What We Can Learn From the Cyntoia Brown Case: The Realities of Sex Trafficking

By Kacey Clark

Cyntoia Brown was a 16 year old child when she realized she would have to face her life in prison. She was found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, and aggravated robbery in a trial in which she was tried as an adult. Cyntoia’s troubled childhood that ultimately culminated in her entanglement with “Kut Throat,” her trafficker, seemed to the public to be just another story of a young person caught up in a dangerous lifestyle. In reality, she was a lost girl trying to survive in a world that made it so difficult for her to do so. 

Cyntoia was sold out for sex to various people against her will. Kut Throat continually threatened her life if she tried to flee from her captivity. It wasn’t until one night in 2004, when she was picked up by 43-year-old Johnny Allen in exchange for money and food that Cyntoia’s life changed forever. 

The persistent fear and anguish of a girl stuck in the vicious cycle of sex trafficking resulted in the murder that would spark controversy across the country. Fearing for her life after being threatened by Allen’s proud display of guns and aggressive behavior, Cyntoia shot him and fled. What would follow this incident were many years of fighting the criminal justice system that is so quick to criminalize victims of oppressive circumstances, such as those of a trafficking survivor.

Thanks to numerous efforts by activists, social influencers, and politicians, Cyntoia was granted clemency about six months ago. After 15 years in prison spent earning two college degrees and equipping herself with the tools to become an activist for sex trafficking awareness, Cyntoia finally walked out free on August 7th, 2019. 

Cyntoia’s story is one that has received widespread national attention for an issue that is all too often left in the dark. It is one of resilience, hope, and ultimately, the repercussions of an underground industry that continues to conjure up stigma and skepticism. There are many things that we can learn about the realities of sex trafficking from Cyntoia Brown’s case.

 

Sex Trafficking is More Prevalent Than We Think

Globally, there are an estimated 4.8 million people being used for sexual exploitation. To put this in perspective, there were 3.9 million slaves during the Civil War. Additionally, sex trafficking is the second largest criminal industry behind drug dealing, because unlike drugs, people can be sold and exploited over and over and over again, turning over larger profits for traffickers. Sexual exploitation in this way may seem too distant and abstract to be relevant to our own communities, especially white middle-class suburban ones. But, this is not the case.

Cyntoia Brown went to ninth grade at Northwest High School in Clarksville, Tennessee, north of Nashville. She was recalled by friend Sametria Hayes as being “a little reserved” but overall a “normal kid”. Upon finding out about Cyntoia’s circumstances, Hayes said, “It was kind of shocking to me to know that a childhood friend could be sitting right next to you in class and could be a victim of sex trafficking.” It is hard for us to imagine that the quiet girl sitting next to us might be having survival sex with strangers while others are getting ready for prom. Teenagers shouldn’t have to earn their food through forced exploitation while their classmates ransack their pantries after class, but this is the reality of sex trafficking, as I have witnessed with my own eyes as well.

I am a sexual assault advocate for a non-profit that is local to me and have been involved in human trafficking awareness efforts since I was sixteen. In high school, I brought a presentation about human trafficking for a special assembly. I will never forget the girl that came up to us afterwards and expressed concern that her friend was being trafficked. After that, I noticed it everywhere. It happened at the mall where I got my first part-time job, it happened at the local high schools as classmates trafficked each other, and it even happened two streets down from my house in quiet whitewashed middle-class suburban America. If it can happen on Cyntoia’s street as well as my street, some 2,000 miles apart, then it can sure as hell happen anywhere.

 

Sex Trafficking is Not the Same as Sex Work

One of the most controversial aspects of Cyntoia’s case is the perspective that she deliberately killed Allen while he was sleeping so she could take advantage of him and take his possessions. This perspective ignores the imminent fear and trauma of being repeatedly violated and exploited against one’s will–the threat of violence constantly being held against them. Cyntoia’s trafficker Kut Throat would hold guns against her body and force her to strip, tell her he knew where she lived if she tried to escape, and raped her, all the while making her hook up with clients in exchange for money so he could buy a new car. 

Something that is also commonly overlooked is the impact of trafficking that wreak serious havoc on individuals’ health. Trafficking has many mental and physical consequences for survivors, including exposure to HIV/AIDS and other STDs, PTSD, depression, anxiety, insomnia, dissociation, substance abuse, injuries. Some might even have tattoos that their trafficker used to brand them, a constant reminder of their traumatic experiences. These are side effects of abuse, manipulation, fear, and a complete violation of freedom and autonomy. This is not glamorous, this is not chosen, and this is not sex work: this is trafficking.

Merriam-Webster defines human trafficking as “organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be controlled and exploited (as by being forced into prostitution or involuntary labor).” On the contrary, sex work is “a consensual transaction between adults, where the buying and selling of sexual services is not a violation of human rights.” Many sex workers engage in voluntary sex for income in a way that does not disregard their humanity.  Nor does sex work operate in the same way as trafficking, where a trafficker controls the buying, selling, and terms and conditions of the entire operation. 

Sex work can even be empowering for workers in that they have autonomy and choice over the kind of interactions and clients they engage with (however, it’s important to note that sex work can also be traumatic and oppressive for some). Human trafficking, by definition, is by no means empowering nor does it allow for autonomy. It is a complete violation of innate human rights and deserves to be treated as such by the law. 

Former Governor of Tennessee Bill Haslam recognized this when he granted Cyntoia clemency, but we still have a ways to go until the public at large recognizes the scope and nature of this issue.

 

We Cannot Discuss the Issue of the Criminalization of Minors Without Discussing the Issue of Racism

Cyntoia was tried as an adult as a sixteen-year-old minor, for illegitimate explanations. The haunting truth underlying Cyntoia’s case is that the criminal justice system still has deeply entrenched societal attitudes toward BIPOC, especially young girls. This isn’t new news. In general, white defendants receive lighter sentences than Black defendants for the same crime. BIPOC and those with lower economic status, are disproportionately incarcerated than their wealthier white counterparts. Studies have also shown that Black girls are perceived as less innocent than white girls–leading to them being seen and treated as adults by law enforcement.

Throw any stigma resulting from misunderstandings about consentual sex work versus sex trafficking into the mix, and Cyntoia’s case was completely engulfed by prejudice. If we are to truly disentangle racism and this stigma from the criminal justice system, the inherent biases held by prosecutors need to be checked, balanced, and held to scrutiny as they were in this case. 

Nyasha Junior, a religion professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, echoed this sentiment when she wrote that, “Moving toward justice would mean not seeing her experience as an isolated case. It would involve working toward eliminating the systems that support and maintain oppression and violence. It would require constructing a vision for the future that values the wholeness of black girls and women.”

 

Sex Trafficking is Everyone’s Issue

Although Cyntoia’s case especially illuminates the ramifications of inherent prejudice and racism in the criminal justice system toward BIPOC and girls. The denial of basic human rights affects everyone across the spectrum of humanity. Sex trafficking is everyone’s issue. It affects women and girls in that it reaffirms the consequences of objectification and sexualization, which leads to their dehumanization.

This dehumanization stems from “toxic masculinity” leading many to believe they have a right to exploit the “lesser sex” for their profit. It disadvantages trafficked men who are reluctant to get help because of the false belief that trafficking is solely a “women’s issue”. It affects non-binary and LGBTQ+ folx who are especially vulnerable to sex trafficking. 

It affects parents whose children can be trafficked without their knowledge. And it affects children. Even those who live in supposedly safe communities like my own, where sex trafficking can thrive and operate unnoticed and unhindered. It affects every individual, every facet, and every sphere of society. At the end of the day, we are all human beings just trying to survive. The invisible threat of sex trafficking makes this much more difficult for those who are subjected to it.

Cyntoia Brown may have walked free, but 4.8 million other sex trafficking survivors are still fighting their battles. Trump’s recent fund cuts to help trafficking survivors clear their criminal records only makes the struggle harder and compounds their dehumanization. 

Cyntoia’s case reminds us that we are a society on the verge of healing from a pandemic that we as human beings have an incentive to remedy. It will be a long, uphill battle before we achieve a greater understanding of gender norms, power dynamics, intersectionality, and the ways in which the legal system is a disservice to BIPOC. Until then, Cyntoia serves as a shining reminder that hope and positive change is possible, as well as a painful lesson of how far we have to go before justice can truly be served for survivors of sex trafficking.