Detention Experiences of Commercial Sexual Exploitation Survivors
| Published date | 01 January 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1557085120939656 |
| Date | 01 January 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
research-article2020
Article
Feminist Criminology
2021, Vol. 16(1) 73 –90
Detention Experiences
© The Author(s) 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085120939656
DOI: 10.1177/1557085120939656
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Exploitation Survivors
Tereza Trejbalová1 , Heather Monaghan1,
M. Alexis Kennedy1, Michele R. Decker2,
and Andrea N. Cimino2
Abstract
Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) harms youth around the globe.
In the United States, most states manage CSEC victims through the juvenile justice
system. Once the youth enter the system, little is known about how being detained
for prostitution and solicitation charges impacts them. This study explores how
CSEC survivors in Nevada experience detention through a qualitative content
analysis of 36 interviews with formerly detained young women. This article offers
pivotal findings revealing patterns of stigmatization, turning points, obstacles, and
relational breakthroughs while in detention. Treatment suggestions, proposed by the
interviewees themselves, are also provided.
Keywords
CSEC youth, juvenile detention, juvenile justice system
The proportion of girls represented in the juvenile justice system is rapidly growing.
While there has been a brief decline in juvenile girls’ detention rates since 2015
(Sickmund et al., 2019), there was a near 50% increase (20%–29%) in girls’ arrests
from 1992 to 2012 (Sherman & Balck, 2015). The delinquent girls are typically incar-
cerated for nonviolent offenses like truancy, status offenses, or victimization through
prostitution (Bond-Maupin et al., 2002; Hubbard & Matthews, 2008; Pasko, 2010,
2017; Vitopoulos et al., 2012; Watson & Edelman, 2012). For adults, prostitution is the
1University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, USA
2Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
Corresponding Author:
Tereza Trejbalová, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland
Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA.
Email: tereza.trejbalova@unlv.edu
74
Feminist Criminology 16(1)
practice of engaging in sexual relations for monetary or property gain (Kamruzzaman
& Hakim, 2016); however, under federal trafficking statutes, juveniles are not legally
capable of consenting to the sale of sex even in states where adult prostitution is legal-
ized. Instead of pursuing justice and safety for commercially sexually exploited chil-
dren (CSEC), many survivors are re-victimized by the system that returns them to their
hostile living environments or detains them (e.g., Chesney-Lind, 1986; Irwin et al.,
2018).
Nevada is a unique place to research trafficking, as some rural counties have legal-
ized adult prostitution, but it remains prohibited in the counties where Las Vegas and
Reno are located. Nonetheless, the illegal sexual exploitation of children occurs state-
wide and is exacerbated by these prolific adult industries and high demand (The
Human Trafficking Initiative, 2018). Research focusing on sex trafficking and traf-
ficking of children is present and ever-evolving in academia. It is victims’ consequent
experiences in detention that are largely not discussed in the literature, and, as such,
little is known about the outcomes of the incarceration of this vulnerable population.
The qualitative data of the current study provide findings regarding the detention
experiences and programming suggestions of 36 commercially sexually exploited sur-
vivors,1 who are currently young women living back in the community. While not all
of these young women were detained solely for prostitution or soliciting as juveniles,
they were all commercially sexually exploited during adolescence. These findings
can, in turn, inform researchers and practitioners of the most beneficial policy implica-
tions, as well as of other specificities of this population.
Literature Review
Overview of Detention
Detention centers serve as holding centers for juveniles who pose a risk to the com-
munity or are at-risk of failing to appear for court hearings (Furdella & Puzzanchera,
2015). They also serve as short-term facilities for juveniles after being sentenced,
rather than being sentenced to jail or long-term juvenile correctional facilities (Furdella
& Puzzanchera, 2015; Mathur et al., 2018). Hence, the purpose of detention includes
pretrial holds, protecting the community from potentially dangerous offenders, pro-
viding diagnoses for at-risk and mentally ill youth, and rehabilitative or punitive pur-
poses (Furdella & Puzzanchera, 2015; Sullivan, 2018; Wordes & Jones, 1998).
Detentions can house a wide variety of juvenile crimes, from violent crimes to status
crimes (e.g., truancy; Justia, 2018; Wordes & Jones, 1998).
In 2015, 48,000 juveniles were detained in the United States (Sullivan, 2018).
Studies have found that a large number of juveniles recidivate after detention, with
estimates ranging from 37% to 50%–80% of released juveniles reoffending (Herrman
& Sexton, 2017; White et al., 2016). Rather than detention being collectively effective
or ineffective, research has shown that success depends on situational factors of indi-
vidual facilities, such as what services are offered (Guerette et al., 2016). Detention
facilities with educational, vocational, personal, and interpersonal skill-building
Trejbalová et al.
75
opportunities, as well as gender-responsive practices, have been typically more suc-
cessful at preventing recidivism than detention facilities that did not provide these
opportunities (Mathur et al., 2018; Moore et al., 2013; Sullivan, 2018). Specifically,
the use of vocational and educational programs in juvenile detention reduced recidi-
vism by 40% and lowered the annual nationwide correctional costs by $2 million
(Sullivan, 2018). Juveniles in detention also voiced needing help with building posi-
tive interactions, self-motivational skills, and interpersonal support to prevent recidi-
vism (Herrman & Sexton, 2017).
Girls in Detention
Previous research on girls in detention has suggested that they have different treatment
needs than boys in detention, such as having higher rates of mental health issues, more
severe mental health issues, and histories of victimization (Cauffman, 2008; Jones
et al., 2014; Simkins & Katz, 2002; Trupin et al., 2002). Regarding victimization his-
tories, Saar and colleagues (2015) reported that 31% of the girls in detention in their
sample have been sexually victimized.
As a result of their complex background and issues, research has found that many
practitioners see girls as needy, manipulative, or even whiny (e.g., Bond-Maupin et al.,
2002; Galardi & Settersten, 2018; Hipwell & Loeber, 2006; Pasko, 2017). For exam-
ple, Acoca (1998) noted how one of the detained girls reported feeling anxious and
complaining about staying in her cell by herself at night, as that was an uncommon
occurrence in her culture. Similar issues may remain unaddressed depending on an
agency’s policy, further intensifying the detainees’ distress. Perhaps due to the staff’s
perceptions of this population that has been coupled with a misunderstanding of the
girls’ background, justice-involved girls reported abuse by staff, including name-call-
ing, blaming, intimidation, isolation, and physical and sexual abuse (Acoca, 1998;
Galardi & Settersten, 2018).
Despite the negative attitudes of the staff and negative experiences of justice-
involved girls, system-impacted adult women noted that correctional facilities have
helped with their desistance2 (Cobbina, 2010). Women in correctional facilities
expressed that healthy social networks, particularly those with their parole officers,
were beneficial to them. Notably, being able to trust their parole officer allowed them
to have someone to discuss issues with and learn how to solve them appropriately
(Cobbina, 2010). This parallels Oselin’s (2014) discussion of the fictive family, where
correctional staff posed as a secondary family for prostituted women, creating almost
a parent-child relationship. This relationship then promoted an environment that
helped women leave the sex industry (Oselin, 2014). As such, time away from nega-
tive social relationships while in correctional facilities, paired with access to various
services, served as turning points for many system-impacted women (Bui & Morash,
2010). Although system-impacted women have highlighted both failures and suc-
cesses of the system, research that investigates whether the same outcomes can be
observed in detained girls is lacking.
76
Feminist Criminology 16(1)
CSEC Victims in Juvenile Detention
Approximately 54% victims of sex trafficking are minors (Banks & Kyckelhahn,
2011), making them victims of commercial sexual exploitation defined as “sexual
abuse by an adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a third person or
persons” (Desai, 2010, p. 364). Girls are victims of CSEC more frequently than
boys—making up 95% of the population (Development Services Group, 2014). The
victims consist primarily of vulnerable populations—runaways, physical and sexual
abuse victims, and those with mental illnesses (Musto, 2013). Once exploited, many
CSEC victims also become trauma bonded to their trafficker and are constantly moved
around to different locations and venues (Nichols & Heil, 2015). Despite knowledge
on the demographics of CSEC victims, little is known on how...
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