Vast resources are squandered in pursuit of criminal prostitution cases between consenting adults, rather than using the same means to properly combat sex trafficking and child prostitution. There are roughly 100,000 prostitution arrests every year, yet those cases result in discovering an astonishingly low number of sex trafficking victims. In fact, only 459 confirmed sex trafficking victims were aided by law enforcement cases over a two and half year period (January 2008 to June 2010).
Under the current prohibition model, the police would have a noticeable impact upon sex trafficking simply by screening every prostitute for signs of human trafficking after their arrest. That should be a mandatory police procedure, but it rarely ever happens.
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After all, many of these victims have obvious trust issues with the police. In fact, Alexandra Lutnick, author of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: Beyond Victims and Villains, has conducted numerous interviews with teen prostitutes and has found that they overwhelmingly report more abuse, both physical and sexual, at the hands of police officers, instead of from their clients, family, etc. Lutnick referenced an instance when a teen prostitute was arrested by an undercover officer. The girl was fondled by the officer in his car for roughly five minutes before he made the arrest. Afterwards, she asked, “If I’m a minor and he’s a police officer, isn’t that not supposed to happen?” It’s now time for a more victim-centered approach to this issue and, on a positive note, Los Angeles became the first major city to pioneer a new manner for addressing this matter. The County Sheriff, Jim McDonnell, ordered his deputies in 2015 to no longer arrest underage …show more content…
The police refer to these operations as “rescue missions,” but in many cases it’s difficult to discern the difference between sex trafficking raids and any other SWAT raid. One sex trafficking victim described how she tried to escape during one such raid but was knocked unconscious by an officer who struck her in the back of the head with a gun. You would assume that these victims are “set free” after being “rescued,” but victims of sex trafficking are rounded up, cuffed, and detained like all other criminal suspects. They also can be subjected to customary third-degree interrogations with threats of incarceration while in police custody. “I have had prosecutors shout at my clients to try to bully them into cooperating. When you’re dealing with a teenager who has been repeatedly raped and impregnated by her trafficker, this is not the way to behave humanely,” explained one social service worker. In essence, that young victim was coerced by the authorities without anyone noticing a hint of irony. Police officials typically attest that prostitution laws need to remain intact for legal leverage and, as a result, victims generally don’t receive any assistance unless there is a trade-off. Thus, they remain in custody unless they’re willing to testify against their
... middle of paper ... ... Underprivileged and depressed children are victims that are usually targeted and because of that, governments and human rights organizations have created laws that protect victims and prosecute traffickers. The act of luring victims into sex trafficking takes a form where the trafficker has to find ways to please the target and get victims to rely on them. Physical and psychological pain are inflicted on victims in order for them to stay in the Life which causes later effects felt by the victims when freed.
Country to country, person-to-person, human trafficking is becoming a bigger and bigger issue all across the globe, including right here in the United States. Human trafficking is said to be a form of modern-day slavery, subjecting its victims to commercial sex, debt bondage, and forced labor through force, fraud, or coercion. There are often no easily identifiable victims as they come in all ages, genders, and races. There are said to be at least 2.4 million victims of human trafficking across the globe at any given time, leading to profits of $32 billion for the criminal masterminds behind such trafficking operations, making it the second most lucrative criminal industry behind narcotics. Despite the abundance of victims, it is estimated that fewer than 30% of all countries report at least 10 trafficking convictions a year, and 20% of countries do not even have an offense for trafficking. An additional 20% of countries have an offense for trafficking but still report no convictions of the offense. Without an organized coalition to help prevent such atrocities, it is left up to national governments to come up with solutions for their respective nations, and many governments do not possess the know-how or effort needed to combat these crimes.
This journal article examines the issue of minor sex trafficking in the U.S and provides the reader with the results of the research that was conducted on the matter at hand. A data analysis consisting of 115 minor sex trafficking was thoroughly examined and studied. The information surrounding these cases was collected using two specific methods. One method included the reviewing of press releases of human trafficking cases issued by the Department of Justice. The second method was to obtain information via online searches of media reports.
Human rights are by definition rights that every human being has and can not and should not ever be taken away by any one no matter who that person is. Unfortanitly this is not true for every person in the world and even in the United States of America where it is the land of the free. Many women in the United States of America have a very important human rights taken away from them with out them having a choice. Many women in the United States of America are pulled into the sex trafficking underworld with out them having choice and them not wanting to be in such a world. The sex trafficking underworld dark cold world that should not exist but it does exist and is a real part of the United States of America. No body likes to talk about
Trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation and provision of a person for the purpose of commercial sex. American trafficking victims are estimated to be between 100,000 and 300,000. Most of these are from the million are so children that are thrown out of their home or they have run away usually to escape abuse and/or sexual violence. (Shelley, pg. 230) The law says that a person under the age of 18 has to have been defrauded, forced or coerced into the sex trade against their will. Sex trafficking venues are wide and vast. Victims of sex trafficking can be found in brothels, strip clubs, esc...
An estimated 20.9 million people are currently being trafficked worldwide (The Polaris Project, 2014). According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA, reauthorized in 2013), sex trafficking is defined as, “A commercial sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion, and/or in which the person induced to...
Meaning that a victim can be anyone, regardless of their gender identity, sexual orientation, race, or socioeconomic status. Raising more awareness and increasing the amount of education regarding this topic is vital in both metropolitan and non-metropolitan communities. Teaching youth at an early age what a healthy and unhealthy relationship looks like and how to be safe on the Internet is key in combating the issue of exploitation and trafficking. As well as training professionals and individuals who may come across victims in any setting to be able to recognize the signs of sexual exploitation and sexual trafficking. With an increase in training and awareness, the world may be able to gain a more realistic calculation of how many individuals are affected by either sexual exploitation or sexual trafficking.
“First, the research reveals that prosecution and sentencing of sex trafficking offenses relied predominately on pre-TVPA statutes even after passage of TVPA and subsequent reauthorizations acts.” (Albonetti,201) It is hard to establish whether this law is actually working as it is hard to establish the victims of sex trafficking. If the penalties for sex traffickers/solicitors are not followed to the harshest extent, then the supply/demand will not decrease. There are however, programs out there to help the victims of sex trafficking. Programs such as Creating hope through Outreach, Options, Services, and Education for Children and Youth Grant Program; (SNAP) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and others. “Nonetheless, little is known about the extent to which these services and benefits are accessed by child victims/survivors of sex trafficking, and whether victims and service providers are aware of such programs.” (Finklea et al., 24) Making people more aware of what is going on around them, sufficient training for social workers and police officers would make a big difference in how these cases are handled and also in the lives of these children. Funding in order to help victims of trafficking and provide services to them is out there. “DOJ funds have been used by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to provide services to noncitizens and, beginning in FY2009, to
In order to understand how sex trafficking affects its victims, one must first know the severity of sex trafficking and what it is. The issue of sex trafficking affects 2.5 million people at any given time (Abas et al., 2013). The form of sex slavery affects many women and children across the world. Even though both males and females are sexually trafficked and exploited, there is a deep emphasis on the sexual exploitation of women and children. This is due to gender discrimination (Miller, 2006). This is because women and children are more vulnerable and appeal to the larger populations of brothels and the so-called “clients” since the majority are men. Ecclestone (2013) stated that children as young as age three are trafficked. Sex trafficking has changed over time; “Today, the business of human sex trafficking is much more organized and violent. These women and young girls are sold to traffickers, locked up in rooms or brothels for weeks or months, drugged, terrorized, and raped repeatedly” (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011). It is found that many of the victims of sex trafficking are abducted, recruited, transported and forced into involuntary “sex work”. These sexual acts include prostitution, exotic dancing, pornography, and sexual escort services (McClain & Garrity, 2011). What happens to these sex trafficking victims is extremely traumatizing.
Recognized experts have pointed out that prostitution is no longer an attractive investment for organized crime because it is difficult to control, is too visible, and affords too small a return compared to the severe penalties for procuring. It is obvious that ancillary crime-larency, robbery, assault, and misuse of narcotics does occur in conjunction with prostitution, especially when a streetwalker is involved. Whether it is rational to make one activity criminal in order to reduce or control another merits serious inquiry.
The Trafficking of children and women for sexual mistreatment has become a key worry for nearly all governments as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) not overlooking the media. Up to date, accounts in the United States regarding human trafficking for sexual exploitations have shown that the matter is a national problem that is on the rise (Wheaton & Schauer, 2012). A projected 60,000 women and children are trafficked each year in the United States. These women and children come generally from the Latin America, South East Asia and some countries of the former Soviet Union in Eastern and Central Europe.
Sex trafficking is essentially systemic rape for profit. Force, fraud and coercion are used to control the victim’s behavior which may secure the appearance of consent to please the buyer (or john). Behind every transaction is violence or the threat of violence (Axtell par. 4). Just a decade ago, only a third of the countries studied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had legislation against human trafficking. (Darker Side, par.1) Women, children, and even men are taken from their homes, and off of the streets and are brought into a life that is almost impossible to get out of. This life is not one of choice, it is in most times by force. UNODC estimates that the total international human trafficking is a $32-billion-per-year business, and that 79% of this activity comprises sexual exploitation. As many as 2 million children a year are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, according the the U.S. State Department.-- Cynthia G. Wagner. (Darker Side, par. 4) The words prostitute, pimp, escort, and stripper tend to be way too common in the American everyday vocabulary. People use these words in a joking manner, but sex trafficking is far from a joke. Everyday, from all different countries, people are bought and sold either by force or false promises. Some are kidnapped and others come to America with dreams of a dream life and job. The buyers involved in the trade will do anything to purchase an innocent life just to sell for their own selfish profit. Many people wouldn’t think of a human body to be something you can buy in the back room of a business or even online. But those plus the streets are where people are sold most often. There are many reasons and causes for sex trafficking. The factors behind sex traffic...
Sex trafficking is a form of contemporary slavery that induces and forces people into a commercial sex trade against their will. Many factors contribute to the sex trade and the exploitation occurs mostly to women and children. Through the age, gender, class, and race many are trapped in a never-ending cycle of coercion and abuse in order to survive in the corrupt society around them.
Spruce, Hannah. "Methods Of Human Trafficking: Modern Slavery Guidance." High Speed Training Hub. N. p., 2017. Web. 14 Nov. 2017.
One reason why human trafficking is a serious crime that many people are unaware of is because it secretly takes place in the United States. Between 2007 and 2012, there were reports of 9,298 different cases of human trafficking (Polaris Project). An example of how unknown this topic is is that 41% of sex trafficking cases and 20% of labor trafficking cases were proven to have United States citizens as victims (Polaris Project). And this is only what we know so far. There are thousands of cases that we don’t know about. Many people also don’t know that men, women, and even children are also taken hostage by human traffickers. An example of this would be that out of those 9,298 cases that were reported, women were victims of sex trafficking in 85% of those cases. Men were victims of labor trafficking in 40% of those cases (Polaris Project). Approximately 300,000 children are at risk of being prostituted in the United States (U.S. Department of Justice). Children are even more under the radar than we know about. On average, one in three teenagers on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving their home (National Runaway Hotline). For example, two female friends who were minors ran away from home and were prom...