HaeLeigh Sinerius

English 201A
Courtney Brogno
18 November 2014

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Authors Note

Writing this essay was pretty difficult for me. I was trying to get my point across without
repeating myself. It aaas also difficult for me to organize my thoughts at time. I hope I made plan
and idea concise and followed the format. I am generally happy with how my finished essay
turned out.

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The bustling city of Sacramento, California is densely populated with 479,686 citizens
(United States Census). It is easy to see how children are variables that can slip through the
cracks in an ever busy city. Aunt Dana, it is a little known fact that our hometown, Sacramento,
is the third largest city for human trafficking crimes in the United States(Jones). A great injustice
is being done right in our own backyards. We can do something together to help keep children
off the streets so they do not fall prey to human traffickers.

People believe that slavery is something that was abolished by the 13th amendment, but
human trafficking is still the second largest industry on the black market(Weitzer). Yes, slavery is
illegal now, but the perversion of sex traffickers and greed for an easy buck keeps this practice in

modern day. In the black market industry there are 20.9 million estimated human trafficking
victims with a 32 billion dollar annual income, around 4.5 million are sex trafficking
victims(Weitzer). The United States is one of the top ten destinations for human trafficking
(Hepburn and Simon). Sacramento has easy access to highways I-80, I-5, and 99 making it a
prime spot to recruit and outsource victims(Jones).

Pimps prey on vulnerable youth promising an enticing lifestyle of money, family, and
respect(Weitzer). Many of these victims are underage runaways, come from a background of
sexual or physical abuse, incest, poverty, or addiction(Weitzer). Traffickers prefer to recruit
young. Some girls are even as young as eleven(Weitzer). Aunt Dana, imagine one of your nieces
deciding to sell their body because she felt so unloved and financially stuck.

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Hot spots for them to find victims are courthouses, foster and group homes, bus and train
stations, shopping malls, homeless shelters, parks, and playgrounds(Weitzer). People may
wonder, If these girls are knowingly going into this lifestyle how can they be victims? My
answer to that is, if children are told from such an impressionable age that they are worthless,
why wouldnt they cleave to the first thing that offers them attention and a family? These victims
are manipulated into thinking that such an environment is normal and selling their bodies is the
only way they will ever be worthy enough to receive love.

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Buyers of prostitutes come from all ages (15-90) and socio-economic classes (Hughes
and Raymond). The majority of men are married (Hughes and Raymond).The majority of U.S.

women said that men expected them to comply with all their requests (Hughes and Raymond).
Men, in their writings, confirm this (Hughes and Raymond). Almost half of U.S. women (47%
each) reported that men expected sex without condoms (Hughes and Raymond). Seventy-three
percent of U.S. women reported that men would pay more for sex without a condom (Hughes
and Raymond). Forty-five percent of U.S. women said that men became abusive if they tried to
insist that they use condoms (Hughes and Raymond). Buyers subjected women to physical
violence in 86% of U.S. cases, and sexual assault in 80% of U.S. cases, along with other forms
threats and violence (Hughes and Raymond).

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What about the girls that want to get out?

Pimps or a bottom bitch, the head prostitute and recruiter, will threaten to hurt or kill
their family. If the victim has no family ties they will hurt other girls directly involved in the
brothel(Weitzer).

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An example of these events is a true story about Sarah. Sarah ran away from home and
met her traffickers, Matthew Gray (30-years- old) and Jannelle Butler (21-years-old), through a
friend(Hepburn and Simon). The young girl was taken to an apartment in the Washington Park
area of Phoenix, where she was bound, violently gang-raped, cramped in a dog kennel,
threatened with physical harm to herself and to her family, threatened with a gun, hidden in a
hollowed-out box spring, and forced to work as a prostitute for 42 days (Hepburn and Simon).
She was also raped throughout the experience by one of her captors, Gray (Hepburn and Simon).

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One day Sarah managed to call her mother from Grays cell phone (Hepburn and Simon).
Sarah was simply too scared to give her mother details regarding her captors or on her exact
location for fear that they would harm her family (Hepburn and Simon). This fear was not
unfounded as Gray knew where her mother and family members lived (Hepburn and Simon).

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According to Greg Scheffer, one of the rescuing police officers, victims often do not call
the police when he or she has an opportunity to do so (Hepburn and Simon). Some people think
its odd that when they have a chance, they dont call police, Scheffer told the Arizona Republic
(Hepburn and Simon). She was afraid that even if he had been arrested, his friends would harm
her family (Hepburn and Simon).

Action is being taken to help victims feel safer in speaking out against their captors.
Governor of California, Jerry Brown, signed seven bills in September of 2014 that intend to
thwart human trafficking(Jones). The bills received bipartisan support and allow prostitutes not
to be convicted in cases of human trafficking(Jones). The bills sponsor Democratic Sen. Ted
Lieu of Redondo Beach said in a statement, Instead of going after those who sell the sex, we
can now go after those who buy the sex(Jones). Sacramento realizes the problem at hand.

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There are nonprofit Sacramento based organizations like My Sisters House that give
shelter, have a 24 hour hotline, and help women get out of the sex slave industry(My Sisters

House). These bills and organizations are great assets to fighting against the growing black
market industry. Many people
have stated that community
involvement is essential to the
prevention, prosecution and
protection of sex trafficking
crimes(Hughes and Raymond).
Social service providers
emphasized that media, law
enforcement and social service
providers should be sensitive to the complexities of community participation (Hughes and
Raymond). In an article Sex Trafficking of Woman in the United States it is said that
communities should not bear the resource burden alone (Hughes and Raymond). There should be
a joint effort of government, womens and community groups to act quickly on behalf of
trafficking victims and to provide long-term assistance (Hughes and Raymond). Trafficked
women are often in critical situations, and systems need to be quickly put in place for appropriate
support (Hughes and Raymond).

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Social service providers and several law enforcement officials said that the government
should work with a variety of community-based groups to design and implement victim services
and support networks in various regions of the country (Hughes and Raymond). Victims need
specialized services not now available in womens shelters and centers (Hughes and Raymond).

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While womens shelters are a good resource, I notice that no preventative action is being
taken to spare these children the psychological and physical tole that such a lifestyle takes. Aunt
Dana, that is why I would like to start a program for under privileged children in high trafficking
areas. I believe if we let them know they are noticed, appreciated, and loved at an early age; they
will not feel the need to search for validation through illicit activities.

After school programs have been shown to make children better socially adjusted and
help children learn to create better peer activities (National Dropout Prevention Center).
According to The National Dropout Prevention Center school only takes up 20% of a childs
waking hours and the highest crime rate takes place between 3:00 and 7:00 p.m.(NDPC). That is
the time most children get out of school until around the time parents get home (NDPC).
Daycares do not necessarily have an academic focus, while after school programs integrate
studies with engaging projects, field trips, and physical activities.

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Setting up a program like this takes support and funding. When I reached out to members
in the community, I was overwhelmed by the amount of support and their willingness to help
where they could. The community is behind the goal of setting up an after school program that
runs five days a week from 3 to 5p.m. Now all that is needed is the funding.

I have contacted the principle of Martin Luther King Jr. K-8 School in West Sacramento.
She has agreed to let us use a room in there school for an after school program free of charge.

The next step is finding people who are willing to donate their time to the community. I believe
that by word of mouth and free advertisement at churches and other places of outreach, we will
be able to find eager and willing volunteers. We need to make sure that all of the volunteers are
safe around children and have no criminal record. A background check is $24.00, if we started
off with ten volunteers that would be $240.00 needed (Division of Criminal Investigation).
Another safety factor that would need to be taken into consideration is that all of our volunteer
must be first aid and CPR certified. At $20.00 a person that is another $200.00 that would be
needed (New Life CPR).

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Now that facilities and volunteers have been taken care of its time to think about what to
actually do for the kids. I do not want this to be just a babysitting program, but more of a place
with fun yet engaging activities that children look forward to. The children will be split up in to
two age groups, K-5 and 6-8. It is uncertain to know how many children will partake in the after
school program off the bat, but we estimate about fifty. That leaves a ratio of 1 volunteer to every
5 students.

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An idea for interactive things children can do in the community is partake in field trips.
With signed parent/guardian permission slips, we could take monthly trips with the children to
tour the capitol, see museums, see the rose gardens, and other free activities that they would
usually be unable to do. Gas money would be very inexpensive for select volunteers cars to
travel to local field trip destinations. Two hundred dollars in the budget for gas to start up the
program, will last a year because of the close range of our destinations. Another idea to teach

children on outreach to the community would be to go pick up trash in local neighborhoods and
parks. Doing this will help teach them to respect their community and learn the sense of
fulfillment you get by giving back. The main priority in this program is safety. I have a family
friend who owns Division 3 Screen Printing and has offered to donate tshirts for the children. On
outings children would be required to wear their field trip shirts, so they are more easily seen and
have a less likely hood of getting lost.

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On regular days, a book reading, arts and craft, and physical activity would be done.
As I mentioned before I want this program to challenge children while being fun. Each day a
book will be chosen to center the days activities around. For an example for K-5:

Book- Where the Wild Things

Are

food

art supplies

volunteers

misc.

Craft- making construction

paper crowns like the one Max
4%
wears

16%

Activity- playing tag while

40%

pretending to be a Wild Thing

9%
The format stays the same but is
modified for grades 6-8 because
they will be reading chapter books:
30%
Book- Holes
Craft- Modeling clay

gas

 Activity- Simon Says (get it?)

Later in the day all ages will convene for snack and a recap of what everyone learned/what
happened.

Books will be easy to get our hands on. We only need one or two copies of that book that
can be easily picked up at the library for free. Arts and crafts supplies will be more. But in
budgeting for the first year of this program $1,500 will be spent on supplies. That is including
every glue stick down to the last pipe cleaner. The snacks we would provide for children would
be healthy, therefore for the first year $2,000 would be budgeted for food. If we ever need dry
goods or drinks, the Twin Lakes Food Bank director, Kathy Boone, has offered to donate when in
need. The accumulative total needed so far is $4,140.00. I am asking for an additional $860.00
dollar for miscellaneous needs like first aid supplies and other things that could possibly come up
unexpectedly.

We have the support now all thats needed is the funding. The ultimate goal is to make
this program self sustaining. With your help Aunt Dana, we can show what a difference we are
making in the community. More people will be willing to donate to the program and fund raisers
can be held sporadically throughout the year. Eventually, we hope enough is made to start
programs at other schools throughout the Sacramento area. With your generous investment of

$5,000.00, we
can keep children
out of criminal
activity and from
going into the
sex slave
industry.

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Aunt
Dana, you can
give a child an
opportunity that they would not usually have. We have the capability to open doors and provide
attention and love to a child for a mere two hours. That may be more than they see in a month. I
know that with your tremendous involvement in the community and philanthropic tendencies
you would be the best possible donor in this situation. Sacramento is a beautiful city and a mecca
for politics. Lets show children the honest virtues this city has to offer and spare them a drug
induced life of regret.

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Human trafficking is a crime that is preventable. We must spread awareness of it and
combat it by raising a future generation that values the sanctity of children and humanity.

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Work Cited
Sacramento County. United States Census. n.d. Web. Dec. 2014.
Jones, Ron. Sacramento 2nd Worst City Among Human Trafficking. CBS Local. March 13.
2013. Web. Dec. 2014.
Weitzer, Ronald. Sex Trafficking and the Sex Industry. Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology. Oct. 2011. Web. Dec. 2014.
Raymond, Janice and Hughes, Donna. Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States. Google
Books. March 2001. Web. Dec. 2014.
Hepburn, Stephanie and Simon, Rita. Hidden in Plain Sight. Gender Issues. June 2010. Web.
Dec. 2014.
My Sisters House. n.p. n.d. Web. Dec. 2014.
National Dropout Prevention Center. n.p. n.d. Web. Dec. 2014.
Division of Criminal Investigation. dci.sd.gov. n.p. n.d. Web. Dec. 2014.
New Life CPR. www.newlifecpr.som. n.p. n.d. Web. Dec. 2014

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