Illinois

Legislation

Gov. Pat Quinn signed Illinois HB 6462 into law on Aug. 20, after the Illinois Safe Children Act passed 113-0 in the legislature on May 27, 2010! The act makes minors who have been prostituted immune from prosecution for prostitution, and instead ensures that exploited children receive a safe placement and services. The bill also gives police and prosecutors new tools to go after pimps, traffickers, and people who buy sex.

Click here to see how Illinois legislation will impact the state's response to domestic minor sex trafficking.

OUR CAMPAIGN WAS A SUCCESS!

Kids are Not for Sale in Chicago
June 19-26, 2010

Shared Hope International has taken to the streets of America with our movement to end demand for commercial sex with America’s children. We have been in Las Vegas, Washington D.C., Miami and Washington state, raising awareness, educating the public and lobbying for change. This summer, we brought the movement to Chicago to spread an important message – Kids are NOT for Sale in Chicago! Domestic minor sex trafficking (the sale of American children for sexual exploitation) is an issue of serious concern in the city of Chicago. You can find children on the streets of downtown and in suburbs, in the dark corners of strip clubs, on thousands of pages across the internet. We asked YOUR help to make the community realize that these children are victims of modern-day slavery – and we got it! THANKS SO MUCH to all of the volunteers who showed up in support of our efforts this June. You helped make our entire campaign a SUCCESS!

Facts:

• At least 100,000 children are victims of sex trafficking in the United States. (The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
• The average age a child is recruited into prostitution in the U.S. is 13 years old. (Shared Hope International)
• An estimated 16,000-25,000 women and girls are involved in prostitution annually in Chicago’s metropolitan area. (Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues)
• In 2008, an assessment of domestic sex trafficking in Chicago cited that although victims expressed a desire to leave the commercial sex trade, they felt that there was no safe place to go and no one to care for them. (DePaul University)
• In less than two years, more than 200,000 sex ads have been posted to Craigslist in Chicago. (Attorney General’s Office)

Chicago, the time to act has come for your city! Shared Hope International worked diligently to sound the alarm, joining forces with legislators, professionals, concerned community members, activists and artists to End Demand. We organized a wide variety of events to saturate the city with an important message to pimps and predators - Kids are NOT for Sale in Chicago! Now we are passing the torch to YOU! Although our campaign is week is over, the issue of child sex trafficking persists. Keep up the fight by serving with one of our campaign Partners.

News Articles from Chicago

1. Man pleas guilty to a sex trafficking charge and faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. 
2. Sheng Ouan Dong is charged and four others are arrested on charges of running a prostitution ring and paying off cops in Chinatown.
3. A man is charged with propositioning for sex and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.  Chicago police are conducting sting operations throughout Chicago streets in an effort to stop demand.
4. In 2009, FBI Operation Cross Country arrested 44 adults in the Chicago area.
5. Man is charged Chicago with prostituting his wife across the country through Craigslist
6. David Phillips is sentenced to 17+ years in prison for prostituting two minors aged 14 and 16. 

Our Chicago Campaign Partners

For more information or to host similar events in your area, contact Elizabeth Scaife, Project Coordinator at Elizabeth@sharedhope.org or (703) 351-8062.