A Theme Of Human Trafficking In Renting Lacy By Linda Smith

A lot of the knowledge I have obtained comes from the actions taken by Linda Smith and the exploitation endured by Lacy in Linda’s novel, Renting Lacy. The novel Renting Lacy tells the story about several young girls that are trapped inside child-sex trafficking in the United States, specifically the story of young girl named Lacy. Although, the novel is considered “fictional” it is still very informational and tells the story of thousands of children that are currently being sex trafficked in the country. All the characters in the novel and their stories are all based on real proceedings, compiled reports, transcripts of investigations, and real victim testaments. Using these characters and stories, Smith successfully creates a thought provoking account of the exploitation occurring in cities across the United States.

In the novel, the character Lacy is a victim of sex trafficking through her pimp and boyfriend, Bobby. Throughout the novel Smith alternates between narrative about some of the girls Lacy worked with in the child sex trafficking industry and informative commentary about the reality of child sex trafficking in the United States. Although the characters not based exactly on real people, they provide realistic examples of the different techniques sex traffickers use in order to lure and force their victims into prostitution. Getting perspectives from several characters allows the reader to experience and learn more about the different aspects of child sex trafficking recruitment. The novel educates the reading about the psychological manipulation and physical abuse that pimps uses in order to get millions of children into sex slavery. These psychological manipulations sometimes consists of false promises of love and security but it can also consists of threats of physical abuse that conditions their victim to be loyal and trustworthy.

The characters in this novel are lured and forced to become sex workers as young at 11 years old. The characters Lacy, Star, Cherry, etc all had one thing in common, and that is they were desperate and naive. This trend is common in not only these fictional characters but in real children that are being sex trafficked, abused, and mistreated everyday. Although, the novel is disturbing and sometimes graphic, it is very necessary to bring awareness to the millions of children that are being trafficked in our own backyard. The purpose of this novel was not to simply tell a fictional story, but to provide real world examples of what is actually happening in our neighborhoods and bring awareness to this issue of child sex trafficking. This novel tells the stories of regular girls that might sound familiar to us like kids we went to school with. Smith makes it a priority to bring these common misconceptions to an end. If you ask almost anyone about sex trafficking, they would likely describe it as either something happening outside the U. S or aliens coming into this country, fortunately, in this book it becomes clear that this is not the case. While exploitation of individuals in what is essentially slave labor does primarily happen in the United State with illegal aliens, sex trafficking is just as likely to happen to girls and women born and raised in the United States.

I believe Smith did a great job conveying her argument and providing multiple perspectives and commentary information that gave the reader more background information and helped them understand the life of a child actually going through human trafficking. This novel has many strengths not only in the stories being told, but in the quotes/facts, and the commentary that Smith includes at the end of the each chapter. Throughout the entire novel Smith tells the stories a couple girls that Lacy works with. For example, the story of Star. Smith gets into Stars trafficking experience in great detail and this works as a strength for the reader. Guiding the reader through Stars sex trafficking experience allows the reader to comprehend the victim’s circumstances that lead them to sex trafficking and potentially relate to the victim and could think to themselves “That could have been me” or “That could have been someone I know”. Having several different stories being told with different experiences really addresses a lot of stereotypes the reader may have, for example the stereotype of “These kids come from broken homes” or “These kids never have anyone to go back to”, as explained in the novel this is the case for some but not all of the sex trafficking victims.

In addition, the quotes being used throughout the novel are often from real world victims or experienced professionals. These quotes are strong and address a lot confusion the reader may have on the sex trafficking recruitment process and sex trafficking itself. For example, in the reading there is a quote by a child sex trafficking survivor from Kansas City, Missouri, “None of these women or girls wants to be in this situation of being prostituted or being drug-addicted. You know, their circumstances have gotten them to this point, and those circumstances aren't pretty. ” This quote is very strong because it serves as an eye opener to people who are not really educated on the concept of sex trafficking. It explains that the victim does not get into being a sex trafficked on purpose but because of certain circumstances that occurred in their lives. Additionally, the facts included throughout the reader also has a great purpose, it allows the reader to grasp an understanding of what is actually going on in neighborhoods, cities, and towns that we are living in. It may come as a shock as it did to me, however, it is necessary to include these facts to give the reader a reality check. Certain facts included throughout the reading include recent reports, statistics, and research that has been obtain in recent years. For example, facts like “797, 500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period of time studied resulting in an average of 2, 185 children being reported missing each day”. This fact is very rich in information and awakens the reader to the horrible reality of how many of our American children are being victims of human trafficking. Lastly, another strength I would like to add is the commentary that Smith adds at the end of each chapter. During that commentary Smith breaks down parts of the stories that were discussed in the chapter and gives us more information about what is currently happening in child-sex trafficking. For instance, chapter 10 spotlights the perspective of an officer named Tony and also a Judge names Robert Rollins. After discussing the legal aspect of sex trafficking, Smith adds a short commentary discussing her opinion about the sex trafficking in a legal perspective. Adding this commentary made the chapter a lot stronger because it discusses what is actually going on in the law enforcements perspective and in the court perspectives through the eyes of Smith. In the commentary, she states that the victim children should be in a safe home, but instead “more than one million children are subjected to human trafficking for sex and porn. Girls who haven't reached puberty. Some come from ‘good homes’ and have families searching desperately for them. . . This is America. . . Freedom, not slavery, has been abolished for these thousands upon thousands of children. . . children who are legal citizens of the greatest nation on earth”.

Smith puts the reader in the shoes of the victims by saying “Girls who have not reach puberty” and “come from ‘good homes’ and have families searching desperately for them”. In addition, it also makes it clear that there needs to be a legal change in America, that can help girls that are currently victim and prevent this from happening to more and more girls. With that said, I want to thank you Senator Cornyn for all of the approaches you have taken towards ending human trafficking, specifically in the state of Texas. Currently, Texas is one of the main major destinations for victims of human trafficking, therefore, tackling human trafficking in Texas would be a great first step that will eventually promote a lot of change within the sex trafficking industry. The common perception that only foreign national are victims of human trafficking in the United States is especially not true in the State of Texas. Additionally, the common attitude of “it is not my problem” is exactly the one that allows human trafficking to continue to grow and I agree with you that it has to be changed. It both ignores the victims and gives the offenders a free pass. The offenders are not only the traffickers but also the johns that purchase the sex services. Dismissing their actions will only encourage the behavior. With that said, I am extremely grateful that you were able to introduce the End Sex Trafficking Act of 2013. The bill has helped address the issues stated above by eliminate human trafficking rings by targeting the criminals who purchase sexual acts for money and ensuring that they are prosecuted as human traffickers. It is important because the law need to focus on punishing the offenders, and this is a great first step.

We as people need to care about and be invested in our community and help minimize the number of victims. The reason so many girls stay trapped is because they are so isolated and it may seem like there is not help out there for them. This shows the importance of your Abolish Human Trafficking Act of 2017 that you passed. Your Abolish Human Trafficking Act of 2017 can create a huge change in the sex trafficking community. It allows elected DAs to have the ability to build the necessary collaboration to efficiently investigate and prosecute complex cases that can sometimes cross numerous jurisdictions. This will provide resources to get in touch with federal, state, and local agencies, and provide support and justice to victims ranging from simple to more complex cases.

I also believe it is important for people to be exposed to victims experiences, which I believe you do a great job at. You have published multiple articles about human trafficking and telling the stories of survivors. For example, the article you published about Melissa’s violent experience being a sex trafficking victim in Texas that you titled Sex Trafficking Exists, Here in America. In the article you talk about how “Instead of treating these young girls as the victims they are, they are often thrown into the criminal justice systems, labeled prostitutes, and left with few options but to return to a nightmare that shockingly still exists in the United States. Meanwhile, instead of treating their perpetrators as child rapists and traffickers, they are often simply treated as "Johns" who, if caught, often pay a fine and go on their way. ” This is important to point out to everyone who is not educated. It is important for resources like these to be out there for the public to read because it really helps address the confusion that may be going in America, especially when these resources come from someone as influential as yourself. With you rich knowledge and power, I believe you do a great job getting awareness and addressing common misconceptions that most people may have.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children determined that out of the 18, 500 reported cases of runaway youth in 2016 alone, 1 out of 6 were likely sex trafficking victims (Smith, 2017). While we have made great steps apprehending and punishing traffickers, we still lag far behind on both preventing young people from being sold into slavery and holding buyers accountable for the crimes they commit against children, crimes often facilitated on the Internet. I believe all the action you have taking, especially the Abolish Human Trafficking Act, provide greater resources to law enforcement officials fighting human trafficking in the United States and to support survivors. Like you said in your speech, this act will not only help attack human trafficking in a state that really needs attention, but also “help fight human trafficking and bring us one step closer to ridding our country of this heinous crime”. Through the novel Renting Lacy, I was able to realize that there is not enough help and support out there for women trapped in sex trafficking. For example, when Star got arrested for prostitution at age 13, she was taken to jail while the man she was with was allowed to leave without any punishment. Unfortunately, a lot of prosecutors do not have the resources needed to take on complex human trafficking cases. It is little things like these that need to be addressed in order for the victim to have the support and help that is necessary. I also agree with you that providing better training to law enforcements can make a huge positive change in the sex trafficking industry. This bill that you are passing will allow people like Star to feel like they are valuable and will keep the real criminals off the street, the perpetrators. Human trafficking victims need this change to focus on ways to get a better life and rebuild the life that was robbed from them.