Be the Voice for an Enslaved Child,
In the last year and a half, only TWO buyers have been arrested in
Houston. That is why human trafficking thrives in Houston! The arrests
of only two buyers is clearly unacceptable. If you want to end sex
trafficking, you must arrest the buyers! Watch this Fox26 News video for coverage on Free the Captives’ Reduce the Demand Campaign.Be a "Reducing the Demand" Rep Trafficked American girls in Houston need YOUR help! Be a voice for an enslaved child by being a part of the Reduce the Demand Campaign. We need people who will collect signatures for a letter asking Governor Perry to put pressure on Houston’s city officials to arrest buyers. In October 2011, many of you sent in letters to Mayor Parker, District Attorney Lykos, Sheriff Garcia, and Chief of Police McClelland asking them to arrest the buyers. Mayor Parker’s response was basically, “Instead of arresting buyers, we will focus on the landlords who are renting to the traffickers.” While focusing on the landlords is important, this does very little to protect American girls being trafficked in Houston. Landlords are renting out space for brothels, massage parlors, and cantinas. The majority of trafficking victims in these rented places are international women. American girls are being trafficked in places that do not require a landlord, like on the Internet, cheap motel rooms, and off the street. Trafficking does not require a landlord, but it does require a buyer. Therefore, city officials must start arresting the buyers. The laws are on the books; they just need to be enforced. Research shows that the buyers consider public exposure and jail time to be effective deterrents to buying young girls and women for sex. Now, it is time to turn up the heat on Houston city officials! We want to flood Governor Perry with 30,000 letters in the month of March asking for his help! We are blessed to partner with Breakaway Ministries at Texas A&M University, who is gathering 10,000 letters from Aggies for Governor Perry. Whoop! We can send 30,000 letters in one month! And this is where YOU come in! We need people from every church, neighborhood, college and civic group in Texas to sign up to be a Reducing the Demand Rep and gather signed letters to send to Governor Perry.
| How to be a Reduce the Demand Rep and Next Steps: Questions? Email info@freethecaptiveshouston.com. |
The Buyers:
- 61% of the buyers in a Boston study had girlfriends and wives.
- Almost ALL of the buyers knew where to buy minor children for prostitution.
- 66% of buyers observed that the majority of women were lured, tricked, or trafficked into prostitution. THIS KNOWLEDGE FAILED TO DETER THEM FROM BUYING SEX.
- In the Boston study, 22% of the buyers had at least one felony conviction, compared to 8% of the male non-buyers. Likewise, 23% of the buyers had at least one misdemeanor conviction, compared to 10% of non-buyers.
The Deterrents:
- Research shows that the BUYERS consider public exposure and jail time as some of the most effective deterrents. See the chart above listing the twelve deterrents and their effectiveness. Currently, few buyers in Houston are being taken into custody and arrested.
-
Houston lags behind Dallas and Fort Worth in focusing on the demand.
Either currently or in the past, the Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, and
Arlington police departments have websites that list the buyers’ names
and photos for solicitation of prostitution. See http://www.fortworthpd.com/
safety/john-tv.aspx - In 1995, Sweden began to criminalize the buyers (not the women and girls) and saw a dramatic decrease in street prostitution. Due to greater fines, public exposure, and jail time, the buyers ceased purchasing women and girls AND traffickers no longer found it profitable to traffic women into Sweden. Reduce the demand; reduce the supply.
*This campaign is based on extensive research about the buyers from the Boston and Chicago studies.
Research on the Buyers & Most Effective Deterrents:
2011 Study on Boston Buyers
2007 Study on Chicago Buyers
|
Top Deterrents to buying Sex as noted from the Buyers*: |
Boston Buyers |
Chicago Buyers |
Scotland Buyers |
Overall Percentage |
Rank Order |
|
Added to sex offender registry |
88% |
92% |
89% |
89% |
1 |
|
Photo/name in newspaper |
82% |
87% |
84% |
84% |
2 |
|
Photo/name on a billboard |
84% |
83% |
86% |
84% |
2 |
|
Time in jail or prison |
80% |
83% |
79% |
82% |
3 |
|
Photo/name on Internet |
84% |
82% |
78% |
82% |
3 |
|
Letter sent to family members |
88% |
79% |
77% |
80% |
4 |
|
Suspension of driver‘s license |
73% |
76% |
NA |
78% |
5 |
|
Greater criminal penalty |
70% |
75% |
72% |
75% |
6 |
|
Car impounded |
71% |
70% |
70% |
74% |
7 |
|
Greater monetary fine |
66% |
68% |
69% |
72% |
8 |
|
Community service |
57% |
58% |
NA |
47% |
9 |
|
Attend educational program/John School |
38% |
41% |
56% |
47% |
9 |
*This data is from the 2011 Study on Boston Buyers.
