Renting Lacy begins as a story of hope where young girls see their pimp as a means to success. In the beginning, a twelve-year-old named Star tragically takes every piece of advice and coercion as something positive. She goes off the adage her grandma told her “that good always comes from bad” (Smith, 2013, p. 39). The stories of these girls seem too tragic to be true. Each night is a new journey to meet their quota, as they have no idea what they may encounter. Their pimp’s father taught him the perfect combination of love and fear. This was Bobby’s destiny as he saw his mother and father involved in the same work. He often read books on focus and psychology to make sure his business ran smoothly. This was a business where men trade women like any commodity. They promise to be caretakers of these girls who are escaping troubles of their own.
Almost as a senior helping a freshman on a project, the girls find the balance between firmness and sympathy as the experienced help the new. They tell each other to be strong instead of telling them to get help. They counsel each other through the parts they have already endured and the lies, deceit, and reality of it all. They say its part of the process to get to where you want to be and that you have to do things you do not want to do at first. We are all taught as kids that you must work to get what you want, and these girls think this is the work. At one point, others convinced Star that she was a victim but is now actually in charge. What was amusing for the girls in this new life was a cyber sex room that their pimp had created for them or the biannual shopping trip they were allowed.
I thought an important part of the book was the commentary at the end of each chapter. I thought it was essential for the author to mention all perspective from the girls to the pimps to law enforcement and the families of victims. The reader could see how each side in human trafficking thought and worked. The desperation of the girls, the disrespectful nature of pimps, and the complete agony of a grandmother were all revealed firsthand.
The most shocking but moving part to me was when people tried to save Star. She became defensive of her life because she did not want to believe her own reality. Star thought getting arrested was part of the process and could only think of Bobby when she was in the courtroom. She said no to being released into the care of her grandmother who had been worrying for months. Her grandmother was driving her back to safety in Nebraska when Star had her pull over so she could leave and go back to Las Vegas. Star was so psychologically dependent on Bobby that she could not face the embarrassment of being back in her hometown as a normal girl.
As Smith (2013) says at the end of Chapter 13, it is only when we put ourselves in their shoes that we can realize that secrecy and exploitation is the forced norm (Smith, 2013, p. 141). This norm drove Star to her tragic ending, as it is difficult to think and piece together what her last few days alive were like. Another interesting tool that the author used was the location in the chapters so the reader could realize and understand that this is a national and global problem and that each situation is different yet the same. From truckers to married men, all people can be johns and while we put our efforts into trying to stop foreign nationals from being trafficked, over 100,000 of our own American children are trafficked. The men in Las Vegas joked about what kind of women they wanted like they were ordering from a menu but they do not realize the circumstances and consequences that surround these girls.
The person that would most benefit from this book would be the person that is not educated about this subject. At some point, the topic of human trafficking is introduced to someone in its evil and horror. Most people think it is a problem someplace else that they themselves cannot possibly add to or stop. Hopefully, that person never has to know somebody that is a victim. However, just because you do not know a victim does not mean it cannot happen. In the film, I am Jane Doe, not every lawsuit is successful but awareness is spread and the government is pressured to make serious change. Through awareness, it is possible to bring attention to survivors like Sara Kruzan. Although it was nineteen years too late, Sara was able to be free again and is a glimmer of hope for those wrongly accused and prosecuted in human trafficking. This enterprise has robbed tens of millions of people across the globe of their freedom. Many of these people have nobody to fight for them or that can realistically affect their chances of escape. This leaves the free people across the world that must come together and fight to rescue and make sure that everyone knows this is not acceptable.
In its 2014 state ratings, the Polaris Project has New York State as a tier one state based on ten categories of laws on human trafficking. It was also a tier one state the three years prior. According to Polaris (2014), tier one means, “the state has passed significant laws to combat human trafficking and should continue to take additional steps to improve and implement its laws” (p. 2). However, New York State meets the minimum point requirement of seven on a twelve-point scale and thirty-eight other states are also in tier one. This means that the scale is not evenly distributed as a vast majority of states in this country are in the highest tier. As far as victim’s assistance laws, the Polaris Project (2014) has New York as a tier two state, which says that the “state has passed numerous laws to support victims of human trafficking and should take more steps to improve and implement its laws” (p. 3). The difference between significant and numerous is unknown. This rating is inexcusable as four of the five states bordering New York are rated tier one.
Shared Hope International gave New York State a ‘D’ rating on their 2014 report card. The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) laws gives low penalties to the buyers and only protects minors under the age of fourteen. The state sex trafficking law requires proof that force, fraud, or coercion was used even if the victim is a minor. This is hypocritical because the age of consent for sexual activity in New York is sixteen meaning anyone younger than that is considered too young to be able to give consent. In New York, patronizing a prostitute that is a minor aged fourteen to eighteen is only a Class A misdemeanor carrying a maximum one year jail sentence and a $1000 fine. A maximum sentence of one year can easily be lowered to months or no time at all, giving buyers no incentive to stop once they are released. Nobody is saying that human trafficking is easy to stop, but when it is discovered it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. The inaction of one of the biggest states in the United States is a bad example to all policy against human trafficking around the world.
On a positive note, New York’s “Safe Harbor” legislation increases protections for CSEC victims. According to Weiss (2013), New York enacted the first safe harbor law in the nation, Title 8-A Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act, in 2008, but its effective date was postponed until April 1, 2010 (p. 2). Under this law, sexually exploited children arrested for prostitution will be treated as victims instead of criminals. Generally, these children will be placed under state protection and sent to safe houses for services like counseling that might have not been available if they had been incarcerated. While the Safe Harbor Act is a small victory, it is just the beginning to end this global crisis. After reading this book, the reader can begin to understand how young people are coerced into the trade and therefore should never be held criminally liable. Improving existing legislature along with adding new laws must be the state’s main objectives moving forward.
Human trafficking is a difficult crime to detect, mostly because victims are hidden from the public. Due to this fact, New York State has created the Interagency Task Force to ensure that law enforcement and social service organizations are getting the training and education they need to enforce the law and prosecute those who are guilty. These steps are the ones needed to move in the right direction to end human trafficking in New York State. Like the data driven approach in the article “Do Public Events Affect Sex Trafficking Activity?” these studies and task forces can continue to spread awareness and use technology to stop this enterprise. There is much work for New York State to accomplish every day and human trafficking should be a priority. While taxes, highway maintenance, and elections are important, nothing compares to robbing someone of their freedom.
What I found most compelling about this book was that the author, Linda Smith, is the founder of Shared Hope International so this subject is obviously extremely close and sensitive to her. While a sensitive subject to all, she felt it was necessary to write this book to continue to spread awareness and save somebody. The narrative was chilling to read and it was even worse to realize its truth. I was unaware of the specifics of human trafficking before reading this. Honestly, I did not think it was very prevalent in cities and suburbs in the United States. Smith made it clear that it needed to be as harsh as it is in reality to recruit as many people to help with this issue. There are entire organizations dedicated to fighting human trafficking. Celebrities and politicians have brought it upon themselves to use their platform in an effort to promote change. Just one reader’s ignorance of the topic can provoke them to make a difference. While a vast majority of the world population does not contribute to this problem, it is the inaction that needs to change. I commend Linda Smith for taking the initiative to end human trafficking, and while there is a lot of work to do, I hope you will continue to fight this problem that affects us all.