) are predictive of who is likely to become a victim of sex trafficking:
· Being a Black female under 18 years
· Being involved in the criminal justice system
· Being in foster care or having aged out of the system
· Having low economic status
· Being a victim of physical or sexual abuse
The adultification of Black girls
Equally alarming is the “adultification” Black girls, perceived by educators, law enforcement, and the criminal justice system as more knowledgeable about sex, and more responsible for their actions than white girls. (Historically, these perceptions justified white plantation owners’ rape and brutalization of enslaved women.)
A study by the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality (GLCPI) noted that “—for the first time— data show(s) that adults view Black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers ….”
Compared to white girls of the same age, survey participants perceived that Black girls need less nurturing and less protection. They are less in need of support or comfort, are more independent, know more about adult topics, and know more about sex.
The CBCF stated “Due to attributing these characteristics to Black girls, there may be a suggested influence for law officials to criminalize Black girls, rather than seeing them as victims.”
Hyper sexualization of Black women and girls
In a 2020 article for MarquetteWire, Hope Moses wrote, “Sexualization is the practice of excessively sexualizing individuals, an act that Black girls and women are heavily subjected to. This deprivation of innocence has a deep-rooted history in the United States ... “Black girls do not have, or never had, the liberty of being children. Instead … they live in a world that turns their innocence into a sex symbol.”
The criminalization of Kizer, Brown, and Lewis exemplifies the perception that they are perpetrators, not victims, despite their sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of adult males.
Calls to Action
Rights4Girls advocates investing in the prevention of gender-based sexual assault and abuse; decriminalizing and supporting girls who have been sexually abused; ending the punishment of children who act in self-defense against abusers.
In addition, prohibit the arrest of victims for offenses related to the sexual violence they have survived; hold law enforcement accountable for filing “false reporting” charges against girls who report sexual abuse; and investigate claims and protect survivors.
Likewise, address the high rates of sexual abuse against girls of color, girls with disabilities, immigrant girls, and other vulnerable populations.
A Final Note
Sex trafficking is a complex and widespread problem not easily covered in a blog post. Hopefully, it sheds light on how sex trafficking harms individuals and communities and how it feeds on false perceptions about sex trafficking victims. More importantly, it exposes the ineffectiveness of law enforcement and the legal system to prosecute traffickers or protect and support victims.
Services for Victims or Survivors of Sex Trafficking
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center is a national, toll-free hotline for the human trafficking field in the United States. (Available in 200 languages at 1-888-373-7888)
The Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center (links) trafficking victims with highly skilled pro bono attorneys, and works to obtain criminal convictions, criminal restitution, and civil judgments against traffickers. (Email info@healtrafficking.org)
The National Center for Victims of Crime helps victims of crime rebuild their lives. (202-467-8700)
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