Last month, Rutherford Institute President John Whitehead wrote a column that once again alerted the nation to a horrifying fact: that adults purchasing children for sex is a booming business in America.  He cited stomach-wrenching statistics like adults paying to rape kids 2.5 million times each year.  And while the statistics vary, there is no question that tens of thousands of American children are trapped in the sex trafficking trade and many more are at risk.

Whitehead's column was entitled "The Essence of Evil: Sex with Children Has Become Big Business in America."  We are borrowing that title for this series.  In the first of three installments on "Essence of Evil,", we examine just how big the problem of child sex trafficking is, what these victims tragically endure, and how this has become big business.
Listener discretion is advised, particularly if children are present.