The Psychology of Pimping

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The Psychology of Pimping

• M. Alexis Kennedy, Ph.D.
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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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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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

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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

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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

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Victims
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Street Prostitution

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

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• 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/crimina
  l/ceos/prostitution.html

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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)

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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

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Traffickers/Pimps
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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

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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

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Routes of Recruitment
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1. Pimps - Love

• 16 of adults interviewed reported an emotional
  attachment to their pimp (Kennedy)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vZvnRYte3PAk

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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 couldnt do
  anything because I wasnt 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.

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• 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

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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 bh)

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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

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4. Pimp - Gorilla

• Brute force and kidnapping
• Reported both domestically and internationally
• Movie Trade

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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

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6. Substance Abuse

• Chose to prostitute to earn money for drugs

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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)

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• 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.

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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)

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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

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

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10. Sex Trade Hierarchy

• Escort -gt Massage parlors -gt Streets

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Me/myself

• I turned myself out. It was just me. It was me.
  Im responsible.
• -started at age 10

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Who turned you out, or how did you begin working
on the streets?
n 32
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Techniques of pimps
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Amazon.com
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Perpetrators of Violence

• Blacks (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

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

• Why dont 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)

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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

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• 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

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Why dont 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 Victims Mindset. Polaris
Project 2006.
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Why dont 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

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Why dont 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 dont know how and where to seek help.

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Resources

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