For Native Women, High Price of Rape Goes Untold

STILWELL, Okla. (WOMENSENEWS)-- For six years Brendan Johnson served as U.S. attorney for the State of South Dakota.

During his time as federal prosecutor, Johnson says fully 100 percent of the women and girls engaged in the sex trafficking industry were victims of rape and-or sexual abuse earlier in their lives.

"We had an underage girl from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota who was picked up in Sioux Falls and wound up in a sex ring," said Johnson, who is now in private practice, in a phone interview from his office in Sioux Falls, S.D. "She was a single mother and had not a penny to her name, which is very common. She didn't want to rely on government assistance because of the fear that her child would be taken away. She had also been sexually abused prior to this. So the high economic impact of these situations is hard to accurately quantify, because of post-traumatic stress disorder and the related issues for girls who are vulnerable targets for these criminals."

http://womensenews.org/story/rape/150710/native-women-high-price-rape-goes-untold