Mass. Attorney General Maura Healey: Human trafficking 'could happen to anyone's family'

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Speaking at the Center for Human Development's 12th annual "Through Her Eyes" conference Friday at the MassMutual Center, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura T. Healey told those gathered any child in Massachusetts could be a meeting or a click away from human trafficking.

(Anne-Gerard Flynn photo)

SPRINGFIELD -- Speaking at the Center for Human Development's 12th annual "Through Her Eyes" conference Friday at the MassMutual Center, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura T. Healey told those gathered any child in Massachusetts could be a meeting or a click away from human trafficking.

Human trafficking, she said, happens across the commonwealth, is not confined to certain households and is a crime that requires focus on demand.

"Every day in our office we fight against the prevailing myth that human trafficking doesn't happen in Massachusetts," Healey told the crowd of 400, many of whom work in the area of social services.

"Human trafficking for a lot of people is something that happens in another place, another land, involves people who speak a different language, come from a different country and it certainly doesn't involve young people. But, we know that is not the case. Trafficking is happening in Massachusetts and we know that human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. It is happening here in Springfield, Boston and all across this state."

Healey added it happens in "rural, suburban and urban communities," and "to kids as young as 12 and 13 years old from all walks of life ... it is something that could happen to anyone's family.

"We know the tools that traffickers use to exploit and degrade human beings and we know how easy it is for them to fall prey to these traffickers," said Healey, adding this will be stopped in part by "ending demand."

"Our focus needs to be on those who go out and buy sex. Those who would exploit someone's daughter, son, sister or brother. That is what human trafficking is about," she said.

Healey said her office recently looked at what searches were done over a two-day period in downtown Boston -- home to many of the state's financial services firms, high tech companies and law firms, she noted -- and discovered that there were "20,000 attempts online to pay for sex in a 48-hour period."

The yearly CHD conference, which this year focused on sexual exploitation, is aimed at a variety of professionals, including social service providers, and community leaders who work with young women at risk. Healey praised the conference's focus on such women as pioneering over the years.

Brenda Myers-Powell delivered the morning's keynote address, "Combating Sexual Exploitation in Young Women."

Presenters of the day's 16 workshops addressed the "most current methods and practices for helping girls at home, in school and in society face challenges from trauma, neglect, aggression and addiction."

Brenda Myers-Powell delivered the morning's keynote address, "Combating Sexual Exploitation in Young Women." Myers-Powell, co-founder of an organization that works to prevent human trafficking, was molested from the time she was very young. She worked on the streets for decades until, at age 40, with help from social services, she embarked on a better life and helped found the Dreamcatcher Foundation.

Springfield resident Kerriann Van Allen, a 36-year-old CHD employee who was attending her first conference, said she would like to see more initiatives, like Myers-Powell's, to help victims of sexual abuse.

"In this day and age, there are so many people who don't help, so she was very impressive and it was very heartfelt," Van Allen said. She said that she liked how Myers-Powell addressed stereotypes and stigmas within abusive relationships and how all parties need help to stop the abuse.

Healey was introduced by Hampden County District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni, who prior to Healey's talk echoed that human trafficking is "not a foreign problem."

"This is here in Western Massachusetts. ... It is problem that spans all places, all jurisdictions, including Western Massachusetts," said Gulluni whose office was a sponsor of the conference. He said his office is focused on educating the public on the issue, understanding why victims engage in prostitution and prosecuting the traffickers who "profit from girls and women selling their bodies."

Healey said her office has made addressing human trafficking a priority as well as the training and coordination of law enforcement and resources for victims. She defined it as "selling people for sex or labor. We see both in our office."

"These are crimes that know no geographic or demographic or economic divide. It happens to people from all walks of life," Healey said.

"It is the teenager who may run away to escape bullying or to escape sexual abuse or violence in her own home and then goes to the mall and is picked up by a trafficker or pimp who promises to take care of her but later forces her to sleep with multiple men each night. It is the woman who is struggling with addiction who is picked up outside the methadone clinic, exploited by a trafficker looking to take advantage of her vulnerabilities. It is the immigrant who may be far from home who has very few options for work or safe housing or food and who ends up in a life of sexual servitude in order to put food on her kids' table or send money back home."

Springfield resident Kerriann Van Allen, a 36-year-old CHD employee who was attending her first conference, said she would like to see more initiatives, like Myers-Powell, to help victims of sexual abuse.

Healey said the victims her office sees are "younger and younger."

She said studies show that three out of four women exploited in prostitution have also been raped and sexually assaulted.

"Nearly all experience physical violence and most all suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder at levels similar to those of combat veterans," Healey said.

In 2011, governor Deval Patrick signed "An Act Relative to the Commercial Exploitation of People" that went into effect in February 2012. In her talk, Healey noted this law for the first time "established state crimes for human trafficking that involve sexual servitude or forced labor. The law also enforces penalties for John crimes that address demand for commercial sex because, for far too long, sex purchases have been given a free pass despite the degradation and exploitation they inflict on their victims day in and day out."

Healey said through her division's work, some 20 individuals have been charged with human trafficking since the 2011 law was passed and that "any number of active investigations are ongoing right now." A Springfield area couple was charged with human trafficking and federal prostitution-related charges in December.

Healey said her office has made addressing human trafficking a priority as well as the training and coordination of law enforcement and resources for victims. In a reference to the buying of sex online, she added that her office has a zero tolerance for commercial sex and has urged other employers to do this as well.

"There is a need to take care of one's own house, one's own company and make sure the word goes out to a potential buyer out there that this is not a victimless crime, that at the other end, is someone's mother, or sister or son, a human being who deserves to be treated with dignity and respect," Healey said.

She called human trafficking a "top priority" of her office, and, in a reference to CHD and other service providers, one that needs "everyone at the table."

"When I think about the victims of human trafficking, I think about the victims and survivors who are brave, who are courageous that I have had the privilege of meeting through the work of our office," Healey said.

Kimberley A. Lee, CHD's vice president of development, said having both Healey and Gulluni at the conference, "validates the importance of the conference and this year's topic."

"Human trafficking is a problem which requires the combined efforts of social services and criminal justice. Attorney General Maura Healey's presence here today highlights her commitment to working with providers as partners to address this and other community issues affecting girls and young women."

She called Myers-Powell and her talk an "inspiration to those who have not only been affected by the trauma of human trafficking, but also the many providers in attendance today who are responsible for helping them to heal."

The day also included a morning panel, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: Addressing The Needs of Victims: A Collaborative & Coordinated Response.

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