Editorial: What Really Lies Beneath Proposition 35

LOS ANGELES — On November 6, California voters can put an end to human trafficking in their state… or so those in charge of Proposition 35 would like everyone to believe. Prop 35, or the CASE (Californian Against Sexual Exploitation) Act, adds to both penalties and fines for those involved in human trafficking. It also demands that sexual offenders identify themselves as such on social media pages. But is it at all what it’s hyped up to be? The CASE Act had its origins through its two founders, Chris Kelly, former Google executive, and Daphne Phung. Back in 2010, Kelly ran for California Attorney General and lost. Phung’s background is somewhat obscure, though she is presented as having an MBA from a small California college. While the voter initiative purports to help end human trafficking in California by increased fines and penalties, it offers no impact studies on the effects of such. The first problem with the CASE Act is its bloated statistics. For instance, with regard to the sexual trafficking of children, it relies on a Department of Justice study that claims that 300,000 children are at risk of being trafficked at any one time. The study does not maintain that 300,000 are being trafficked; only that they are "at risk." Tens of millions of children are "at risk" of being hit by cars. That doesn’t mean they will be. The second problem is the actual definition of what is a human sex trafficking victim. Carissa Phelps, one of the strong proponents of Prop 35, has demanded that the words “prostitute” and “hooker” be eliminated from the common vernacular. Instead, she wants to replace those terms with “sex trafficking victim,” whether the persons so engaged were willing or not. Phelps, now a lawyer, describes herself as having been a sex trafficking victim from the age of 12. She relates that she had a pimp who controlled her. She describes her plight as a prison without walls, where she was psychologically held captive by a man who “gently” raped her and had her prostitute herself. To put things into perspective of how a child of that age behaves, Edward Furlong, who played John Connor in Terminator 2, was 13 years old at the time of filming, and appeared pretty savvy at the time. So, what is Phelp’s agenda? Well, she’s selling a book that she wrote and trying to promote it. And she’s selling herself as a top gun attorney. Why do I say this? In my conversation with Phelps, I had related how back in 1989, the founder/director of one “child trafficking” organization had orchestrated a “scheme” (this was the word used by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department investigators) to destroy the charity that I had started, Thursday's Child. I wound up being partially crippled as a result of being beaten by a volunteer from the other group. Phelps shot back that the founder/director was a personal friend of hers, did not want to discuss it and told me in no uncertain terms to never contact her again; a strange response from a self-proclaimed “victim.” Then there is Chris Kelly, with a reported net worth of $15 million, who spent two-thirds of it on a failed campaign to become attorney general, and $1.8 million on CASE. The Bay area NBC affiliate stated, “Funding a successful ballot measure also can help build credentials for those aspiring to elected office. Kelly acknowledged that 'It’s a fair question’ to wonder if the anti-trafficking campaign is, in part, a path to placing himself on the ballot in future years.” Kelly said he has no political aspirations. That remains to be seen. There also is Daphne Phung, a Vietnamese emigre who suddenly finds herself and her cause bankrolled by Kelly. Phung describes herself as “an instrument of God,” and speaks of the horrors of child sex trafficking in California, never mentioning what goes on in the country where she was born. And there is Jada Pinkett Smith, who has not been cast in a major film since Collateral in 2004. Pinkett Smith apparently climbed onto the anti-human trafficking bandwagon after her daughter called her over to watch part of a documentary of human trafficking in Uganda. Recently, and apparently based upon her newly acquired extensive knowledge, she testified before the House Judiciary subcommittee on human trafficking in the United States. Sitting alongside husband Will, the room was packed. Her words echoed, bursting the silence into harrowing smithereens. Pinkett Smith could have found no better forum to rekindle her waning career. Perhaps her words came from her heart, but her next action was to have herself auctioned off as a speaker for CASE to the school with the most votes. Most of those voting probably hoped she would again show up with Will. The few former “victims” on the CASE Act website, Phelps included, all talk about what they describe as trafficking that occurred a decade or two ago. Missing Children advocate, Marc Klaas, like Phelps, is a major proponent of Prop 35. Recently, on his blog, he wrote: “Between 1.6 and 2.8 million children run away annually in the U.S., half of which are girls. Within 48 hours of hitting the streets, one third of these children are lured or recruited into the underground world of prostitution or pornography.  The average age at which girls first become victims of prostitution is 12-14.  For boys, the entry age is 11-13.” But let’s do the math. With an average of 2 million children per year, that means that 666,666 children are lured into prostitution and pornography each year. Ages 11-17 constitute a 7-year span of accumulation. That means that the total number of children lured into pornography and prostitution at any one time is 4,666,667, which is roughly the combined population of Los Angeles and San Francisco. There were only 3 million Viet Nam veterans and most everyone has seen some of them, if only on freeway exits, begging for change. Where are all of these “trafficked” kids? Human trafficking is a serious issue, but for the most part it is confined to Third World nations. Little children are forced to work 16 hours a day and sleep on cold floors. Young girls and boys, with no ability to escape, are misused for the sexual gratification of men. It is deplorable and unconscionable, but it is taking place in other nations. Here, not so much. As with all crimes, it occurs now and them and it seems shocking and atrocious when it does, but it is by no means a pandemic, as the CASE folks would have you believe. Putting increased fines and penalties seems harmless enough, until one reads deeper. Let us say that there is a young woman, 25 years old, who prostitutes herself on her own of her own volition without any madam or pimp, and uses some of the money to support her invalid mother. According to Prop 25, the mother is profiting off of “human trafficking,” and could go to prison for between 8 and 20 years. Prop 35 also states that “mistake of fact as to the age of the victim of human trafficking who is a minor at the time of the commission of the offense is not a defense to a criminal prosecution under this section.” Traci Lords made between 80 and 100 adult-rated sex films when she was under 18. She also appeared in provocative sexual poses in numerous men’s magazines, including Penthouse, where she was the Penthouse Pet of the Month. Even though she presented a government-issued driver’s license in order to get hired, under Prop 35, everyone involved in all of the films that she did could have been sent to prison for life. Even though Lords tricked them into believing she was of consensual age, under Prop 35, she would, regardless, be classified a sex trafficking victim. And does anyone really believe that sex predators are going to register their social media pages? What is to stop any of them from setting up new emails or accounts from any library? There is also the issue of where the money goes from all of the fines that are presumably collected; up to half a million dollars per “victim.” Well, 30 percent goes to law enforcement. The remaining 70 percent goes to Phung and her friends. Nothing is set aside for the actual “victims.” So, while the CASE Act looks good on paper, there is a lot more to it than meets the eye, and, for the most part, it has little to do with the comparative handful of “teens” who are “trafficked” in the Golden State. But make no mistake, there are those who stand to profit, and profit a lot. Don Austen is the Founder/President of Thursday's Child, a 30-year-old nonprofit charity for endangered children. Thursday's Child's 24-hour national hotline has 38 listings with toll-free directory, among which are (for purposes of this article) a Child Trafficking Hotline and a Teen Prostitution Helpline.