The Car Crash Club • Monsta X

Stay Tuned for More

Hi friends, thanks again for reading CCC! Now that this story is over, I've been thinking about what else to work on.

The research that I conducted for this book really impacted me, and the topics covered in this book are ones that I want to bring more attention to. That said, child grooming and child sex trafficking seem to be too heavy of topics for Wattpad, so I may end up posting my future work on a separate site. When my next work is up, I will add an announcement to this book letting y'all know where you can find it (if you want)!

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I've already started conducting research on this next work, and here's a few factoids to pique your interest:

-Children make up 27% of human trafficking victims worldwide. (https://www.savethechildren.org/us/charity-stories/child-trafficking-myths-vs-facts)

-According to a 2016 US study by the Department of Justice, 36% of child sex trafficking victims are boys. That said, these stats are usually under reported, and there are far fewer resources available than for female survivors.

-Victims are often trafficked by people they know. (https://www.savethechildren.org/us/charity-stories/child-trafficking-myths-vs-facts)

-A heartbreaking statistic: "the average age of victims is 15 and that each child is purchased on average 5.4 times a day." (https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/nation-now/2018/01/30/sex-trafficking-column/1073459001/)

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This is a global problem that really eats away at my heart and soul. Even just conducting research on this topic is horribly sad because I'm dwelling on cases of exploited children. So I hope I'm able to put together a story that brings more awareness to this seemingly invisible population of victims in a way that is sensitive to the readers as well.

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I also wanted to investigate how the U.S. administration is responding to this threat, and here's a few more interesting factoids I was surprised to learn. I wanted to remain politically neutral on this issue, so I have included information on both the current Trump administration and the previous Obama administration for reference:

-The Trump administration announced "more than $35 million in Justice Department grants to organizations that provide safe housing for victims of human trafficking."  (APNews)

-The Trump administration established "a new position on the White House Domestic Policy Council focused on combating human trafficking...Under the order, the State Department will establish a website laying out the federal government resources available to victims...The order will also direct the Justice and Homeland Security departments to improve coordination on finding sexual images of children online, in an effort to help the administration to move more quickly to eliminate them." (Wall Street Journal)

-Sections of the executive order focus on strengthening the federal response to human trafficking, prosecuting human traffickers and those who exploit children online, protecting the victims of trafficking and exploitation, funding educational programs aimed at preventing exploitation, and more. You can find the executive order here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-combating-human-trafficking-online-child-exploitation-united-states/ 

-The Trump administration signed into existence FOSTA (Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017), which "amends the Communications Act of 1934 to create an exception for sex trafficking, making it easier to target websites with legal action for enabling such crimes." (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/signing-allow-states-victims-fight-online-sex-trafficking-act-president-donald-j-trump-provides-invaluable-tools-needed-fight-scourge-sex-trafficking/)

-Here is a list of more related policy established by the Trump administration: https://www.whitehouse.gov/search/?s=trafficking

-"Obama declared January 'National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month,' marking the United States' commitment to end human trafficking."  (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2017/01/13/obama-administration-efforts-combat-human-trafficking-0)

-The Obama administration's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons "initiated over 6,000 human trafficking cases and secured over 4,000 convictions...In 2016, the Administration convened the first U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking...In 2012, the President issued an strengthening protections against trafficking-related activities in federal contracts...In 2015, Congress took another step forward with the passage of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act." ((https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2017/01/13/obama-administration-efforts-combat-human-trafficking-0))

-Here is a list of more related policy established by the Obama administration: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/foreign-policy/end-human-trafficking

I am in no way trying to indicate which administration has done more, but I think both administrations have taken strong efforts to both bring awareness to this issue and to strengthen our endeavors to protect victims and prosecute offenders.

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That's all for now, but I'll reach back out once I've gotten started on my new book! Thanks again for reading, and I hope to see y'all soon.