Petition: Stop Sex Trafficking at the Super Bowl!
To:
Arizona Office of the Attorney General
County Attorney’s Office of Apache County
County Attorney’s Office of Cochise County
County Attorney’s Office of Coconino County
County Attorney’s Office of Gila County
County Attorney’s Office of Graham County
County Attorney’s Office of Greenlee County
County Attorney’s Office of La Paz County
County Attorney’s Office of Maricopa County
County Attorney’s Office of Mohave County
County Attorney’s Office of Navajo County
County Attorney’s Office of Pima County
County Attorney’s Office of Pinal County
County Attorney’s Office of Santa Cruz County
County Attorney’s Office of Yavapai County
County Attorney’s Office of Yuma County
Dear County Attorney,
Men are buying sex with children during the Super Bowl. Unless we do something about this now, buyers will use the Super Bowl in Arizona as an opportunity to exploit even more children.
And this impacts us all.
If a buyer engages in commercial sex with any minor under 18 years old in Arizona during the Super Bowl and receives little to no consequences for his crime, he won’t be deterred from committing the same crime again in his home state. This puts all of our nation’s children at risk.
Arizona is perfectly positioned to be a strong opponent to those who seek to exploit our children while they are in Arizona for the Super Bowl. Arizona law enforcement agencies are trained to aggressively investigate the demand for sex with children and you are committed to bringing justice to all minor victims of trafficking by prosecuting and sentencing buyers who exploit them.
We are asking you to ensure that buyer prosecutions are made a priority. We, along with Shared Hope International, stand behind Arizona’s 15 County Attorney’s Offices and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office in prosecuting buyers arrested in Arizona for buying sex with a child to the fullest extent of the law. Effective prosecutions of buyers include significant fines and felony penalties, asset forfeiture, and payment of restitution to victims. Buyers will be deterred if the risk of arrest and full prosecution is real.
Let buyers know Arizona’s Not Buying It and bring a unified front to enforce zero tolerance for child sex trafficking, including attacking it at the root: the buyers. Let’s tell buyers, if they exploit a child in Arizona, they better plan to stay awhile – in jail!
Thank you for protecting Arizona’s children from buyers at the Super Bowl.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
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Written by Ryan Dalton
Ryan Dalton, Esq. is policy counsel and the Demanding Justice Project campaign manager for Shared Hope International. He also is the co-founder of Rescue Forensics, a big data digital forensic which targets online human trafficking. Previously, Ryan served as the Director of Anti-Trafficking Operations with Operation Broken Silence and as a Law Fellow for Shared Hope International. He received B.S. degrees in International Relations and Philosophy from the University of Memphis and received his Juris Doctor from the Cecil C. Humphrey's School of Law. Ryan researched and lobbied for laws to significantly improve Tennessee’s anti-trafficking legal framework. He serves as a source of expertise on anti-trafficking law to governmental agencies and on the Tennessee Human Trafficking Task Force. Ryan developed the CARE network, a multi-disciplinary collection of agencies and professionals on the front lines of anti-trafficking work in Memphis. Ryan is published on human trafficking law and is the recipient of the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award from Memphis Law School, the 2013 Outstanding Law Student Award from the National Association of Women’s Lawyers, a House Joint Resolution honoring him from the Tennessee General Assembly, and has been featured in Memphis Magazine and by the National Association of Legal Professionals.