Jeffrey Epstein was arrested this summer after allegedly sexually abusing and exploiting minor girls for years in his homes across the country. Recently, a commentary by Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times, published in The Salt Lake Tribune, cited Epstein’s crimes as “just the tip of a very large iceberg,” referring to “a much larger narrative out there about girls, often girls of color, who are commercially sexually exploited, often with impunity.”
Last year, Utah saw an 123% increase in reported human trafficking cases within the state. These child trafficking crimes are symptomatic of a larger issue that our state and our country must face: the criminalization of youth of color.