California Today: A Shift in the Child Sex Trafficking Trade

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/03/us/california-today-child-sex-trafficking.html

Version 0 of 1.

Good morning.

Welcome to California Today.

Is there such a thing as a child prostitute?

Campaigners have for years tried to erase the phrase from the law, arguing that if a juvenile cannot legally consent to sex with an adult, neither can she willingly sell her body.

She is a victim of rape, they say, not a prostitute.

Last week, the movement won perhaps its biggest victory as Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation that bans law enforcement from arresting minors involved in the sex trade, except when their safety may be at risk.

Instead, they will be treated as victims, and directed toward social services.

“This is a really big deal,” said Kim Biddle, the executive director of Saving Innocence, a group that counsels sexually exploited youth.

The governor also signed a law that allows adult victims to have charges against them dropped if they can show they were coerced into selling sex.

Together, the measures represent a shift in prosecutions away from children and young women and toward the pimps and criminal enterprises running the industry.

Fifteen other states have passed similar laws that shield sexually exploited boys and girls from being charged with prostitution, according to Rights4Girls, a human rights organization that has fought for the changes.

The police and outreach groups say sex trafficking in California has grown rapidly in recent years — concentrated mostly in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco — as websites like Backpage and Craigslist have made transactions simpler than ever.

Detective Lina Teague, a coordinator of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit, said that many people, falsely, tend to view the sale of sex as a voluntary exchange.

“But the reality of street prostitution today is that minors and young women are being sexually exploited out of some type of duress, fear or some type of coercion,” she said.

Ms. Biddle, of Saving Innocence, cited a case in North Hollywood that involved a girl, 13, who was caught with a 47-year-old man. She was handcuffed and charged with prostitution; he got a citation, Ms. Biddle said.

“Now, we’re able to view these children correctly under the law,” she added, “as victims.”

See reporting in The New York Times on the Nov. 8 ballot initiatives: Proposition 51 (a new school bond) | Proposition 56 (cigarette tax) | Propositions 62 and 66 (death penalty questions) | Propositions 65 and 67 (on banning plastic bags).

And dig into analyses of all 17 statewide measures by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, CALmatters and Ballotpedia.

• Residents of a logging town are battling a timber company for the rights to water that has been piped to houses for more than a century, writes Thomas Fuller, our San Francisco bureau chief. [The New York Times]

• Even as water restrictions have eased for the rest of California, Catalina Island is being hammered by drought. [Orange County Register]

• Tensions flared in a South Los Angeles neighborhood after the police fatally shot an armed teenager on Saturday. [Los Angeles Times]

• Fox Searchlight wants its film “The Birth of a Nation” to inspire but not incite. [The New York Times]

• Anxious about the earthquake alert? What you can do to be prepared. [Los Angeles Times]

• California regulators have opened a pathway for the public to get self-driving cars that have no steering wheels or pedals. [The Associated Press]

• Tech conferences in San Francisco are apparently a good way for checking out what’s new in corporate paranoia. [The New York Times]

• As San Diego’s zoo turns 100, it faces a swirling public debate about the treatment of animals in captivity. [San Diego Tribune]

• The Farallon Islands are only 26 miles off San Francisco but feel remote. A boat trip offers views of seals and whales. [The New York Times]

• The Federal Trade Commission’s chairwoman has brought hints of her West Coast background to an office in Washington with views of the Capitol. [The New York Times]

• On Tuesday in San Francisco, Google is expected to unveil its answer to the Echo, Amazon’s artificially intelligent assistant, alongside new smartphones and tablets.

• During San Francisco Fleet Week, now through Oct. 10, visitors can tour Navy ships. The Blue Angels put on shows Saturday and Sunday.

• Carpinteria hosts the three-day California Avocado Festival starting Friday. The free event will host more than 75 bands and the “world largest vat of Guacamole.”

• Desert Trip, a three-day music festival in the Coachella Valley featuring the likes of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Neil Young, starts on Friday.

Vin Scully, the Dodgers broadcasting great, called his final game before a sellout crowd in San Francisco on Sunday.

The Giants clinched a wild-card berth with a 7-1 victory. (Next up: a high-stakes one-game showdown against the Mets.)

After 67 seasons behind the microphone, Mr. Scully signed off by telling the fans, “I have said enough for a lifetime, and for the last time, I wish you all a very pleasant good afternoon.”

What’s next for Mr. Scully? More time with his wife, Sandi, who has been by the broadcaster’s side for much of his career. Richard Sandomir, a sports columnist for The Times, writes about the couple’s marriage.

As Scully heads into retirement, admirers in recent days and weeks have offered tributes to his legacy.

Check out a short selection.

Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times sportswriter:

George Will, Washington Post columnist:

Bob Costas of NBC Sports:

Kevin Costner, actor:

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U.C. Berkeley.