Local News

Hundreds of Children Being Trafficked for Sex in Portland

Here is today's news release.  1110 KBND News also interviewed Nita Belles with the Central Oregon Chapter of Oregonians Against the Trafficking of Humans (or OATH) on Friday. It's available on this site as a Podcast under "Your Town" Icon.  Belles talks about the overall problem and ways they are trying to reduce and prevent sex trafficking.

 

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PORTLAND, Ore. – Today, U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall and Portland State University released the findings of a research study documenting that at least 469 children were the victims of sex trafficking in the last four years.

 

The Portland State University (PSU) study was sought by the United States Attorney’s Office and conducted in partnership with the Department of Human Services Child Welfare (DHS) and the Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC), in order to quantify the scope of child sex trafficking in the Portland area and provide data to guide intervention and services for these children.

 

"The results of the PSU study are truly shocking," said U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall. "The data confirms that we have a devastating epidemic of child sex trafficking within our community – an epidemic that demands action."

 

Christopher Carey, PhD, JD of Portland State University and Lena Teplitsky, Portland State MPH Candidate collected quantitative and qualitative data on documented Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) cases in the Portland Metro Area between December 2012 and June 2013.

What we found:

 

 

 

 

*At least 469 children were trafficked for sex in the Portland Metro Area in the last four years. This number represents CSEC victims served by DHS & SARC.

 

• The average age at which victims were referred to DHS or SARC was 15.5. The youngest victim in the system was 8.1.  

 

• 96% of victims are female, close to 3% are male, and approximately 1% are transgender.

 

• 40.51% of victims are Caucasian, 27.08% are African American, and 5.12% are Hispanic. 2

 

 

 

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