Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking

This text integrates knowledge on DMST from the scholarly literature with interviews with those working directly in the field. Interviews with survivors, social workers, psychologists, law enforcement professionals, and others help educate the reader as to why and how this crime occurs, how to fight it, and how to help survivors recover.

Human trafficking is a thriving and growing business; by some estimates it is second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable illegal industry in the world. The first comprehensive study of the practice of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) was conducted in 2006 and found that anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 American children fit this unfortunate definition. And yet, to date, this topic has been largely overlooked or included as a footnote in larger studies on global human trafficking.Pulling together scholarly information from diverse fields including social work, psychology, and biology, Susan Mapp explores the particular risk factors (such as poverty, child maltreatment, and being a sexual minority) that place children at higher risk for being trafficked. The different methods of DMST -- pimp-controlled, gang-controlled, familial, and survival -- are explained, including how children come to be involved in them and the mechanisms for how they occur. Assisting those being trafficked to leave the life is a difficult process, and this book explains why. It is important for everyone to act on what can be done to fight this crime; suggestions for professionals, as well as "everyday citizens," are offered, together with a list of resources.