Mainstream Media Calls Teen Sex Trafficking Victim a Criminal

Human trafficking is not black and white, and all those different shades of nuance require the media to use that gray matter that fills up their heads.  Unfortunately, the mainstream media often has their heads so far up their asses that actual analysis becomes a difficult, smelly task. Take the recent case of a Phoenix, AZ teen who was sentenced to three years in jail for soliciting other underage girls into prostitution. The twist that the media missed? She was convicted of the crime that she was a victim of herself.

The basic story is that Jazmine was 17 years old and in prostitution herself when she began recruiting other teen girls into the lifestyle. All minors under 18 in prostitution are legally human trafficking victims, so Jazmine was one of them. She and her 16-year-old friend arranged dates for girls as young as 14, charging as little as $50 per sex act. She got caught, was tried as a criminal as opposed to being treated as a victim, and now must spend three years behind bars and live with a criminal record. Jazmine's case is not an easy one. Yes, she knowingly recruited teen girls into prostitution, though it was against the law. But she was also a victim of teen prostitution herself. These girls weren't people she had physical, social, or economic power over and were exploiting; they were her peers. While Jazmine's actions may have been illegal, her circumstances are completely different than the more common situation -- an adult man forces or coerces a young girl into prostitution.

The case may be murky, but what it has made plexi-glass clear is how little the mainstream media understands child trafficking in prostitution. I would bet my hefty blogger salary that Jazmine was recruited into prostitution herself, probably by an older man like a family member or boyfriend. But no mention is made in any media coverage I found of that likelihood. Perhaps Jazmine was protecting the person who introduced her to prostitution. Perhaps no one thought to ask her how she got started. But the truth is that young teen girls don't just decide to go into prostitution -- they almost always have some grooming.

But perhaps the greatest failure of the mainstream media in the coverage of this case was that they published the photos and full names of Jazmine and her friend. And they did it a long time before any conviction took place. Regardless of what these girls have been accused of or even what they are guilty of, they are and were first victims of the crime they perpetrated. The fact that they did something illegal doesn't diminish their right to some protection as victims, part of which is the privacy of not having their photos plastered across television and the Internet. Living through the experience of being in prostitution as a teen is enough of a burden without spending the rest of your life fighting that stigma publicly. I'll buy the argument that despite her victimization, Jazmine deserves some level of punishment for her crime, but she also deserves a chance to put this is behind her. She's a new mother, and she deserves a fresh start for her and her family.

The cynical parts of me wonder if Jazmine were whiter or thinner or from a wealthier background, would she have been so disregarded as a victim and cast as a criminal? The really, really cynical parts of me wonder if the mainstream media is so clueless about child trafficking in the U.S., that even a change in race, appearance, or money wouldn't have helped her? But the optimist in me gives those cynical parts a solid kick in the shins and reminds me that every time the mainstream media misses the truth due to Headstuckinass Syndrome, there is an opportunity for education.

Photo credit: speednutdave