NEWS

Lenny Paul Haskins is a violent child-sex trafficker from Las Vegas who was sentenced last year to 40 years in prison. In 2013 he was even pimping from behind bars. In 2015, he was prosecuted and convicted in Northern Virginia for trafficking a 15- and 17-year-old. Both girls were runaways from the foster care system in California. He brought them …

Good morning. Welcome to California Today. Is there such a thing as a child prostitute? Campaigners have for years tried to erase the phrase from the law, arguing that if a juvenile cannot legally consent to sex with an adult, neither can she willingly sell her body. She is a victim of rape, they say, not a prostitute. Last week, …

CNN)An attorney for the young woman at the center of a sexual misconduct scandal involving several California Bay Area police departments says there are other victims. The scandal stems from an investigation into the suicide of an Oakland police officer with whom the woman says she was romantically involved when she was 17. The ensuing probe revealed allegations that the …

(CNN)Across the U.S., there is a movement to prioritize human trafficking prevention in our nation’s communities. Schools, youth service programs, juvenile corrections services, group homes, and other youth-oriented spaces have begun to recognize their great potential to empower youth to stay safe from exploitation. Because our youth are experiencing exploitation now, we have to prioritize prevention now. We need to …

(CNN)Esperanza was waiting for her cousins outside her high school in Mexico one day, when a strange man drove up in a car, forced her inside with him and sped away. At that moment, Esperanza had in effect become a sex slave. “He beat and raped me,” she told CNN’s “The Hunt with John Walsh.” She said the man — …

(CNN)For those who read the New York Times exposé on labor trafficking in the city’s nail salons, a manicure will never be the same. The article took a hard look at a service industry that many New Yorkers enjoy, and we hope, as a result, the lives of these exploited workers may change for the better. Unfortunately, we know firsthand …

(CNN)You might think that when a trafficking victim escapes, their life is saved. In reality, though, survival is much more complicated. My journey of survival began nearly 20 years ago, and continues to this day. It is marked by hurdles, as well as by surprising gifts like losing my sight, discovering art and receiving life-changing, holistic, trauma-informed care. It has …

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. All month, we have had the official opportunity to contemplate the tragic fact that more people are enslaved right now than at any other time in history. The victims of human trafficking, modern-day slavery, are among the most vulnerable members of our communities. It is estimated that half of the victims of human trafficking …

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 6 – Carl Ferrer, the chief executive of advertising websiteBackpage.com, was arrested on Thursday on criminal charges including pimping, as authorities investigate the company which has been accused of facilitating sex trafficking of minors. The attorneys general of Texas and California announced Ferrer’s arrest, saying in a press release that he had been taken into custody in …

This is the next in a series of interviews with individuals working in the field of anti-trafficking. You’ll meet students and educators, parents and professionals whose voices may give readers a new and better understanding of this crime while teaching us how to respond more effectively to it. Lt. Andre Dawson, Los Angeles Police Department (Retired), Officer in Charge, Human …