By Carly B. Dierkhising and Bo-Kyung E. Kim

The authors of this report examine a project aimed at conducting an evaluability assessment of specialized units in Los Angeles County that interact with children and youth who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and who are involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. The authors seek to fill an information gap by documenting those multidisciplinary service delivery models to help determine whether they are the most effective services for children and youth who have been and/or are at risk of CSE. The three overarching research questions addressed by the study were: what are the program components of the specialized units; what are the associated short-term and long-term outcomes; and how can the programs be assessed for implementation fidelity. By answering those questions, the five specific objectives of the project were to: conduct a scoping review of the literature on programs and program evaluation for youth impacted by CSE in the U.S.; specify and describe the activities of specialized units in Los Angeles County for children and youth who have experienced CSE; develop logic models that include program components and hypothesized outcomes of the specialized units; identify and/or develop measurement tools and a plan to assess program fidelity; and evaluate the research capacity of the agencies. The authors report that they were able to operationalize the activities and outcomes of the project, and they provide examples of a how a unit could be assessed for fidelity. The authors’ assessment of the research capacity of the units indicates that there is potential for successful future evaluation activities, however additional data collection processes would need to be implemented in order to capture the broad range of activities and/or outcomes included in the logic model. The report includes appendixes with relevant documentation, surveys, and forms.

Los Angeles: School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics, California State University, 2023. 87p.

Edited by Jérôme Ballet , Augendra Bhukuth

This edited volume examines child exploitation in the Global South. It introduces several case studies and interviews articulated around two features: exploitation within the family and exploitation in relation to social contexts. The research shows that both of the features are linked and, generally, they are not separate. It makes several important arguments which challenge the most common view on how children are perceived and exploited in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Additionally, it explores the social representation of exploited children as well as their general well-being.

Cham, SWIT: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 221p.

By William Adams, Colleen Owens, and Kevonne Small

Each year, as many as 300,000 children become victims of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States. Such victimization can have devastating effects on a child’s physical and mental health and well-being. In an effort to stop the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), Congress enacted the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act (TVPA) in 2000. As the seminal legislation in America’s efforts to end CSEC, the Act criminalizes human trafficking on a federal level. This bulletin describes the results of a study funded by OJJDP to examine TVPA’s impact on the prosecution of CSEC cases. The authors draw on CSEC cases processed in federal courts between 1998 and 2005 to take a look at how current laws addressing CSEC are enforced, indicate key features of successful CSEC prosecutions, and describe how legislation has affected sentences imposed on CSEC perpetrators, as well as legislation’s effects on the provision of services to victims. The bulletin concludes with a discussion of how the juvenile justice community and policymakers could improve the prosecution of CSEC crimes.

Washington, DC: Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2010. 12p.

By Brandy Bang, Paige L. Baker, Alexis Carpinteri, and Vincent B. Van Hasselt

"Biological, psychological, and environmental risk factors leave children and adolescents vulnerable to corruption, coercion, and violence, as in cases of young people being trafficked and sexually exploited. While the public tends to associate such abuses with far-off locales, the numbers of American-born children targeted by sex traffickers, and of international youth brought to the U.S. by these exploiters, are growing and disturbing. Concise and well-detailed, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children examines the severity and complexity of this form of crime, and how it is being addressed through law enforcement and legal channels. The book examines variables that make children susceptible to exploitation, with a special focus on male victims. Mechanisms of the offenses are covered, as are the current state of federal laws and strengths and shortcomings of prosecution efforts. Real-life case examples from federal law enforcement describe major forms of exploitation and victim and offender characteristics, with clear focus on such areas as: Sex trafficking risk factors. Methods of victimization by child prostitution. Consumers, traders, and distributors of child pornography. Offender networks in child pornography. The preferential sex tourist. Enticement/grooming processes of the sex traveler. Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children is a ready source of facts geared toward assisting professionals on the frontlines of intervention and prevention with this often-marginalized population, from health care and mental health providers and researchers to legislative bodies and law enforcement, as well as students interested in criminal justice, psychology, or law.

Cham: Springer, 2014. 62p.

By Sue Jago, with Lorena Arocha, Isabelle Brodie, Margaret Melrose, Jenny Pearce and Camille Warrington

This research project has explored the extent and nature of the response of LSCBs to the 2009 government guidance on safeguarding children and young people from sexual exploitation. Where the guidance is followed, there are examples of developing and innovative practice to protect and support young people and their families and to investigate and prosecute their abusers. However, the research has found that the delivery of that dual approach to child sexual exploitation is far from the norm. There are three areas that cause particular concern: • only a quarter of LSCBs in England are implementing the guidance • young people, their families and carers receive awareness raising in less than half of the country • the prosecution of abusers is rare and, where criminal proceedings take place, young people’s experience of court is intolerable These and related findings are set out below together with recommendations on how to ensure that action is taken, locally and nationally, to address this form of child abuse.

Bedfordshire, UK: University of Bedfordshire, 2011.140p.