by Ford Rowan
Director, Human Rights Ministries
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
We’ve all heard the phrase
“frequent flyers” used to refer to travelers. I’ve just heard a new,
horrific definition for this term.
I’m attending a meeting of
the Society of Biblical Literature / American Academy of Religion.
Several of the speakers focused on problems in the criminal justice
system.
One speaker cited
statistics about young women in juvenile detention facilities. Evelyn
Parker of Southern Methodist University said that 70% of girls behind
bars have been sexually abused. One study said the average age these
juveniles had their first sexual encounter was age 7.
Some of the girls were
arrested and incarcerated because they ran away from home trying to
escape dysfunctional families and sex molestation, Ms. Parker said. She
said these girls find detention safer than being molested or being
trafficked for sex.
The police have a label for such girls: frequent flyers.
The girls are often
arrested and charged with prostitution. Let’s be clear – the underage
girls are victims of rape. But they are treated as criminals.
More enlightened
jurisdictions are recognizing that these women need to be treated with
compassion not punished and stigmatized Those who abuse them – pimps in
particular – need to be targeted by the police.
My wife, True Rowan,
worked to combat human trafficking during her career as an attorney with
the US Justice Department. Now retired, she serves as a volunteer on
the Maryland Human Trafficking task force. She also advises our ministry
about ways we can educate political leaders, judges, prosecutors and
police about these issues.
My prayer is that one day
the term “frequent flyers” will only be used to describe people who fly
on airplanes, not girls on the street or in detention who are victims of
sexual molestation and injustice.
Image by Sheila Pree Bright: "Plastic Bodies." Source: Huffington Post
