An ASU professor has teamed with the Phoenix Police Department to crack the codes of classified ads that are suspected of pimping underage girls.
Dominique Roe-Sepowitz worked hand-in-hand with Phoenix police to learn the language used in these ads, all in an effort to learn about the modern-day sex business and how to rescue these men and women.
"Prostitution doesn't look as it did five years ago or even 10 years ago," said Roe-Sepowitz.
She and her students printed out a week's worth of Phoenix Backpage.com ads in the adult services section.
Nearly 80 percent of the ads posted on the adult-services section of the classified website Backpage.com are for prostitutes, according to an Arizona State University research project that studied content posted on the site during a week in May.
The online ads are short and simple, promoting girls like “Cinnamon” and her quest for a male companion.
“French and black bored looking for fun plus seeking generous male I love,” read an ad posted Wednesday by Cinnamon, 21, asking men to meet her in central Phoenix.
