Sacramento County Sheriff Posts Exploitative Photos on Social Media
Photos were posted to argue for right to arrest minors for their own exploitation
A statement from the National Survivor Network addressed exploitative photos shared to social media feeds for Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper. Felony Murder Elimination Project will not link to these photos as our organization does not believe sex trafficking survivors should be sensationalized as pawns in efforts to combat sex trafficking.
Instead, we will share the statement, posted below, from the National Survivor Network.
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Four days ago, Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper posted sexually explicit videos of minors on Instagram to argue for the right to arrest minors for their own exploitation. Every anti-trafficking organization, law enforcement officer, legal provider, survivor, and decent human should be mortified that someone claiming to want to help survivors would himself share sexualized child videos, but doing so in the context of arguing for the right to arrest children who are being exploited is inexcusable. We must do better! Sensationalism is not awareness, and using salacious videos of minors to get views and clicks to support your ill-informed arrest policies is gross.
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The National Survivor Network is a membership, empowerment, and professional development network for survivors of human trafficking engaging in leadership in the movement using a public health, human rights, and harm reduction approach.
