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JULY 31 - AUGUST 13, 2008VOL 6, ISSUE 11

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VictimlessCrime ?

Why isn’t anyone talking about the discovery of a 17-year old American girl in the recentmassage parlor raids?

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V14 | JULY 31 - AUGUST 13, 2008

Feature by Chris Horne

“Severe forms of trafficking in persons means… sex traf-ficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force,fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to per-form such act has not attained 18 years of age… The term‘sex trafficking’ means the recruitment, harboring, trans-portation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the pur-pose of a commercial sex act.”– The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, PUBLIC LAW 106–386Sec. 103.—Definitions, #8-9

As long as you’re asking the Federal government, itreally doesn’t matter who else you ask—there issex trafficking in Macon. There is at least one vic-

tim, and the Macon Police Department (MPD) found her. She’s someone whose face was plastered on the front

page of The Telegraph, across television newscasts andtheir online components. Each respective comment sectionquickly filled up with remarks about her. The story haseven traveled far, reposted with pictures to websites asglobal as Fark.com and as unrelated to Macon as aPittsburg Penguins fansite.

But instead of compassion, she has become the targetof lewd, lascivious and sometimes sexually violent commen-tary. She is a 17-year-old girl who was arrested and bookedon prostitution charges instead of helped and protected.

Somewhere—presumably between law enforcement’sbest intentions and ignorance of the Federal law—this girlslipped through.

On July 16, 2008, the MPD embarked on the secondnight of the second phase of its Operation Massage Parlor.Unlike the first phase, the MPD utilized assistance fromTapestri, an agency in Atlanta that aids survivors of inter-national sex trafficking. They also solicited and receivedhelp from the Crisis Line and Safe House of CentralGeorgia, who help sexually assaulted women.

“This is not a victimless crime,” Alia El-Sawi says.She is the Anti-Human Trafficking Program Coordinatorfor Tapestri, and a Mercer graduate.

The mere presence of these organizations representeda shift in the culture of the MPD, who had become awarethat they needed help investigating the probability of sextrafficking. Police Chief Mike Burns said as much in hisopening comments at the July 21 press conference.

On that second night, however, Tapestri stayed inAtlanta because agents from Immigration and CustomsEnforcement (ICE) agreed to accompany the MPD. Afterraiding Q-Spa and arresting three Koreans, MPD went toAll-American Spa and arrested three Americans, chargingtwo with Keeping a House of Prostitution, and one, the 17-year-old girl, with Masturbation for Hire.

Two things happened in the wake of the raids: ICEagents ignored her because their emphasis is on immi-grants, and the MPD saw no red flags because the legalage of consent in Georgia is 16.

“A man who buys sex is viewed simply as a ‘man’ doing ‘what men do’…”—Hanny Ben-Israel and Nomi Levenkron,“The Missing Factor: Clients of Trafficked Women inIsrael’s Sex Industry”

“It would be best if she were treated as a victim, not acriminal,” Kaffie McCullough says. As the coordinator of

Community Collaboratives, a function of the JuvenileJustice Fund, which serves Fulton County, McCulloughsees little distinction between trafficking and the prostitu-tion of children in a case like this.

“They’re two words that essentially mean the samething. For some, trafficking means crossing over statelines, but movement isn’t necessary,” she says. “If peoplereally don’t understand what trafficking is, then sayingchild prostitution makes more sense. It gets their attentionin a way they understand.”

Of all the problems around the trafficking issue, chiefamong them is understanding what it is. One reasonCongress passed the The Trafficking Victims Protection Actof 2000 (TVPA,) was to define and penalize trafficking. Inthe majority of cases, the only substantive law is the TVPA.

Macon is no exception. “That’s something the Fedswould handle,” District Attorney Howard Simms says. Itis, however, something that can be referred to US AttorneyMax Wood by local law enforcement.

“They probably don’t know to go to (Wood),” Simmssays, noting that the 86-page TVPA isn’t widely under-stood in Middle Georgia yet. He says his wife, DeAlvah“Dee” Simms, the former State Child Advocate, recentlymade him aware of the 17-year-old’s situation. It is some-thing he wants to bring to Wood’s attention.

Stephanie Davis, Policy Advisor on Women’s Issuesfor Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, says the distinctionbetween minors and adults can be arbitrary and harmful.

“A girl turns 17, and all of a sudden, she doesn’t qualifyfor a lot of services,” Davis says. “She can’t be treated as avictim through a lot of eyes when she clearly is (a victim).”

It is the very fact of her age that qualifies her forFederal protection. Congress has recognized that somecrossroads require intelligent, mature and informed deci-sions that a person under 18 isn’t always capable of. If thatis already true for casting a vote and serving in the mili-tary, it should certainly apply to working in a brothel.

The inference is that, in Georgia, less maturity isneeded to determine one’s level of sexual activity than forresponsible alcohol consumption.

“Once out on the street, one out of every three teens will belured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.”—from “Hidden in Plain View:The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Girls in Atlanta”

On June 25, the FBI marked the fifth anniversary of theInnocence Lost Initiative, which targets criminals engagedin the domestic trafficking of children for prostitution. Inthat time, the initiative has resulted in the conviction of308 individuals on a combination of state and federalcharges—and the recovery of 433 child victims.

These domestically trafficked child victims are often,as Dr. Mary Alice Morgan says, “runaways and the so-called throw-aways.”

Without intervention and support, Dr. Morgan, theDirector of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program atMercer, points out that these girls are practically destinedto continue repeating this cycle ad nauseum.

“Who is going to step in? The don isn’t going to inter-vene. The pimp isn’t going to intervene. The family isgoing to write her off. The church is going to write heroff,” Dr. Morgan says.

So these girls endure being lied to and abused becausethey’re left feeling there is no other option, no one to help.Suffering from a seeming variety of Stockholm Syndrome,some victims even refuse to believe there’s anything wrongwith their circumstances.

“They’ll show up bruised and beaten, and tell youthey’re okay. They prefer the terror that they know,” Dr.Morgan explains. “They really don’t have advocates.”

Except for people like Davis, who attempts to matchthe needs of trafficked women and girls with effective poli-cy. For Atlanta, which is among the 14 worst cities for childprostitution according to the FBI, the challenges are steep.

Davis says that arrests in adult entertainment venuesin Atlanta revealed high rates of prostitution. That, inturn, means many young women were at risk. An ordi-nance recently passed—and currently being challengedlegally—raised the minimum age of employees inAtlanta’s bars to 21. “It immediately took 2,600 girls offthe stage,” Davis says.

The scope is enormous, the effect insidious. When alarge convention or sporting event comes to Atlanta, a size-able contingent of prostitutes is brought into town to han-dle the increased demand. Davis works with tourism lead-ers to curb this growing problem, but acknowledges thatmeaningful reduction will come from the demand side.

“The reason there is prostitution is that men are buy-ing sex. You’ve got to ask why men are buying sex,”Stephanie Davis says. “One reason I think it flourishes inthe Bible Belt is because there is so much repressed sexu-ality. And the churches are afraid to touch it, like there’ssome sort of guilt by association.”

But why are these girls getting involved? Like theirinternational counterparts, victims of domestic traf-ficking are lured into the cycle with promises of

love and comfort, escape, companionship, drugs—whatev-er it takes. Of course, money is primary.

The employment ad for Macon’s All-American Spaon PennyPincherUSA.com website—active as recently asJune 29, 2008, though it has since been removed—demon-strates this in short form. “MODEL TYPES NEEDED! At ALL AMERICAN SPAEarn Up To $200 Per Day. No Experience Necessary,Will Train The Right Individuals. Call…”

Speaking at April’s “Combating Sex Trafficking"Conference in Chapel Hill, NC, Ken Franzblau, theDirector of Human Trafficking Education in the NY StateDivision of Criminal Justice Services, described the situa-tion in New York State, where the “Safe Harbor forSexually Exploited Children Act” was passed in June. Thislegislation allows law enforcement to treat girls 15 andyounger as victims instead of criminals.

Amnesty International’s campaign against sex trafficking

VictimlessCrime? Two things happened in the wake of the

raids: ICE agents ignored her because theiremphasis is on immigrants, and the MPDsaw no red flags because the legal age ofconsent in Georgia is 16.

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OptiheadOne of the local rags the 11thHour has done an story on ourfavorite shops in Macon, and itwas picked up by public radio too.

Tiny DanRead the 11th Hour rag, youknow a good story would behow having an amp or legalizedprostitution in your area canreduce violent sex crimes, thishas been proven by a survey inLondon. And its not only theasian parlors in Macon. But itsjust like everything else in thiscity, it was a city counsel per-son doing a favor for a "legit"therapist he knew. Maconsucks. Politicians, now thats thetrue whores in this town.

JonnnnnnnnnnyWhy was all of the massage par-lors closed on Thursday night. Iwas riding around about 10: 30P. M. And they were all closed.VIP, Q Spa, Ultimate Massage,Hong Kong, and Paradise Spawere all closed. Does anyoneknow what was going on?

ScornfulThat would be because of thebusts last night...

train5I knew this was only a matter oftime before uncle Leo inter-vened. It's ok if the drug dealersand murderers are roamingabout.

Mydogblue1873The news just said a group ofmercer students and professorsare going to city council toprotest the amp's due to thewomen being sex slaves and nothaving rights.

Andy BernardThose flashy billboard signs wasa bad business move for theAMP's. Especially when therewere a few in Macon, thatcountless yuppie soccer momssaw. You can bet they com-plained about that shit. …Lookslike the beginning of the end ofMacon AMP's...

Lookinfoit69Damn! No way I would bother

with the Macon AMP scene atthis juncture. They killed adamn good thing; but as wasstated here by someone else,the AMP's didn't help their situ-ation with all the in-your faceadvertising. A bit of discretionmay have saved them but whenyou post gigantic ads all over75, Warner Robins and the like,you can expect people to beginasking questions and demand-ing action. Frickin small towncops with nothing better to do.

J ManAnyone have anything to playwith in Macon? My usual hastaken a powder on me and Ineed a replacement.

Mydogblue1873New round of arrest today at theMacon AMPs wouldn't go nearthem right now.

SledgehammerThe AMP scene in Macon is inscary shape. I have a cop friendwho says that they are begin-ning to target the customers,taking pictures of tags. ...

Unedited comments from USA Sex Guide,an online message board, June 14 through July 27:

...theMacon AMP's didn't

help their situation withall the in-your face advertis-ing. A bit of discretion may

have saved them...- Lookinforit69

“Forget what you've learned about sextrafficking from 20/20,” Franzblau said. “Themajority of trafficking in NY is domestic traf-ficking—runaway kids BS’d into this, prom-ised a place to sleep. . . (told) I’m a rapper I'llput you in my next video.”

“Every trafficked or prostituted womanhas two things in common: “They all havestories, and nobody wants to know them,”Mercer’s Dr. Andrew Silver says, “As longas we're happy in our innocence, their suf-fering continues.”

“Now that Macon Police Chief MikeBurns has eliminated the serious threat ofmassage parlors and has had his picture inThe Telegraph posing proudly as a greatcrime fighter, how about some other crimefighting that is not victimless? This mightinclude Operation Murder, Operation CarTheft, Operation Rape, Operation HomeInvasion, and Operation BusinessRobberies.” –Letter to the Editor, TheTelegraph, July 24, 2008

Dottie Stafford serves as the SexualAssault Advocacy Program Director forCrisis Line & Safe House of CentralGeorgia and has been assisting the police onthis issue. Her perspective is drastically dif-ferent than those who think the massage par-lor raids are a waste of time.

“People are so callused and dismissivein the comments they make. They don’t real-ize what’s really happening,” Stafford says.“It isn’t as if all other crime-stopping effortshave ended. I commend the police chief andthe mayor and city council for doing this

even though it is not popular.” Statements made by the “callused and

dismissive” reflect a view that those underthe yoke of prostitution and traffickingdeserve what they get, which is eerily simi-lar to the sentiments expressed by slaveowners and their supporters 200 years ago.

Dr. Silver has heard enough of that,too. “People say the police shouldn’t spend‘so much time’ on the massage parlors—what? How many nights have they spent onit? Three, four, five? This isn’t keeping themfrom pursuing other crimes.”

What frustrates authorities more is theidea that the size and prevalence of prostitu-tion and trafficking somehow means it cannever be stopped and therefore, attempts tocontrol it shouldn’t even be made.

Davis’s response comes quickly:“They say, ‘You’ll never stop prostitution.’That’s like saying there’s no way to stopmurder, so don’t look for reasons why peo-ple murder people.”

There’s another simple reason. AsFranzblau said, “Where prostitution is toler-ated, trafficking flourishes. They know thatif the police aren't looking at prostitution,they won't be looking at trafficking.”

If a 17-year-old, white, American girlcan be so easily discarded, what chancedoes an immigrant with few English skillshave for getting the help she needs? Thequestion should no longer be whether or notsex trafficking exists in Macon—by defini-tion, it absolutely does. The question iswhether or not the community gives a damn.