IV 111th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1379 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 19, 2010 Mr. Poe of Texas (for himself, Mr. Costa, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, and Mrs. Maloney) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to domestic sex trafficking of minors.

Whereas nationally 450,000 children run away from home each year and 30 percent of shelter youth and 70 percent street youth report being victimized through domestic minor sex trafficking, including prostitution, pornography, and sexual entertainment; Whereas experts estimate that at least 100,000 children are exploited through prostitution in the United States every year; Whereas as many as 129 girls are prostituted on a typical weekend night in the State of Georgia alone; Whereas the average age of a child recruited into prostitution is 13 years old; Whereas victims of domestic minor sex trafficking testify that they were required to perform sex acts with up to 20 buyers per day; Whereas only 10 buyers of sex trafficked minors have been indicted under the Federal law and few are charged under State laws for the crime of commercial sex abuse of a minor; Whereas the United States Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri has obtained seven guilty pleas for violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 from individuals who attempted to buy commercial sex from minors; Whereas prostituted children across the country are being responded to with arrest and detention, such as in Las Vegas where 226 juveniles came before the Juvenile Court judge on prostitution charges in just 20 months and in Dallas where 165 juveniles were detained on prostitution and related charges in 2007, and in Miami where 21 girls were prosecuted for prostitution in one year; Whereas only 2 States have passed laws establishing a presumption that a commercially sexually exploited child is a victim of sex trafficking and requires a child protection response instead of a criminal justice response; Whereas the number of beds in specialized residential placements for victims of domestic minor sex trafficking number only around 80 in the entire country; Whereas children charged with prostitution are often ineligible for crime victim compensation under State laws due to their participation in the crime for which they are claiming victim status; and Whereas a victim of domestic minor sex trafficking can only heal through specialized, trauma-centered counseling which is not available in standard juvenile detention or other residential placement options: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1)urges States to enact laws that address the crime of domestic minor sex trafficking by encompassing— (A)establishment of community-based, specialized residential facilities specifically tailored to rehabilitating victims of sex trafficking; (B)presumption of victim status instead of a punitive criminal justice response; (C)the examination of ways to ensure that crime victim compensation funding programs are more readily available to victims of sex trafficking; (D)increased penalties and fines for those who buy and sell children for sex acts; and (E)mandatory training for law enforcement and others who come into contact with children; (2)encourages the Department of Health and Human Services to establish the pilot shelter for juvenile trafficking victims originally authorized in section 203 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005; (3)recognizes that demand for commercial sex with minors is central to the problem of domestic minor sex trafficking and urges the United States Attorney General to make the arrest and prosecution of buyers a priority at the Federal level, and also at the State level by providing training and model laws to State governments and law enforcement; (4)recognizes the need for standardized practices of identification and response to domestic minor sex trafficking victims among law enforcement and service providers in order to prevent criminals from moving their business to the most lenient States; and (5)recognizes the need for an adequate number of specialized residential facilities and services that are gender specific and trauma informed for the protection and restoration of child sex trafficking victims.