From thousands of miles away, here is a blog post on a group of Palestinian kindergartners who struggle learning to just be kids and have a little bit of fun, because of the ongoing problems in the Gaza Strip.  It’s interesting how different (and similar) their situation is to the children the Chicago Sun-Times surveyed about violence in Chicago.

Chicago Sun-Times

Kudos to the Chicago Sun-Times for their extensive piece on how the increased violence is affecting children in neighborhoods where much of this violence is taking place.   Although I thought it could have gone further in-depth in writing about the violence as a generational cycle, they did a great a job in letting the children speak for themselves, as evidenced by the responses they posted from children saying what they would do if there were no more guns in the city.

Reading about 11-year-old Maria Rivera’s fear of playing outside reminded me of moments in my own childhood.  For the most part, my neighborhood (Chatham) was a safe place, but it had enough negative elements to make my mother and grandmother limit where I was allowed to play.  I could never walk anywhere by myself, even to the park that was just three blocks away.  The farthest I ever went was my old elementary school playlot across the street from my house.  But each time over there I found myself looking over  my shoulder every now and again; something that slowly became a normal routine.  A good chunk of my playtime was relegated to playing baseball or catch by myself in the backyard.  It was probably the one place other than inside my house I felt safest.

It took awhile for me to appreciate my family’s protective nature.  Getting robbed one block from home at the age of 14 might have sped up that realization, but better late than never.

Our random headline of the day award goes to the Southwest Observer.

Gangs possible cause for rise in murders

Some Chicago-area radio stations are working together to help send less fortunate children back to school with all the proper supplies they’ll need for a successful school year.  The effort is led by the Feed The Children organization, whose infomercials might be familiar to some of you.  The Violence Project donated $18, enough to give one child a backpack filled with paper, pencils, notebooks and other supplies.

To donate, simply click here.

Sonia Clark

This past week the New York Times published an editorial on the rise of child prostitution in major American cities, in particular Atlanta. The paper of record called action beyond stiffer criminal penalties, such as expanded treatment and resources for the young people caught in this cycle. Atlanta is one of 14 major U.S. cities cited by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Also on that list? Chicago.

The Barton Law and Child Policy Clinic at Emory University recently published a report on the commercial sex trade involving children in Georgia, but it included comparable information on similar laws in Illinois.

Illinois has adopted a strong criminal statute that allows the prosecution of the johns and pimps who commercially sexually exploit children. Its strong sentencing provisions appropriately reflect these crimes’ grave nature, and its provisions coincide with federal law, which will permit international victims to easily take advantage of federal immigration protections.

Illinois’ anti-human trafficking law clearly recognizes that prostituted children under the age of eighteen are victims rather than offenders. However, under Illinois’ prostitution statute there is no minimum age for commission of the offense, so these child victims can still be arrested and charged as juvenile delinquents. Moreover, the trafficking statute does not affirmatively require services to be provided to victims, and does not fund efforts to develop services. Thus, though their exploiters may be subject to more punishment, the immediate needs of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation are not met under Illinois’ anti-trafficking approach.

Illinois does attempt to address victims’ economic problems by providing for restitution and civil actions against their exploiters. However, because assets earned or used in the exploitation are forfeited to the state, it may be difficult for the victim to collect any judgments they receive. Thus, while Illinois’ efforts are admirable and may be very effective from a law enforcement standpoint, they still leave child victims of commercial sexual exploitation vulnerable and underserved.

Now, why would such an issue be talked about on a blog named The Violence Project? Because, like youth violence, the roots of child prostitution lay at the same foundation: broken communities (poverty, lack of access to resources, inadequate education, broken families, failure of institutions). It is time we begin looking at the big picture and connecting the dots before it is too late.