Author's Notes for UNREPENTANT: Pray for Us Sinners

AUTHOR’S NOTES

The horror of sex trafficking mentioned in this book is, unfortunately, all too true and is a thriving underworld business. Internet websites, many of which have been successfully shut down by law, have made it all the easier for sex traffickers to advertise. Young girls and boys are kidnapped and sold into slavery where they are raped and forced into prostitution. ECPAT USA (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), an Anti-Trafficking agency, states that the average age of these innocent children is between 12 and 14 years of age. There have been cases of girls as young as 9 years old who are forced into this lifestyle with their virginity sold to the highest bidder.

Many never escape from their captors and fall victim to brutal living conditions, physical abuse, forced drug addiction, and disease. Too many others become “the lost ones” as noted in the book and are either murdered, OD on drugs, or commit suicide.

Missouri Senator, Claire McCaskill, addressed this issue in the United States Senate. “This past year, (2016), a 15-year-old girl was rescued from sex traffickers in St. Louis after being sold at truck stops in Missouri, Florida, Texas and New Mexico for nearly two months. This young woman was courageous enough to share her story, which I told in the Senate hearing I co-chaired about trafficking and the notorious website Backpage. Now we owe it to her, and the thousands of other child victims across the country, to do everything in our power to stop this horrific crime.”

                                        Kristen Houghton