Testimony during 10/20/2015 California Assembly Committee on Public Safety, Human Trafficking: Identifying the scope of the problem and potential solutions. Minors needing a social safety net distrust the police but millions will go to the police instead of voluntary services such as shelter, food, shower. Arresting people is all they seem to know. We want cops to stop having sex with minors or adults during sting operations and police investigations. Speaking is Alexandra Lutnick, RTI International, UC Berkeley, she reports that youth need access to services not arrest, minors are reporting sexual abuse by police during ‘victim recovery’ operations (prostitution sting operations). For more info on the ESPLERP legal challenge, plz go to: or To donate to the legal fund: Twitter: @esplerp #decrimsexwork Please share and subscribe.
Alexandria Lutnick speaking before a California public safety committee 2015. You can buy her book here:
The domestic sex trafficking of minors is a problem of growing concern yet little critical attention. This book analyzes the forces behind the sex-trafficking industry in the United States and provides a much-needed reference for practitioners. It adopts a holistic approach, pursuing a nuanced exploration of these young people’s experiences, their treatment, and outside efforts to combat sex trafficking.
The book features interviews with service providers and experts, and incorporates recent research, thereby mapping the complex factors associated with young people’s involvement in trading sex and the social connections that facilitate their behavior. It considers the experiences of both those who “choose” sex work and those who are forced into it by circumstances or third parties, and it discusses the networks of friends and close acquaintances who introduce newcomers to the trade. In addition, it takes a hard look at how local and federal responses to trafficking increase young people’s vulnerability to trading sex. Urging policymakers and practitioners to move beyond the simple framework of “rescuing” victims and “punishing” villains, this book calls for policies and programs that focus on the failure of social and cultural systems and respond better to the young people caught in this web.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandra Lutnick is a senior research scientist for the San Francisco–based Urban Health Program at RTI International’s Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice Research Division. Her research interests include the sex industry, trafficking, human rights, criminalization, and substance abuse.
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