USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
Document Type
Other
Publication Date
January 2008
Abstract
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) is the commercial sexual exploitation of American citizen or lawful permanent resident children. This Rapid Assessment (RA) completed in January 2008 explored the identification of DMST victims, their access to, and the delivery of victim services. Findings suggest an acute lack of awareness or understanding of DMST among professionals likely to come in contact with victims, resulting in failure to identify DMST victims. Few DMST victims are accessing existing services due to their misidentification. Exacerbating this issue is a lack of victim-centered protocols for child sex trafficking criminal cases, leading to a failure in the prosecution of sex traffickers who prostitute minors. Professionals reported encountering complex issues with DMST victims, such as: their incapacity to break away from traffickers, their denial of victimization, their high likelihood of flight and revictimization, and reluctance to cooperate with trafficking investigations.
Recommended Citation
Reid, Joan and , "Rapid Assessment of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking in the Clearwater/Tampa Bay Area" (2008). USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications. 196.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/fac_publications/196
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
