Sokaogon Chippewa Community News

Parents’ Night Sex Trafficking Information

Posted on: October 3, 2019

Human sex trafficking is the most common form of modern-day slavery. Estimates place the number of its domestic and international victims in the millions, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The Forest County Health Department and Forest County Potawatomi Community Health are collaborating with 5-STONES, a non-profit organization that raises awareness about the magnitude of sex trafficking in Wisconsin. Join us for a Parent’s Night on Tuesday, October 15th at 6:00 pm at the Laona School to learn about sex trafficking in Wisconsin, and what you can do to help prevent it in Forest County!

What is Sex Trafficking?
Many people probably remember popular movies and television shows that depict pimps as dressing flashy and driving large fancy cars. More important, the women – adults – consensually and voluntarily engaged in the business of prostitution without complaint.
This characterization is extremely inaccurate, nothing more than fiction. In reality, the pimp traffics young women (and sometimes men) completely against their will by force or threat of force; this is human sex trafficking.

Not only is sex trafficking slavery, but it is also big business as the fastest growing business of organized crime in the world reports the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, with an average of $99 billion per year. The United States not only faces an influx of international victims but also has its own homegrown problem of interstate sex trafficking of minors. In Wisconsin, human trafficking exists in both urban and rural areas. 5-STONES reports Milwaukee consistently ranks among the top five cities in the U.S. for the recovery of trafficked adolescents.

The majority of these victims are runaway or “throw-away” youth but can also be forced into victims of prostitution through abduction, pressure from parents, or through deceptive agreements with traffickers through family. The average age of victim of any sex is 12 to 14 years old. Many of the victims are socially isolated from their friends or family and feel as if they cannot return to their previous lives. The lifestyle of these victims revolves around violence, forced drug use, and constant threats.

Forest County Sheriff John Dennee reports, “Due to our drug epidemic, the likelihood of sex trafficking and actual sex trafficking has increased drastically over the last few years.”

To learn more, join us October 15th at 6:00 pm at the Laona School to learn how to prevent, identify and step-in to prevent this horrible crime.

“You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.” ~ William Wilberforce