Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Research

Adolescent Girls in the Texas Sex Trade
February CSEC Tracking Report
 
“Much like domestic violence 30 years ago, commercial sexual exploitation of girls is often misunderstood and overlooked, yet is a harsh reality for too many young girls. Through this gift and our research, we intend to lift up this issue so it can be better understood, addressed and prevented by the community.”
Becky Sykes, CEO Dallas Women’s Foundation
 

• Recently the FBI named Dallas and Houston as two of the 14 cities in the nation with the highest incidence of commercial sexual exploited children.

• In Texas, 740 girls under the age of 18 were documented being marketed for sex in November 2010.

 
“Adolescent Girls in the Texas Sex Trade,” a state-wide study of the commercial sexual exploitation of girls, counts adolescent girls being actively marketed on the Internet and through escort services using a probability-based, empirical approach. These advertisements are two of the main sources through which johns find girls. There are no systematic and replicable methodologies to count street-level trafficking activity.
 
The tracking study “Adolescent Girls in the Texas Sex Trade” was conducted by The Schapiro Group over a 30-day period in November 2010 and will be repeated again this year in February 2011 (including Super Bowl weekend) and August 2011. Research using the same methodology has also been conducted in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota and New York. 

KEY FINDINGS FOR TEXAS

• 740 girls under the age of 18 were documented being marketed for sex during a 30-day period.

• 712 of these girls were being marketed through Internet classified web sites; 28 were being marketed through escort services.

• Sex trafficking activity of girls in Texas was second to New York (1,089) in the same period, followed by Minnesota (199) and Michigan (148).

• The North Texas area accounts for 35 percent of this statewide crime, while this region represents only 26 percent of the state’s population.

 
SCOPE OF THE ISSUE
 
There are more girls (740) being trafficked for sex in Texas during one month than…

• …there are women killed in domestic violence incidents with former or current husbands, intimate partners or boyfriends in Texas over an entire year (111)

• …there are females of all ages who died from complications due to AIDS in one year in Texas (255)

• …there are teen girls who died by suicide, homicide and accidents in the state in one year (461)

The 256 trafficked girls trafficked in North Texas during this one-month period is:

• More than six times the number of all North Texans under 21 killed in DUI-related incidents in an entire year (39)

• More than double the number of girls ages five to 25 who die by suicide, homicide and accidents in an entire year in the North Texas region (112)

• Nearly identical to the number of Texans under age 20 diagnosed with HIV in a year (259)

 
April Press Release
January Press Release
Historic $1 Million Grant to Letot
Adolescent Girls in the Texas Sex Trade - Study
 
Research Partners
The Schapiro Group
CHILDREN AT RISK (CAR)
Women's Funding Network (WFN)
A Future. Not A Past.
 
CSEC Grantee Partners
Letot Center Capital Foundation
Homeward Bound
New Friends New Life
Mosaic Family Services