Analysis of Human Sex Trafficking

When most of us think about the sex industry, we think of prostitution or pornography. Usually people in that line of work chose to be in it, but that is not always the case. Human sex trafficking has become the fasted growing business among organized crime, and the third largest enterprise in the world, generating more than $31 billion dollars in profit a year, according to the FBI. Sex trafficking is the most common form of modern day slavery; in the U.S. it consists of mostly women and children between the ages of 12-18. They are sold and sometimes transported to other countries.

Most of the young women in the U.S. are runaways who live on the streets by choice; they are recruited by other female recruits under false promises, promises of a better life, such as a good job, educational opportunity or marriage. Some girls are abducted and forced into the industry, then sent out of the area and isolated from family and friends. Victims usually have no control over any aspect of their lives, the trafficker decides when they sleep and eat. Their captor repeatedly sexually, physically, and mentally abuses them.

Traffickers usually pay for the cost of lodging, food, travel and visa, which ensures their domination over the girls due to debt bondage, which is where a person is forced to pay back a loan with labor. Sometimes they are forced to do drugs to establish an addiction and ensure further control.

Sex trafficking generally possesses most of the same characteristics all over the world, although here in the U.S. individuals appear to be working willingly, independently, and out in the open, but in fact they are victims of sex trafficking. They solicit on the streets, hotels and truck stops, and advertise on the i...

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...overt society” that is hidden from everyone except the traffickers themselves. Victims are less likely to identify themselves upon confrontation with law enforcement With a low 37% reported to the police, and only 7% reported by the victim. This hinders training efforts made by law enforcement and techniques to identify new cases. “Nearly 450,000 cases of children trafficked for labor were reported in the past three years, but prosecutions were launched in just 25,000 of those cases, and 3,394 employers were convicted,” according to The Washington Post.

Works Cited

Kiener, Robert. "Human Trafficking and Slavery." CQ Global Researcher 16 Oct. 2012: 473-96. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

“International Justice Mission Factsheet.” Web. Ijm.org. 2010

Walker-Rodriguez, Amanda and Hill, Rodney. “Human Sex Trafficking.” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Web. March 2011.