What is the thesis or main idea from this article?

The main idea from the study is that the majority of the young women who were victims of
human trafficking and later charged in juvenile court were introduced to human trafficking by
someone they already knew or were familiar with, rather than a total stranger, and that a majority
of the young women were vulnerable before they were trafficked. The study also addressed the
lack of support that the victims received after they left or were rescued, and how in some
situations, this lead to the victims returning to the streets. While the language used to describe
young women who were trafficked for sex has changed, at the time of the study, many of the
ideas in the judicial system hadn’t.

What are the results, and how does the author present the results?

The results from the study recognize that there are two main ways that victims are introduced
into being trafficked: finesse pimping, where the young girls were manipulated into a situation
where they seemingly voluntarily made the decision to be trafficked, and guerilla pimping, where
the young girls were forced into trafficking through physical violence or the threat of physical
violence. The study looked at the backgrounds of the victims, and noted that all of the victims
interviewed were particularly vulnerable before they were trafficked. The study also presented
the different roles that actors in minor sex trafficking can take: connectors, recruiters, groomers,
traffickers, bottoms, watchers, and wife-in-laws. The author presented the results as a summary
of what was learned through the interviews, with quotes from different interviews incorporated
when relevant.

What does the article add to your knowledge of the subject?

I thought it was interesting that on a legal level, many of the victims of human trafficking were
both recognized as the victims of the people who trafficked them while also charged themselves
in juvenile court. I feel like there are better ways to give the victims of human trafficking the
support they need than to charge them in juvenile court. One of the ways that this has been
addressed is through human trafficking courts, which are a specific type of problem solving court
designed to deal with defendant-victims of human trafficking, or people who are both the victims
of human trafficking and charged for their involvement. While I feel like this is a better solution
than simply charging the defendant-victims with no regard to their victimization, I think that a
better way to utilize a problem solving court in connection with human trafficking would be to
have it as an option for victims of human trafficking who were later charged with a different
crime. When it comes to drug courts, a person can be admitted to the drug court for possession of
a controlled substance because the crime is directly related to their drug problem, but they can
also be admitted for crimes like arson if the situation is related to their drug problem. I think the
ideal human trafficking problem solving court would help victims of human trafficking who
were charged with crimes after the fact that were related to their trauma.