Sex Trafficking In The United States

Over 27 million people are enslaved in the world today, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked internationally and 14,500 to 17,500 of those are trafficked into the U.S. each year (PBS). Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, and sale of persons by use of force, coercion, or abduction for purposes such as labor or sex (UNODC, 2006, p.50). Today 4.5 million people are sexually exploited each year, making about 99 billion dollars globally ("United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime"). In Atlanta alone, sex trafficking generates about 290 million dollars annually ("Estimating the Size and Structure of the Underground Commercial Sex Economy in Eight Major US Cities"). Very few people are aware of this subject, and the laws and policies

However, there are many challenges to ending sex trafficking, one is being able “to target the criminals who exploit desperate people and to protect and assist victims of trafficking…” ("United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime"). In order to raise conviction rates the government needs stricter laws; the current laws are not deterring criminals from committing these crimes. As Haugen stated, next to “no one has been prosecuted for trafficking” (Melzer), this shows other traffickers that they can get away with sexual exploitation. Another issue with the current laws is that they all vary from state to state and different government agencies prosecute differently. For example, “Under federal law, a child under 18 years who is commercially sexually abused is a victim of trafficking. However under local law a child is charged with child prostitution,” ("Enslaved in America: Sex Trafficking in the United States"). To be able to protect the victims and prosecute the traffickers, the government should enforce the same laws nationwide. According to the text, “Better, well-defined laws are also necessary to assist law enforcement agencies in finding traffickers,” ("Prevention of Human Trafficking: A Review of the Literature"). Laws would help increase communication between local government agencies and federal agencies, making it more efficient to arrest and convict traffickers. New laws must

Not only do we need new laws, but we also need new policies to provide clear outlines of the government's plans to decrease trafficking. As stated by “Equality Now” “A holistic and comprehensive strategy is needed to combat sex trafficking effectively,” ("Global Sex Trafficking Fact Sheet"). Our current policies do not specifically lay out the government’s plans to fight sex trafficking, meaning they most likely do not have one. In order to set laws in motion, government officials need to form clear and concise policies that will lead to more successful laws. Policies that protect victims need to be put in place because “Victims of trafficking are often treated as criminals by authorities…”("Prevention of Human Trafficking: A Review of the Literature"). If policies, for government officials, are put into place for them to follow then there would be fewer occurrences of mistreatment. As stated before, “Another prevention strategy might be increasing the collaboration among law enforcement agencies on a regional, federal, and international level” ("Prevention of Human Trafficking: A Review of the Literature"). There need to be policies that increase collaboration between agencies so that there is a common way to handle sex trafficking situations. Policies would provide a structured outline for government agencies and the way they handle situations; overall leading to a decline in sex