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Catching Predators
As an advisor to the Atlanta Mayor, Stephanie Davis is on the front lines in the fight against child prostitution. Find out what the city is doing to prevent this exploitation — and how your business can help.
September 12, 2007
Stephanie Davis serves as the Policy Advisor on Women's Issues
to the Mayor of Atlanta and is charged with helping to end child prostitution and human
trafficking in the Mayor’s Dear John campaign:
Atlanta Woman: Describe the problem.
Stephanie Davis: Atlanta has become a hub for the commercial sexual exploitation
of children who are trafficked here from throughout Georgia, other states, and across international
borders because of our position as a regional center, the conventions and sports events here, and
the ease of transportation. It takes many forms — including street prostitution and internet-based
escort services — and, in the case of girls, almost always involves a pimp who may be connected to
a larger, organized pimping operation.
AW: What is the Dear John initiative?
Davis: Dear John is the mayor's public education campaign to heighten awareness
about this issue and arrive at strategies to ameliorate the problem.
AW: What can be done to stop this?
Davis: Lots. The public will must shift to make the exploitation of women and
girls intolerable so that it takes this behavior out of the margins and puts it in the context of
all the ways women and girls are exploited. Also, if we as citizens understand the high incidence
of child sexual abuse (1 in 3 girls) and learn how to identify it and intervene appropriately, it
will reduce the numbers of kids who are vulnerable to being exploited.
AW: Are there short-term solutions that we can do today?
Davis: You can always throw money at an issue of social justice and make change,
like funding more shelters for girls, which doesn’t end the problem but it makes life better
for a few more girls who can be rescued from it today. We can press for more enforcement of laws
that will lead to the successful prosecution of pimps and johns, which will help end the demand for
children who are prostituted. We can make sure our elected officials know and any candidate for
office know that this is a community concern that effects all of us even if we don’t see it under
our noses.
AW: What can be done to help the children who are now on the streets?
Davis: We can help them see that they deserve a life of dignity and self-respect,
where their material needs for food and shelter will be met and they can choose to contribute to a
society by reaching their fullest potential. We can help them see that whatever may have happened
to them in the past is the past. We can be the beloved community that they will want to live in. We
can stand up ourselves to sexism whenever we see it or experience it. And, of course, we can
support programs that will provide the crisis intervention, the health care, and the loving,
therapeutic environment to help them see a safe and secure future.
AW: What can the business community do?
Davis: Businesses, especially the hospitality industry, can create a no-tolerance
policy regarding the sexual exploitation of women and girls on their premises that punishes any
employee for facilitating it or benefiting from it. Businesses can also refuse to reimburse
employees for business expenses related to the adult entertainment industry.
AW: Are there are pieces of legislation coming up — either in Georgia or
nationally — that women should be aware of concerning this issue?
Davis: We will be supporting a bill in the state legislature to make the seizure
of cars in sex-related crimes possible. I would not want to be the wife who takes the call from the
police department asking her to come pick up her husband who was just arrested for soliciting a
minor for sex.
AW: Can a city make a dent in solving this issue?
Davis: Absolutely. Mayor Franklin has created a model that attacks the issue
through supporting services to victims, strategies to attack the demand side like the upcoming
Johns School and enhancing the vice squad, and always speaking out against it as a way to create
the public will that will ultimately abolish it in Atlanta.
Stephanie Davis serves as the Mayor of Atlanta's Policy Advisor on Women¹s Issues and is
charged with helping to end child prostitution and human trafficking, empowering women through
financial literacy, and institutionalizing the living wage. As the first director of the Atlanta
Women's Foundation where she served for 11 years, Davis was responsible for raising several million
dollars, establishing an endowment and positioning the Foundation to be the fastest growing women's
fund in the country. Davis has been the Rosalynn Carter honorary fellow in women and policy for
Emory University and currently serves on the Board of The White House Project to promote women's
leadership in all spheres.
