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The Psychology of Pimping

The Psychology of Pimping. M. Alexis Kennedy, Ph.D. University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Purpose of Presentation. Identify who the victims are; lay the groundwork for how people would become pimped Look at routes of recruitment into prostitution Characteristics of and techniques used by pimps.

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The Psychology of Pimping

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  1. The Psychology of Pimping M. Alexis Kennedy, Ph.D. University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  2. Purpose of Presentation • Identify who the victims are; lay the groundwork for how people would become pimped • Look at routes of recruitment into prostitution • Characteristics of and techniques used by pimps

  3. California Penal Code • Every person who inveigles or entices any unmarried female, of previous chaste character, under the age of 18 years, into any house of ill fame, …, or to have illicit carnal connection with any man; … is punishable by imprisonment … not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by both…

  4. Human Trafficking Defined By Federal Law • “Severe Forms” of human trafficking is: (a) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or (b) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.1 1 These definitions are from the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000

  5. Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Defined By Federal Law • Domestic minor sex trafficking occurs when a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident who has not attained 18 years of age is engaged in a commercial sex act.2 • “Commercial sex act” means any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person. This includes: • Prostitution • Exotic dancing/stripping • Pornography 2 This definition is from the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005

  6. Victims

  7. Street Prostitution • Street Prostitution, not • Stripping • Pornography • Phone sex • Brothels • Escort agencies • Massage Parlors

  8. 12-14 is the average age of entry into pornography and prostitution in the U.S. • U.S. Department of Justice - Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/prostitution.html

  9. Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking in the U.S. • According to Ernie Allen, Executive Director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), data shows 100,000 to 293,000 children have become sexual commodities. • Nationally 450,000 children run away from home each year. 1 out of every 3 teens on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home. Statistically, this means at least 150,000 children lured into prostitution each year. • NISMART (National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Throwaway Children)

  10. US Hot Spots • 2004 USDOJ Annual Report - FBI identified 14 field offices located in areas where there is a high incidence of prostituted children • Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington D.C.

  11. Case Study: Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking in Nevada • 181 cases of juvenile prostitution were brought before Hon. William O. Voy between 8/24/05-12/31/06. • 69 cases were trafficked within Nevada; 112 were trafficked from out-of-state. • Ages ranged from 12 to 17 years old.

  12. Who are the victims of domestic minor sex trafficking? • Youth of any ethnicity, race, or religion • Youth of any socio-economic class • Female, male, and transgender youth • Youth of all ages, including teenagers • Vulnerable youth

  13. Who are especially vulnerable to domestic minor sex trafficking? • Youth with histories of abuse • 59% of minors arrested for prostitution in Las Vegas (1994-2005) had been victims of sexual assault and/or familial molestation. • 74% had run away from home prior to arrest. (From Las Vegas Metro Police STOP Program, Las Vegas. 2005. ) • WestCare Nevada treated 46 minors involved in prostitution from 2004-2005; 45 of them had a history of physical and/or sexual abuse.

  14. Who are especially vulnerable to domestic minor sex trafficking? • Homeless, runaway or “throwaway” youth • As many as 2.8 million children live on the streets, a third of whom are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.(The National Runaway Switchboard) Youth within the foster care system & child protective services - Over 500,000 children in the U.S. currently reside in some form of foster care. (The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)

  15. Adult Street Prostitutes • 41% of adults in my research reported started as minors • 32 prostitutes from the drug area • Routes of Recruitment: Pimps’ techniques and other circumstances that lead to street prostitution • Kennedy et al., 2007 • Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma 15(2), 1-19 • On my website www.alexiskennedy.com

  16. Traffickers/Pimps

  17. Who Are the Pimps? • Can be a pimp/trafficker, a boyfriend, father, mother, brother, uncle, a coach, a teacher or anyone exerting control over a prostituted adult or child, even a peer • Not always organized criminals • Both men and women of varying ages • Any ethnicity or race

  18. Pimps • 75% of prostituted children reported that they were pimped • Department of Justice CEOS • 40-80% of adults report being pimped • Barry, 1995; Norton-Hawk, 2004; Silbert & Pines, 1983b; Williamson & Cluse-Tolar, 2002

  19. Routes of Recruitment

  20. 1. Pimps - Love • 16% of adults interviewed reported an emotional attachment to their pimp (Kennedy) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvnRYte3PAk

  21. Turned out at age 16… I was dating someone who was 31. I had a legal job and was in school and one day he came home and he said he needed money for his daughter from his first marriage. And I told him I couldn’t do anything because I wasn’t getting paid till next Friday so he came home that night with a pair of heels and mini skirt and took me outside and told me to take what they gave me.

  22. Seduction process • 6-12 months but in as little as 24 hours • Grown up “boyfriend” taking her away for the weekend • Most common method for non-abused minors

  23. 2. Pimp - Debt -19% of adults interviewed reported a friend as turning them out -often the “main girl” for the pimp (wife-in-law, bottom b***h)

  24. 3. Pimp - Drugs • Drug dealers come up with a solution to help them pay for drug or repay for drugs already provided • Using drugs prior to being prostituted

  25. 4. Pimp - Gorilla • Brute force and kidnapping • Reported both domestically and internationally • Movie “Trade”

  26. 5. Pimp – Authority Figure • Parent, foster parent, older sibling • 12% of adults interviewed reported being turned out this way • TVPA anyone under 18 is a trafficking victim

  27. 6. Substance Abuse • Chose to prostitute to earn money for drugs

  28. 7. Financial Difficulties • No other source of income • Prevalent among runaways • 80% reporting financial needs lefts them no other option to entering prostitution (Bagley & Young, 1987) • 55% of street girls work in prostitution as a way of earning money (Department of Justice, CEOS)

  29. 19, reported being stranded in a strange city after a fight with her boyfriend and stated: “I just was at a restaurant having coffee and, um, a rich man made me a very generous offer. Asked me if I was all right, if there was anything I needed help with. I explained that I had no means of getting home, and he bought me a ticket home and gave me money as well in return for sex which took about four minutes.”

  30. 8. Socialization/Normalization • Attracted to glamour and easy money • 7 of 14 drawn to “thrill and adventures of the life” (Potterat, Phillips, Rothenberg & Darrow, 1995, p.333)

  31. 9. History of Sexual Abuse • Consistent finding in research, high levels of sexual abuse • 96% of my sample reported being sexually assaulted prior to entering prostitution • 73% reported childhood sexual abuse

  32. “A friend of my mine … she got out and got money and I had been approached while I was waiting. And I figured I’m getting molested at home so why not get paid for it and get my rent covered.”

  33. 10. Sex Trade Hierarchy Escort -> Massage parlors -> Streets

  34. Me/myself “I turned myself out. It was just me. It was me. I’m responsible.” -started at age 10

  35. Who turned you out, or how did you begin working on the streets? n = 32

  36. Techniques of pimps

  37. Amazon.com

  38. Perpetrators of Violence • Black’s (1990) law dictionary simply defines a pimp as someone who obtains customers for a prostitute • Reality – take their money through manipulation, threats and violence • Silbert & Pines (1983) • 66% of prostitutes were physically abused by pimps, over 50% were beaten regularly • Pimp stick

  39. Based on information from Domestic Sex Trafficking: The Criminal Operations of the American Pimp. Polaris Project. 2006

  40. Traumatic Bond • Why don’t they leave? • “the development of strong emotional ties between two persons, with one person intermittently harassing, beating, threatening, abusing, or intimidating the other” (Dutton, 1995, p. 190). • deny or emotionally numb themselves to the level of the violence that they are experiencing (Walker, 1998)

  41. Psychopaths • The Psychopath as Pimp • Spidel, A., Greaves, C. Cooper, B. S., Hervé, H., Hare, R. D., & Yuille, J.C., The Canadian Journal of Police and Security Services, 4 (4) 205-211 • Behaviorally • Irresponsible, criminally versatile, parasitic • Interpersonally • Manipulative, deceitful, glib, display superficial charm • Lack of empathy

  42. 22 offenders • 36% of pimps compared to 20% of comparison populations met the cutoff of 30 for psychopathy on the PCL-R • 75% were above 22.1 (mean for comparison sample) • offenders who engage in acts of pimping exhibit many psychopathic traits

  43. Why don’t pimps’ victims seek help? • Captivity, confinement and isolation - Victims have been locked in rooms and trunks of cars and isolated from friends and family • Use and threat of violence - Victims have been beaten, raped, tortured, assaulted and threatened with weapons • Fear, shame, self-blame and hopelessness - Victims have been so traumatized, they blame themselves for their abuse and/or see no way out of the situation From “Understanding Victim’s Mindset”. Polaris Project 2006.

  44. Why don’t pimps’ victims seek help? • Dependency - Victims have become physically, financially or emotionally dependent on the trafficker; they have bonded with the abuser through traumatic bonding (a.k.a. Stockholm Syndrome) • Distrust of law enforcement. - Victims are told that law enforcement will arrest or harm them

  45. Why don’t pimps’ victims seek help? • Debt bondage - Victims are trapped in never ending cycles of fabricated debt and are made to believe they cannot leave until this debt is paid off. • Misinformation/false promises - Victims are promised love, money, safety or other desires if they stay with the pimp. • Lack of knowledge of social systems - Victims don’t know how and where to seek help.

  46. Resources • www.sharedhope.org • www.polarisproject.org • www.alexiskennedy.com

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