When we think of human trafficking, we often associate it with other countries,certainly not here in America. Last night, on Primetime Live, this ugly phenomenonwas exposed to millions of viewers. Who is targeted and why will surprise you.Many of the victims come from middle class homes. They are targeted because oftheir youth and naivete. According to F.B.I. estimates, over 100,000 children arevictims of human trafficking in sex. They have a project specifically forapprehending the predators who are using our young girls as sex slaves- ProjectLost Innocence. These young victims range in age from 9 years old to 19, theaverage ages between 9 years old and 11. "The FBI and its partners cannot restorethe innocence lost from those children who are lured into childhood prostitution,"said Chris Swecker, assistant director for the FBI’s Criminal InvestigationDivision. "These children are victimized twice: first by the handler who exploitsthem and secondly by the individual who solicits them."They are selected as skillfully as any predator chooses its prey, using onlinechats, direct physical surveillance, and information coerced from other victims.The initial meeting may appear innocuous, prefaced with a friendly compliment,leading to an offer of "employment", usually modeling. Or it may be, as it was inone of the cases on the program, a snatch right in front of the victim’s home,with help just yards away.Once "captured", these young and innocent girls are subjected to imprisonment,starvation, gang rape, and offered for sale, often to as many as 50 John’s perday. They are kept compliant through drugs, torture and coercion, in the form ofthreats towards the family of the victim. There is nothing on this earth morepotent than threatening the lives of loved one's, for failure to comply.Imagine being so physically degraded, and feeling not only the terrible shame andhumiliation of being used like cattle, but carrying the additional burden ofguilt, should your family be punished. The young victim would do anything toprevent this. Here is an excerpt of what a victim said about her ordeal:"Debbie said that the pimps told her they would go after her family, and they eventhreatened to throw battery acid on her 19-month-old niece. After they told methat, I didn't care what happened to me as long as my family stayed alive," shesaid. "And that's pretty much what I had in my head. Staying there to keep myfamily alive."Interestingly enough, many of the buyers of child sex are married men. Whichspeaks volumes about our society. Why is this happening is the real question.Profit on the predators side is the obvious answer. But for the "john's" itbecomes more problematic. Many of these so-called men have both wives and childrenof their own, yet will use these helpless children without apparently anyconscience whatsoever. As with narcotics, this would not be a problem, if thereweren't an appetite for it.An appetite created by the media in it's various forms, depicting young models inprovocative clothing. That coupled with the huge amount of porn-particularly childporn on the internet, creates a craving to progress from just looking, to becomingan active participant. And though this is in no way meant to blame the victims ortheir families, we are too permissive in what we allow our daughters to wear.Young girls wearing thongs, bras and an open blouse aren't just attracting fellowteens. They are also likely to come under the gaze of the ugliest of ourcriminals-the child predator. This isn't just a criminal issue, but also asocietal issue. How can we realistically expect law enforcement to help preventthese atrocious crimes against children, if we ourselves don't take steps to