Letter...

A people may be judged, not merely on their economic vitality or their military conquests, but rather on how well they take care of the most vulnerable -- children, the sick, the elderly. We are all vulnerable, at least once.

Yet, child sexual predators in our neighborhoods and the traffickers of children into sex slavery all over the world perpetrate the most atrocious crimes one can imagine. Not only are approximately 60% of convicted child sexual predators out on probation, but also millions of children around the world are sold into sex slavery every year (see http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/rsorp94.htm and the Protection Project).

The sexual predators of children are extremely rampant. The "typical" child sex offender knows their victim and molests an average of 117 children (NIH, 1988). Approximately one out of every five children is sexually abused before age 18 and one in five children are sexually solicited while on the Internet.

What is being done to protect our precious, innocent children? Analyses show that 70 percent of those found guilty of a felony sex offense against a child did not serve jail time (Cheit, R., Ph.D.). Approximately 24% of all known child sexual predators are "missing" from the registry.

Florida, however, has swiftly enacted one of the toughest laws against child predators, the Jessica Lunsford Act, because her attacker was a known, registered sex offender. Now, people who would commit a sex crime against a child younger than 12 face a mandatory sentence of at least 25 years in prison and lifetime GPS tracking. Sadly, the law does not protect children 12-18 years old. What should the law be for an adult committing a sexual crime against a child? Should the punishment/deterrent be twenty-five years or life in prison? Can we be responsible for another child being molested?

The second almost unspeakable horror is the commercial sexual exploitation of millions of children around the world. 200,000 girls from Nepal have been kidnapped for sex slavery in India. The Thai government reports that 60,000 Thai children have been sold into prostitution. 10,000 children aged between six and 14 are enslaved in brothels in Sri Lanka. Cambodia, known as the Asian travel destination for pedophiles, has 20,000 child slaves in brothels. Interestingly, research has shown a correlation between peacekeepers and sex slavery, where young soldiers frequent brothels over-seas.

In recent years, the United States has led the way (ahead of the UN) in enacting the Trafficking Victim Protection Reauthorization Act. Under the act, the United States can use sanctions against nations on the "Special Watch List" who are not helping to end child sex slavery. However, the President did pardon Saudi Arabia and India from these sanctions. In some countries, it is a crime to sexually abuse children abroad, yet many countries do not have Child Sex Tourism (CST) laws.

America is the leader in committing $50 million to help rescue sex slaves around the world, yet many countries are not achieving convictions of the child traffickers and the criminals go unpunished. Still, arresting pimps is not very difficult: To remain in business, child sex slaves are advertised and easy to access. Rescuers and police officers posing as brothel clients can end the torture.

Here are some ways for you to help the children:

1. Contribute to UNICEF (http://www.unicef.org/) to end child sex slavery.
2. Write to your representatives
   (http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/representatives.aspx; http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index.cfm?Mode=Find%20Your%20Legislators&Submenu=3&Tab=legislators; http://www.ccaflorida.org/updates/congressional_e-mail.htm) and to the United Nations (http://www.un.org/comments.html) to share your views on what punishments against child sex crimes should be.
3. Oprah offers a $100,000 reward to anyone giving a tip that leads to the arrest of a child sexual predator: http://www2.oprah.com/presents/2005/predator/predator_main.jhtml
4. John Walsh from America’s Most Wanted helps support new legislation: http://www.amw.com/features/feature_story_detail.cfm?id=464
5. Bill O’Reilly.com is committed to tough punishments.
6. Speak your mind to friends and family on this issue. Train your children to be as safe as possible.