The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction

Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) 65 , or the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of2000 (TVPA), and may receive lengthy sentences. 66 For example, four life sentences and severalsentences ranging from 30 to 45 years have been awarded to pimps convicted through ILNIinvestigations.The shortage of adequate resources for victims has an impact on the number of prosecutions.While obtaining a conviction against a pimp if the victim does not testify is possible, it iscertainly much more difficult. The lack of adequate resources is a problem in its own right as itmeans the victims are not provided the treatment they need to begin the recovery process. Inaddition, if victims are not stabilized, they are much less likely to be able to participateeffectively in the criminal justice process. If they cannot testify and the defendant is acquitted oris not prosecuted in the first instance, the defendant will be able to continue his exploitation ofthat child or of other children. Services are needed to ensure the victim can be involved in theprosecution, and the prosecution is needed to eliminate the defendant’s ability to keep hurting thechild, so she can further her recovery.3. Child victims of prostitution—the victims of commercial sexualexploitation—are more likely to be arrested than are the child sex traffickersor client sex offenders.Clients of child victims of prostitution are, in fact, child sex offenders; however, this form ofchild sexual exploitation often goes unpunished. In fact, the exploited child victim of prostitutionis much more likely to be arrested for prostitution offenses than is the offender. For example, a2005 study for Congress showed that in Boston, 11 female prostitutes (adult and child) werearrested for each male client arrest; in Chicago, the ratio was 9 to 1; and, in New York City, theratio was 6 to 1. Part of the disproportionate arrest ratios are attributed to misinformationprovided to officers by the children; that is, the children will represent themselves to be adults,and may provide false identification. Pimps typically provide child victims of prostitution withfalse identification that indicates an adult age and the pimps instruct the children to lie abouttheir ages if arrested.Similar to client offenders, pimps usually evade arrest and prosecution, primarily by avoidingdetection altogether. When they are arrested, they often serve a minimum amount of time inprison or have their cases reduced to misdemeanors. Pimps typically operate within insulargroups, supported by a network of independent but cooperative pimps. The transitory nature oftheir crime reduces the likelihood that a local law enforcement agency will be able to buildenough investigative intelligence to make the case. Pimps share information regarding lawenforcement operations, and if a pimp is arrested, other pimps often provide support bymaintaining the arrestee’s operations. Moreover, a child victim of prostitution, if arrested or65 The RICO statute provides for enhanced penalties for individuals engaged in organized criminal behavior.Offenders found guilty of racketeering under the RICO statute are subject to extended sentences and fines and mustforfeit all interest and property derived from the racketeering activity.66 The TVPA is the first federal law specifically enacted to protect victims of human trafficking and to prosecute theindividuals who traffic them. The act defines one of the severe forms of trafficking in persons as “sex trafficking inwhich a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform suchact has not attained 18 years of age.” Subsequent reauthorizations also provide for enhanced services for victims ofsex trafficking.34