Listen to “Kraft Case, Sex Trafficking Not Victimless Crimes” on Spreaker.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is expected to be charged with solicitation of a sex act at a Florida massage parlor, and the story highlights once again the scourge of sex trafficking in the United States.
Kraft was identified, along with many other people, as part of a prostitution and sex trafficking investigation. He denies the allegations.
Several libertarian voices suggest there ought to be no crime here because it was a transaction between two consenting adults. Kevin Malone disagrees. The longtime Major League Baseball executive is president of the board of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking.
“Anyone who says they’re two consenting adults is truly an idiot and doesn’t understand – particularly in this situation with Robert Kraft – the women at these massage parlors were there against their will. They were actually sex slaves being sold out of the massage parlor,” said Malone.
He says many of the females involved are 17 years or younger and therefore cannot consent. In addition, Malone believes few adult women participate in sex trafficking voluntarily. He says they get caught up in it as girls and then feel that continuing in prostitution is their only option.
Malone says that up to 70 percent of sex trafficking is online, so while parents are right to keep their kids close by when out in public, the even greater threat is who they might be communicating with online. He also says sex traffickers are known to strike up friendships with kids in public rather than abducting them right away. They build trust with the kids to lure them into intimate relationships and eventually prostitution.
He urges parents to keep a very close eye on their kids’ internet activities.
Listen to the full podcast to understand how sex trafficking is happening in our communities – and not just on street corners and massage parlors – and how to spot a possible victim when you see one.
