Mayor Unveils Initiative To Stop Pimps, Child Prostitution
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Mayor Bloomberg wants to crack down on the pimps who put young girls out on the city’s streets.
The mayor announced yesterday an initiative, Operation Guardian, that will include 24-hour support and a new, secure, residential-placement facility outside the city for young prostitutes. It will create a team that will develop a detailed picture of child prostitution by conducting intensive surveillance and using “undercover john” tactics and wiretaps. In addition, the team will analyze financial records to develop a clear picture of the business side of the prostitution business.
“What we know is we can’t put the pimps behind bars without the cooperation of their victims,” the city’s criminal justice coordinator, John Feinblatt, said. “And we can’t win the cooperation of their victims unless we free them of the control of the pimps. In order to break this vicious cycle, we must marry together enforcement and prosecution and social services. The bottom line is this: If you want to take care of the pimps, you also have to take care of their victims.”
Last year, according to the mayor, 150 children under age 17 were arrested in the five boroughs on prostitution charges. Fifty-three of the youngsters were arrested in Queens, the borough where the program will begin.
The Queens district attorney, Richard Brown, said child prostitution is a growing problem.
“The problem of child prostitution and the sexual exploitation of children is serious, and regrettably it’s growing,” Mr. Brown said. “We find ourselves prosecuting at least two new cases each month against individuals who are engaged in promoting underage prostitution. Since the year 2000, we’ve prosecuted 63 pimps for prostituting young women under the age of 19, including 35 pimps for prostituting girls under the age of 16. We’ve even had instances involving girls 12 and 13 years of age.”
Mr. Bloomberg said most of the child prostitutes come from broken homes. Many have drug problems or mental disorders. “They come to the big city and they find they can’t support themselves, and a pimp somehow or other gets them into a life that they don’t seem to have any way to get out of,” the mayor said. “What we’ve got to do is provide a safe, viable route out of that way of life. Otherwise, they really have no future.”
