Human Trafficking:
Comparative Analysis of Human Trafficking in the United States with the World
Stephanie I.
Specialized Field Project
Human Trafficking is a very serious issue that affects every country around the world. Human Trafficking is also known as “Sex Trafficking,” or “Modern Day Slavery,” which reflects the primary reasons people are bought and sold today — sex trade and involuntary labor. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) defines sex trafficking as
“the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for a commercial sex act, is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.”
Moreover, labor trafficking is defined as
“the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, using force, fraud, or coercion for subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.” (CNHTR, n.d.)
Victims of trafficking include men, women and children. However, women and children make up of eighty percent of the trafficked victims that come across U.S. borders and seventy percent of them are trafficked into the prostitution and pornography industry. (CNHTR, n.d.). Victims are mainly used for household labor, agriculture, food and care services, and in the garment industry. “Traffickers use force, fraud and coercion to compel women, men and children to engage in these activities.” (CNHTR, n.d.).
Typically, human trafficking has become a global issue because every country is affected. Comparative analysis of the human trafficking in the United States with the rest of the world reveals there has been a yearly increase in human trafficking in the U.S. and at a global level. For example, U.S. Department of Justice estimates that between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States yearly, and category of trafficked people are women, children, teenagers, and young children, which can be foreign national or domestic citizens. Under the federal law, it is a crime to force people working by force. However, enforcement of this law was challenging because human trafficking still rose by 35.7% in the United States between 2015 and 2016. Since 2008, there have been 2,515 cases of reported human trafficking and half of the cases are children under age of 18. The data reveal that 82% of the cases are sex trafficking, and 83% of victims are American citizens. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2011). Moreover 10% of the cases are labor trafficking consist of 81% male and 29% females.
Moreover, between 2015 and 2016, there were 7,572 reported cases that involved 6,340 females and 978 males. There are also cases of 70 listed gender minority. However, reported cases showed that 4,890 were adults as well as 2,387 minors, and there were also issues of non-reported cases of human trafficking. California is number one state in the United States with 1,323 cases. This is followed by Texas with 670 cases and Florida with 550 cases. However, Alaska, Rhode Island and Vermont have the fewest cases of human trafficking. (Banks, & Kyckelhahn, 2011). Despite the effort of the federal and state governments to arrest the problems, the cases of human trafficking continue to rise in the United States. (Banks, & Kyckelhahn, 2011).
Similarly, the human trafficking continues to increase with no sign of reducing at a global level. Similar to the case of the United States, sexual form of human tracking is the worst form of global human trafficking with 79% of the case, and forced labor accounts for the 18% of the case. Globally, sexual molestation is the most documented form of human trafficking compared with forced labor, forced marriage, domestic servitude, organ removal, sex trade and exploit children for begging. (UNODC (2009). Evidently, traffickers exploit the disadvantaged people and prey on their lack of security, deceive them, gain their control and profit from their forced services.
Evidence from the UN report shows that women are the highest penetrators of human trafficking. For example, thousands of girls from West African countries have been trafficked to Europe and lured them into a prostitution. While the United States has more stringent law that other countries against human trafficking, yet, human trafficking is still on the rise in the United States and at the global level. Similar to the United States, an increasing number of countries are making efforts to track down the human traffickers. For example,
countries in central Asia and Eastern Europe record largest number of convictions with more than 10 recorded conviction per year. Followed by countries in the Central Europe and Eastern Europe with 10 recorded conviction per year. According to data presented by the United Nations, United States also has a record of up to 10 conviction per year. It is only the South Africa that has no record of the conviction of human traffickers.
Similar to other countries across the globe, United States is the source destination and transit for children, men and women used for trafficking. Moreover, there has been a recorded issue of sex trafficking of both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals. In the United States, trafficking occurs both in illicit and legal industries that include commercial sex, manufacturing, salon services, restaurants, carnivals and domestic services. People who enter the United States without legal status have been the victims of trafficking making the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), governments and organizations to express a concern about the risks associated with the global supply chain of human trafficking. The NGOs have noted that traffickers target disabled people and lured children into prostitutions. Typically, victims originate from all states in the United States, and all countries across the globe are the victim of human trafficking. While the victims originate from all countries in the world, however, the United Unites, Philippines, and Mexico have been the top three countries that are sources of human trafficking victims in 2015 fiscal year.
Women are frequently victims of sex trafficking because of traditional gender roles. Families in countries such as India, Nepal and West Africa choose to educate their male children and send their daughters to work at an early age (Buchmann, DiPrete, & McDaniel, 2008). In Asia, women and children are the ideal victims for human trafficking because their cultures believe that they should carry the burden of family hardships and responsibilities.
Human trafficking is considered by the United Nations to be one of the fastest growing trans-national crimes, along with drug trafficking and the sale of illicit arms. Human trafficking violates immigration policies, labor laws, human rights regulations and above all, human dignity. Trafficking in persons is a low-risk enterprise since the number of investigations and prosecutions is relatively low; however, the illicit trade is highly profitable with annual revenues topping US $31.6 billion in 2005 (Belser, 2005, UN. GIFT). The probability of bringing traffickers to justice is minimal. In 2006, according to the United Nations “for every 800-people trafficked, only one person was convicted,” (p 1) making human trafficking an effective and attractive business.
Based on 2007 data gathered by the ILO, the United Nations estimates that 2.5 million people find themselves victims of forced labor (including sexual exploitation) as a result of trafficking: 56% are in Asia and the Pacific, 10% are in Latin America and the Caribbean, 9.2% are in the Middle East and Northern Africa, 5.2% are in sub-Saharan countries, 10.8% are in industrialized countries and 8% are in countries in transition.
In other continents such as Latin America, Europe and Asia, women are offered opportunities to work and live in the United States. Instead, they are deceived into signing contracts with trafficking recruiters stating that they would work to pay back smuggling fees. This so-called “debt bondage” agreement (Broderick, 2005) ensures that, most often, trafficked women spend the rest of their lives being sexually exploited and living in enslaved conditions. (Broderick, 2005). They are never compensated, instead they are physically and psychologically manipulated and tortured. Once victims of human trafficking are enslaved, it is almost impossible for them to escape. It has been difficult to quantify the exact extent of trafficking, not only because of the concealed nature of the crime, but also because, until several years ago, there had been little agreement on the definition of human trafficking.
Traffickers use countless methods of control their victims. Some of those methods include debt bondage, little or no medical attention, malnourishment, long hours of slavery and little or no compensation, in addition to physical and psychological abuse and/or trauma amongst many other things. Overall, the victims of human trafficking are faced with endless possibilities of how they will be hurt. The truth is unless the trafficker is caught by the authorities or the victim dies, victims tend to experience a lot of mental, physical and emotional pain.
Many countries have tried to combat human trafficking by implementing different policies. In the U.S. sex trafficking is one of the most profitable criminal activities, as traffickers make anywhere from thirteen to twenty billion worldwide per year. New policies such as the “Trafficking Victims Protection act of 2000 and the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA)” (TVPA, 2016 P. L106-386)” (Siskin & Wyler, 2013 p 2) have started to target human trafficking at the federal level. These policies do increase criminalization fines, punishment for perpetrators, and provide sex trafficking victims with benefits and psychological services. Being that the Human Trafficking issue is vastly on the rise, the TVPRA put additional measures in place to prevent and deter trafficking. Those measures included the following;
” The President shall establish and carry out programs to prevent and deter trafficking in persons, including ‘(1) technical assistance and other support to improve the capacity of foreign governments to investigate, identify, and carry out inspections of private entities, including labor recruitment centers, at which trafficking victims may be exploited, particularly exploitation involving forced and child labor; ‘(2) technical assistance and other support for foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations to provide immigrant populations with information, in the native languages of the major immigrant groups of such populations, regarding the rights of such populations in the foreign country and local in-country non-governmental organization-operated hotlines; ‘(3) technical assistance to provide legal frameworks and other programs to foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations to ensure that.” (Government Printing Office, 2010 p 687).
‘(A) “foreign migrant workers are provided the same protection as nationals of the foreign country”;
‘(B) “labor recruitment firms are regulated”; and ‘(C) workers providing domestic services in households are provided protection under labor rights laws”; and ‘(4) “assistance to foreign governments to register vulnerable populations as citizens or nationals of the country to reduce the ability of traffickers to exploit such populations.” (Government Printing Office, 2010 p 687).
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 prohibits trafficking, punishes traffickers, and protects victims. The TVPA was the first comprehensive federal law addressing human trafficking, encompassing criminal statutes prohibiting the practice, public awareness programs designed to help prevent human trafficking, and measures (such as specialized immigration requirements) to help protect victims of human trafficking. The TVPA provides for enhanced penalties for all severe forms of human trafficking, which includes sex trafficking and for forced labor. Since the initial passage, there have been several significant revisions and additions to the TVPA. (Clawson, Dutch, Solomon, & Goldblatt-Grace, 2009)
Problem Statement
The issue of human trafficking is not only an issue in the United States, it has been part of worldwide society for a long period despite policies aimed at decreasing the incidence of human trafficking, the numbers are rising. In the United States, Department of State has estimated that approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims are trafficked annually across international borders worldwide.” Out of those 800,000 victims, yearly, there are estimated 50,000 individuals trafficked into the United States.
Human Trafficking has been a great concern to the U.S. government and international community. In an effort to combat the human trafficking, the government has made policies to accelerate the anti-TIP (Trafficking in persons) by enacting different laws such as “Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA, P.L. 106-386).” (Siskin & Wyler, 2013 p 2). Moreover, the Congress has taken a major step to eliminate human trafficking by offering grants to law enforcement agent to design strategy to combat human trafficking. The United States has also enacted different regulations to combat human trafficking. For example, Protect Act of 2003 has served as a remedy to put an end to the exploitation of children. The goal of the Protect Act is to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse which are the major elements of human trafficking. The first conviction from Protect Act was related to virtual child phonographic. Christopher Handley was convicted because he engaged children in explicit sexual conduct through child pornography cartoons. In 2008, Christopher pleaded guilty for violating the Protect Act. (Wayne, & Genelle, 2011).
“Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003” (Department of State, 2016 p 1) is another law that the United States had adopted to combat human trafficking. Since the enactment of the law, the United States has made a significant effort to use the law to combat trafficking, and the law has been renewed in 2006 and 2008. The law has also been reviewed in 2013. Despite the benefits of the Act in combating the human trafficking, its implementation is still cumbersome. Before an offender is convicted, victims must admit of being subjected to a severe form of trafficking. Since the law mandates the victim of trafficking to be part of the prosecution, many trafficked persons are often fearful of retaliation upon their family and self. This issue serves as a major deterrent to the application of the law.
Moreover, the Convention is signed to against the transnational crime. The Protocol is employed to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons especially women and children (known as the Palermo Protocol) and the Interpretative Notes (Travaux Preparatories) to the Trafficking Protocol represent a complete set of international obligations regarding human trafficking.
The Convention went into effect on September 29, 2003 and the Palermo Protocol went into effect on September 25, 2003. Today, 117 countries have signed the Protocol and it now has 146 member parties. After the process of ratification, each country assumes the obligation to translate the regulations into domestic law. The Palermo Protocol focuses on prevention, the protection of victims, and cooperation among State Parties to fight Human Trafficking and most importantly something that has represented a major problem- it defines the meaning and scope of human trafficking as “…the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.” (UNODC, 2013 p 24).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this research is to carry out a comparative study of human trafficking in the United States with the rest of the world. The study explores the efficacy of policies and procedures intended to end human trafficking.
Primary Research Question
How does the act/s of Human Trafficking affect the entire world?
Subsidiary Research Questions
What are the different types of Human Trafficking and how are the victims trafficked?
What is the history of human trafficking? Did it begin after the 19th century? If so, how prevalent is human trafficking today around the world?
What is the statistics on characteristics of human trafficking incidents around the globe?
Definition of Terms
Force- the use of physical restraint or serious physical harm including physical violence, rape, beatings and physical confinement. (CENTER for NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESOURCE)
Fraud- involves making false offers to the victims such as visa sponsorship, wages, employment, and or better working conditions. (CENTER for NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESOURCE)
Coercion- involves threatening the individual of serious harm or physical abuse against themselves or a loved one. (CENTER for NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESOURCE)
Debt Bondage- an illegal practice used by human traffickers in which perpetrators tell their victims that they owe money to pay for living expenses and smuggling fees. Victims are forced to pay back the debt through labor or commercial sex. (Clawson, Dutch, Solomon, & Goldblatt-Grace, 2009)
Sex Trafficking- a type of human trafficking where vulnerable women and children are coerced into a life of slavery and to engage in prostitution, pornography, live sex shows, military prostitution, mail-order bride services, or sex tourism. (CENTER for NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESOURCE)
Globalization- the “greater mobility of goods and people and rapid communication throughout the world” (Shelley, 2005, p. 37)
Government Corruption- “irregular conduct by government officials for their own personal gain” (Hughes, 2000, p.4)
Significance of the Study
This research proposal analyzes information from two databases, the Department of Justice and the University of Michigan’s Human Trafficking Project. The information retrieved consisted of the prevalence of certain cases of human trafficking specifically in the United States. The Department of Justice provided data for the rate of “suspected incidences” of different types of trafficking in the United States in the years 2007 through 2010. The University of Michigan Law School provided the researcher with different cases at the federal level that ranged from the years 2003 through 2008. This allowed the researcher to analyze the frequency distribution of the country of origin of the victims, their genders, the gender of their perpetrators, where exactly these incidents occurred, and the type of violence inflicted and lastly whether the victims initially came through international borders.
Limitations of the Study
Even though the researcher collected information from two different databases there were still a couple limitations to the project. Because human and sex trafficking are often underreported and unrecognized in the United States it is impossible for these or any other databases to know the exact rate of these couple forms of trafficking. In many instances, when traffickers are caught, they frequently enter into plea bargains with the Judges and thus avoid going to trial and thus these cases become eliminated from databases. Thus, this project has the limitation to examining only the variables in the two databases. The department of Justice website indicated that their study was only conducted in 25% of the United States, therefore we cannot generalize the information to the entire country. The University of Michigan Human Trafficking Law Project only analyzed twenty cases which are a small sample size. A larger number of cases with this data would have more statistical significance.
Chapter II
Literature Review
The widespread of the exploitation of men and women have become a great concern to the global community. The traditional approaches to tracking down the traffickers, bring criminal to justice, and prevent trafficking of human beings have a small impact. The review of the literature discusses the societal costs of human trafficking and measures that can be taken to address the problems.
To enhance a greater understanding of the severity of human trafficking, it is important to recognize the existence of the issue at the minimum and maximum levels. The literature is reviewed to focus on the historical background of the research, causes, risk factors, consequences, prevention of human trafficking, and the involvement by the government and other private parties to assist in the research and end to human trafficking. Trafficking of all types continues to exist today most because of cultures that have tolerance toward sexually aggressive behavior, the high demands for prostitution, government corruption and the high impact of globalization. Efforts are needed to raise global awareness of this issue and to eliminate social humiliation and increase assistance to victims of human and sex trafficking.
Wheaton, et al. (2010) put human trafficking into categories:
“Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, using force, fraud, or coercion for subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.” (Wheaton, 2009 p 115).
Human trafficking has been identified as one of the of fastest and largest growing industries globally with the annual profits of more than $32 billion. However, human trafficking has been carried out sine the ancient time, and the phenomenon has changed over time based on political and economic systems. However, the trafficking was not the same today as it was being practiced in the 1920s. O’Brien (2009) argues that globalization and economic disparity have tremendously influenced the supply of victims for trafficking.
Belser, (2008) relates the human trafficking as modern slavery, and forced labor. Human trafficking is the use of coercion for the production of goods and services. This coercion implies a loss of human freedom that involves the violation of human rights. Typically, human trafficking involves dehumanizing and diminishing the moral aspect of human conducts.
Wyler (2013) believes that human trafficking subjects women children, and men to exploitative conditions that some people equate to slavery. Despite the U.S. and international effort to eliminate the conducts, human trafficking continues to flourish in virtually all countries. The United Nations confirmed that victims of trafficking are from 136 nationalities. A common form of trafficking includes debt bondage, sexual exploitation and forced labor. Other forms of trafficking include the use of children for armed conflict and servitude soldiers. The major challenges in arresting the problems is that willingness of service providers and labor to violate the anti-trafficking laws. Moreover, an increase in demand for international cheap labor has led to a dearth in the enforcement of this law.
Human trafficking has been a great concern to the U.S. and international community. The TIP (trafficking in person) has been one of the most prolific aspects of the international criminal act, and has been one of the most significant interests to the U.S. government because it is linked to a serious human right abuse. Essentially, the TIP involves violation of public health, labor, and human rights standards. Generally, traffickers take advantages condition of vulnerabilities such as social exclusion, poverty, political instability, and ignorance. Actors engaging in human trafficking range “from amateur family-run organizations to sophisticated transnational organized crime syndicates.” (Siskin et al. 2013 p 2). Victims of trafficking are often subjected to physical and mental abuse. They also control them through social isolation, debt bondage, often confiscating their travel documents and identity cards. They also use fear of reprisals against their families. The ILO (International Labor Organization) estimates that more than 20.9 million individuals are the victims of forced labor. Yearly, around 17,500 people are believed to be victims of trafficking within the United States making the U.S. community and international community to express a great concern about the costs of human trafficking to the country.
In the United States, the estimates human trafficking vary from 14,500 to 20,000 between 2005-2012. (Clawson, Dutch, Solomon, & Goldblatt-Grace, 2009) (Secretary Clinton OP-Ed: An End to Human Trafficking, n.d.) The International Labor Organization has estimated that 12.3 million people are in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, sexual servitude, and/or involuntary servitude. Internationally, as recognized by the U.S. Department of State between 12 million and 27 million human beings are suffering in bondage around the world. (Secretary Clinton OP-Ed: An End to Human Trafficking, n.d.). Moreover, in the United States alone, sex trafficking is estimated to bring 50,000 women and girls to our shores just for prostitution.
Bales (2004) estimates that between 1815 and 1957, more than 300 international treaties were enacted for the purposes of suppressing the slave and trafficking trade. However, lack of uniformity in conceptualizing and defining human trafficking has represented a major problem, especially when it was necessary to prosecute human traffickers across borders. This poses challenges since the offensive action may have been legal in one country and illegal in the other country. Moreover, lack of an internationally agreed upon definition has made data collection and comparative analysis very difficult, especially in cross-border contexts. (Sverdlick, 2014).
A finding by the United Nations (2008) shows that human trafficking has an impact on the victims because every stage of trafficking involves sexual, psychological, and physical violence and abuse that can affect them permanently. Moreover, the trafficking process involves deprivation, violence, and torture as well as manipulation, abusive works, economic exploitation and forced use of substance use. Through manipulation, victims can often secure long and short-term physical injuries, and physical disabilities that may lead to death. Moreover, the trafficked individuals are at the risks of HIV infections, and trauma that victims receive include depression, disorientation; alienation, anxiety and difficulty in concentrating. Typically, the behaviors of the victims can affect the third party because they can be hostile, irritable, ungrateful, and aggressive to the third parties. The stigma they receive has a significant impact on their life that includes rejection by the family or community. (Cary, Oram, Howard, Trevillion, & Byford, 2016).
Cary, et al. (2016) argue that many victims of human trafficking experience a high prevalence of TSD (traumatic stress disorder) and depression. Wheaton et al. (2010) believe that the United States is losing economically because of human trafficking. The authors argue that the freedom of choice is a prerequisite to productivity, however, human trafficking impedes the US economic growth. While employers of labor require human services to produce goods and services, however, traffickers use the same category of people for sex slaves and domestic services thereby depriving employers of a constant supply of labor. The economic consequences include lower productivity, and loss of revenues. When there is short of labor, the consequence leads to a rise in the cost of operations. Thus, “a small increase in the cost of labor can significantly increase the cost of production and decrease profit.” (Wheaton, et al. 2010 p 128).
On the other hand, some employers of labor take the advantages of human trafficking to source for cheap labor. In the United States, agricultural sectors and other industries maximize their returns by taking the advantages the victims of human trafficking. Since they know that the victims have low bargaining power, they provide a minimum of wellbeing for trafficked labor. Moreover, employers are not concerned about benefits for workers, their constitutional rights, and safety issues of their trafficked workers.
“While trafficked labor is monetarily cheaper to employers than legal labor, there are additional costs involved including physical, psychological, and criminal costs. For example, there is the possible loss of social status (and therefore income) if it becomes public that the firm uses trafficked labor.” (Wheaton, et al. 2010 p 129).
A report carried out by United Nation (2008) reveals that countries incur high costs because of human trafficking. The economic costs of human trafficking show that trafficking has a serious economic consequence on the society. The costs of crime can incorporate different elements. The value of resources devoted to the treatment of victims, prevention, prosecution and apprehension of offenders are high. Trafficking is also a loss of human resources that consequently lead to a loss of revenues. Moreover, human trafficking threatening national jurisdictions, and violate the rule of law and international law. In many societies, an organized crime is one of the mechanisms that people employ to unlawful influence markets, redistribute national wealth, and assume political power. By consequence, the effect may lead to civil unrest, and post-conflict situations. The complex situation of human trafficking is the violation of human rights and persistence of organized crimes in the society.
Moreover, human trafficking has a negative impact on the economies, financial markets, and societal structures in the country that allows it to thrive. Since trafficking is associated with organized crime and financial power, the trafficking has interlocking and complex negative impacts across human beings, political, economic and social aspects of a country. The aftermath leads to dangerous and destabilizing consequences on the society that include direct economic loss, loss of human safety, and harms to harms to social, environmental, and health sectors.
The economic theory argues that slavery is determinantal to the economy. The classical and neo-classical economists revealed that slavery is unprofitable. Adam Smith believed that free labor was more productive, more motivated, and more profitable. (Adam 2009). Based on this argument, the work carried out by slaves was just for their maintenance. For example, an individual with no property will not be able to earn interest other than to eat. (Adam. 2015). This is just the case of the contemporary human trafficking where the victims only earn money to sustain to eat and nothing more.
Belser, (2008) believes that forced labor is synonymous to human trafficking, and existing number of people subjected to forced labor is between 12.3 million and 27 million. However, the U.S. government estimated that the number of forced labor were 12.3 million in 2005. A breakdown of the victims revealed that between 1.4 and 2 million victims were forced to carry out the commercial sexual acts. However, 20% of the victims are associated with the state -imposed forced labor.
Social Costs
M’Cormack, (2011) investigates the social costs of human trafficking on the society. The outcomes of the investigation reveal that human trafficking has a negative impact on the society where human trafficking flourishes. Typically, millions of people are trafficked across the borders because of the porosity of the borders of many developing countries. Thus, trafficking affects the health of the victims because they are exposed to different dangerous activities that undermine their health. The negative impacts and social costs of human trafficking are of different folds. First, the victims will need assistance from the healthcare sector because there are possibilities that the victims will likely be contacted with the different chronic disease. The nature of human trafficking provokes spreading of HIV globally.
“The health problems seen in victims of trafficking are largely a result of several factors: deprivation of food and sleep, extreme stress, hazards of travel, violence (physical and sexual), and hazardous work. Because most victims do not have timely access to health care, by the time they reach a clinician it is likely that health problems are well advanced. These women are at high risk for acquiring multiple sexually transmitted infections and the sequelae of multiple forced and unsafe abortions. Physical abuse and torture often occur, which can result in broken bones, contusions, dental problems (e.g., loss of teeth), and/or cigarette burns.” (Dovydaitis et al. 2010 p 464).
Moreover, human trafficking increases the poverty level of the victims because it mediates a relationship between commercial sex and poverty. The physical impact is the major effect of the trafficking. Many of the victims’ physical appearance deteriorate after some years of exploitations. For example, Thailand Human Right Commission revealed that 39 of 100 trafficked people used for fishing died after three years of exploitation. The rest of the were seriously emotionally disturbed, ill emaciated, and some of them were unable to hear and see or walk properly. Moreover, women victims are likely to be contacted with sexually transmitted disease. They are also less likely to benefit from educational or medical services available to non-trafficked women.
Additionally, trafficked individuals can be a victim of mental illness. Some of the mental illness identified with the victims include relentless anxiety, fear, insecurity, injury and physical pain. More mental problems associated with trafficking include stress disorder, depression, anxiety, depression, alienation and disorientation. The individuals report that they express extreme sadness, and hopelessness about their future. They many also have memory loss and cognitive impairment making some of them attempt suicides. Some of the victims may also have problems in concentrating, and show anger and aggression, which worsen throughout the trafficking process. While these traumata may start when the victims realize that they are being trafficked, the trauma worse as the process of trafficking activities increases. The more the victims remains under the control of the traffickers, the more the effects of trauma last, and effects may last for a long time unless, there is an immediate counseling or psychiatric interventions.
Dovydaitis et al. (2010) points out that
“Psychological violence results in high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, suicidal ideation, drug addiction, and a multitude of somatic symptoms.17,19,21 When providers were asked in one study about their experiences working with victims of trafficking, they reported that these victims are less stable, more isolated, have higher levels of fear, more severe trauma, and greater mental health needs than other victims of crime. One trafficking victim can take the same amount of the provider’s time as 20 domestic violence victims.22 Box 2 provides a list of common problems seen in victims of trafficking.” (p 464).
Abu-Ali, & Al-Bahar, (2011) contribute to the argument by pointing out that children are the most vulnerable target of trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation. While it is estimated that approximately 12.3 million children are the prey of trafficking, nevertheless, there may be an increase of one million additional victims each year. (Fisher, 2009). The socio-economic effects of child trafficking are high ranging from long-term isolation and silence. Child victims are used for purpose of sexual exploitation that includes service of prostitution and pornography. The majority of the trafficked children have also been subjected traumas ranging from social to large-scale traumas that include marginalization because of war and poverty. Moreover, child victims can contact diseases because of the trauma of long journey, which consequently alters their behaviors when arriving their new destination. Stotts Jr. & Ramey, (2009) argue that the victims are exposed to the additional layers of trauma upon arriving their destinations. For example, they are subjected to manipulation, repetitive psychological torture and sexual exploitation. One of the most traumatic effects of trafficking is that child victims face the same trauma as adults. Their young age makes them more vulnerable to the consequence of abusive practices. The child victims may develop poorly rotten teeth, and reproductive problem when they grow up.
Many countries are unable to assist the victims because the costs of reestablishing the health of the victims are high. Cary et al. (2016) argue that when the social services organizations intervene in the case of victims, the mean costs per patient are approximate $35,244 or $74 per day patient per. The mean costs of some patient may be higher. For example, the costs of diagnosing the victims suffering from psychotic disorders can reach $43,000.
Policies
Over the years, the United States has adopted different policies against the act the human trafficking domestically and internationally. However, the bulk of anti-TIP programs overseas is administered through the Department of Labor, State Department and U.S. “Agency for International Development.” Moreover, the anti-TIP policies have emphasized protection, prevention, and prosecution, and the programs have also emphasized public education for awareness. Moreover, the U.S. government has tried to arrest the human trafficking problems by offering the employment opportunities for people at a risk of human trafficking particularly girls and women. The U.S. government also uses the protection programs to provide direct support such as shelter, and training from public officials, local service providers, and religious groups. The programs are also geared towards improving the prosecution rates of actors engaging in the human trafficking as well as assisting other countries to amend their efforts to enforce their trafficking laws. Despite the U.S. policies against the human trafficking, it is still difficult to evaluate the anti-TIP efforts internationally since there is the absence of a large recorded reliable measures.
Although human trafficking is not a new global issue, United States policymakers frequently struggle to understand it. Some classify it as an issue of smuggling while others view it as a violation of human rights (Moussa, 2008). Currently, there are many projects and organized tasks put into play by the federal government agencies to assist with putting an end to Human Trafficking. On November 9, 2010 “Secretary Hilary Clinton renewed her call to end human trafficking in an op-ed published by newspapers around the world.” She stated “I have seen firsthand the suffering that human trafficking causes. Not only does it result in injury and abuse- it also takes away its victims’ power to control their own destinies.” She asked that all governments should devote more resources to finding victims and punishing human traffickers with the following ending statement; The problem of Human Trafficking may be entrenched, but it is solvable, by using every tool at our disposal to put pressure on traffickers, we can set ourselves on a course to eradicate modern slavery. (Secretary Clinton OP-Ed: An End to Human Trafficking, n.d.)
On September 25, 2012 President Obama made a historic commitment for the White House to create initiatives to increase support for human trafficking survivors. His speech and announcements validated that this is a real problem here in our country. President Obama declared that “fighting modern-day slavery is one of the great human rights battles of our era.” The Presidents words would help to shift the standard of treating trafficked persons as criminals to instead viewing them as victims of crimes who need protection. (President Obama Makes Historic Commitment to Fight Human Trafficking, 2012).
Chapter III
Methodology
This chapter discusses the methodology that includes the research design, data sources, materials, participants, and procedures.
Research Design
The project uses the quantitative technique to collect and analyze data specifically describe and analyze sex trafficking data of United States cases collected by the University of Michigan from 2003 through 2008 and Department of Justice from 2007 through 2010. The goal of a quantitative research study is to describe the characteristics of a certain population and analyze and describe the relationships between the sample variables.
Data Sources/Materials
By utilizing incidents reported by the Department of Justice data this project analyzed the number of suspected human trafficking and sex trafficking incidents in the United States. Thereafter, the study analyzes the data that pertain to factors and relationships of twenty different sex trafficking cases from the University of Michigan’s Law School Human Trafficking Project. Some of the sample variables included were the age category, the gender of perpetrators, victims’ country of origin, the location of incidents, and the type of violence conducted to victims.
Data Collection Technique
The study analyzes the data collected by both University of Michigan and Department of Justice. The Department of Justice collects data from different 42 local task forces between 2007 and 2010 to measure the rate of human trafficking in the United States. The data are collected through interview, a survey with the victim’s organization, and the information was collected from 25% of the district in the United States and from 42 different jurisdictions. The University of Michigan has the database that reveals the information of State and Federal human trafficking cases starting from 1980 till date.
The Department of Justice collects data from different stakeholders that include sheriffs, police chiefs, agencies, victims and penetrators.
To determine the organizational experience with references to human trafficking, the following questions are asked using the mail out the statistical survey:
Mail Survey Question
Number of labor trafficking undertaken in your department
Number of labor trafficking penetrators arrested by your department
Number of labor trafficking cases remaining open in your department
Number of labor trafficking cases that have been accepted for prosecution
Number of sex trafficking investigations that have been undertaken in your department
Number of sex trafficking arrests that have been made by your department
Number of sex trafficking cases remaining open
Number of sex trafficking cases being accepted for prosecution
Number of sex work industry under investigations undertaken by your department
Number of sex work industry arrests made by your department
Number of sex work industry cases that remain open
Number of sex work industry cases that have accepted for prosecution
Kinds of charges levied against labor trafficking perpetrators
Guilty pleas and charges for offenses with reference to labor trafficking
Guilty pleas of labor trafficking charges
Guilty pleas charges for offenses with references of labor trafficking
Guilty pleas charges labor trafficking charges
Number of defendants of labor trafficking convicted
Number of defendants of labor trafficking convicted for labor trafficking charges
Number of receiving sentences that have been incarcerated regardless of charges
Number of receiving sentence that have been incarcerated for labor trafficking charges
Average of defendants sentence length that have been incarcerated regardless of charge
Average of number of convictions of defendants that have been incarcerated for labor trafficking
Proportion of prosecution by state, federal and local criminal justice systems
Number of clients served for labor trafficking
Number of clients served for labor trafficking referred to law enforcement
Number of clients served for labor trafficking arrested resulting from referrals
Number of the labor trafficking arrests that have been accepted for prosecution
Number of the labor trafficking cases that have been resulted in convictions.
LABOR TRAFFICKING INVESTIGATIONS
However, many labor trafficking cases have you investigated between 2006 and 2007?
How many labor trafficking cases have you treated between 2005 and 2006?
How many labor trafficking cases investigated between October 2006 and October 2007 however remain open and have not yet led to prosecution?
How many labor trafficking cases between 2005 and 2006 that were remain open not yet led to prosecution?
How many labor trafficking investigations that led to one or more arrests and accepted for prosecution between 2006 and 2007?
How many cases accepted for prosecution between 2005 and 2006?
KINDS OF CHARGES
What kinds of charges brought against suspected labor trafficking perpetrators between 2006 and 2007?
GUILTY PLEAS
How many of the cases lead in a guilty plea between 2006 and 2007?
What percentages does offender plead guilty for labor trafficking offenses?
SEX TRAFFICKING INVESTIGATIONS
However, many sex trafficking cases have you investigated between 2006 and 2007?
How many sex trafficking cases have you treated between 2005 and 2006?
How many sex trafficking cases investigated between October 2006 and October 2007 however remain open and have not yet led to prosecution?
How many sex trafficking cases between 2005 and 2006 that were remain open not yet led to prosecution?
How many sex trafficking investigations that led to one or more arrests and accepted for prosecution between 2006 and 2007?
How many cases accepted for prosecution between 2005 and 2006?
KINDS OF CHARGES
What kinds of charges brought against suspected labor trafficking perpetrators between 2006 and 2007?
GUILTY PLEAS
How many of the cases lead in a guilty plea between 2006 and 2007?
What percentages do offender plead guilty for trafficking offenses?
Other questions that involve human trafficking.
Have you treated the immigration cases where immigrants were forced to surrender his or her legal documents or identification?
Has your department investigated any victims of sex or labor trafficking?
Has your department once investigated the sex trafficking cases? For example, cases that involved sex induced by fraud, force, or coercion?
Have your investigated cases of minors involving in prostitution with a pimp?
Have you investigated prostitution cases that involved forced or violent pimps?
Do you have experience working or investigating with people working in the sex industry?
How many cases of purchasers of sex in prostitution or in the sex industry you have arrested in a year?
How many are victims of human trafficking in your organization?
Is anyone in the organization a victim of human trafficking?
Do you service victims of labor trafficking?
Do you service victims of sex trafficking?
Does your organization ever have contacted with the perpetrators of labor trafficking?
Does your organization ever have contacted with the perpetrators of sex trafficking?
Do you provide assistance to workers in the prostitution or sex industry?
Chapter IV
Data Analysis Chapter/Findings
After exploring all of the data within the literature, one truly becomes alarmed when reviewing the scary facts outlined regarding these types of crimes. Statistics show that close to 40% of human and sex trafficking victims are sex slaves, while 60% are working slaves. Can we conduct a logical comparison versus 160 years back? When President Lincoln freed the slaves? It is an act of pure cruelty today to even think that slavery still exists because some people do not understand and respect the meaning of freedom. What kind of human being has the heart and mind to practice and operate trafficking of any kind? Buying and selling another human being- that is composed of the same matter. It was also sad to find that most modern-day slaves are Europeans.
Analysis of the literature also reveals that human trafficking is a slavery in disguise considered as modern slavery. Globally, human trafficking has become a multi-billion-dollar industry that penetrators use to break the law and deny more than 20.9 million people their freedom. The crimes are happening everywhere around the world where girls are coerced and forced into a prostitution at a bus stop, and bars, and obliged to stripe for people against their will. All the victims share a common characteristic: a loss of freedom.
The findings from the analysis of the literature reveal that human trafficking is a modern-day slavery where the traffickers use coercion, force and fraud to control the victims to engage them in labor service or commercial sex acts against their will. Typically, sex trafficking has been identified in different venues that include residential brothels, strip clubs, and escort services. Moreover, it is found that labor trafficking is in diverse settings that include small business, factories, large farms and domestic works. Human trafficking is a crime against humanity used for the exploitation and compelling the victims into a commercial sex or forced labor using force and fraud. The study has shown that human trafficking affects human rights of the victims globally and affect different communities in the United States and cut across ethnicity, age, gender and socio-economic backgrounds.
The study also identifies the different use of force that traffickers employ to coerce the victims. The method of force used includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, assault, and confinement. An example of fraud includes false promises of living or working conditions, contract fraud. Coercion includes debt bondage, document confiscation, and psychological manipulation.
The analysis of the literature also shows that 20.9 million are the victims globally and 1.5 million victims are from the European Union, North America and other advanced countries. Despite the effects of the human trafficking on the victims, the human trafficking continues to grow and underreported because of the misconception of the definition. The paper also reveals that human trafficking continues to grow based on the theory of supply and demand. Typically, there are constant supply and demand for the victims. Factors that make men, women and children vulnerable to cheap labor globally include poverty, war, disaster illiteracy and ignorance. The traffickers take the advantage of ignorance, and poverty in many countries around the world to lure the victims into prostitution and forced labor. The best strategy to solve the problem is to alter the low risks, and high profits associated with human trafficking.
As being revealed in Fig 1, 36% of the victims are being used for the commercial sex in the United States while the 28% of the victims are used for domestic servitude as forced labor. Other categories are forced labor child (7%), forced labor peddling (7%), forced hotel labor (4%), forced labor for garment shop (3%). While the victims can be from any nationality however, largest percentages of the victims are from Asia.
Fig 1: Category Trafficked Victims
As being revealed in Fig 2, the largest percentages of the victims are from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Russia, Costa Rica, and Taiwan.
Fig 2: Nationalities of the Victims
In the United States, the cases of human trafficking are on the increase despite various laws enacted to arrest the problem. Fig 3 shows that a number of incidents under investigation increase between 2008 and 2010 from 327 in the first quarter of 2008 to 2,515 in the second quarter of 2010.
Fig 3: Number of Incident under Investigation
Thus, the findings reveal that total of 2,515 suspected cases of human trafficking cases have been treated between 2008 and 2010, and 82% of the cases were sex trafficking. Nearly 50% of the victims were under 18 years of age, and 10% of the cases were classified as labor trafficking. Moreover, 83% of the victims were U.S. citizens and undocumented labor-trafficking victims were 67% and legal immigrants are 28%. The table 1 also reveals the type of trafficking and the numbers of sex trafficking are 5,551 out of 7,572 in numbers where labor trafficking is 1,057. However, sex and labor are 268 in numbers.
Table 1: Category
TYPE OF TRAFFICKING
Sex Trafficking
5,551
Labor Trafficking
1,057
Trafficking Type Not Specified
Sex and Labor
Total
7,572
TOP VENUES FOR LABOR TRAFFICKING
Domestic Work
Agriculture
Traveling Sales Crews
Restaurants/Food Service
75
Health & Beauty Services
45
Total
1,057
TOP VENUES FOR SEX TRAFFICKING
Hotel/Motel-Based
Commercial-Front Brothels
Online Ad, Venue Unknown
Residential Brothels
Other Venues
Total
5,551
Source: Polaris
Fig 4: Number of Human Trafficking by Cases
Results of Mail Survey
According to the data collected from the Department of Justice, the data are collected from 60 counties through stratified random sampling. Table 1 provides sampling fraction by stratum.
TABLE 2:
SAMPLING FRACTION BY STRATUM
NUMBER
PERCENT
STRATUM
COUNTIES
SAMPLE
POPULATION
POPULATION
SAMPLING
NUMBER
STRATUM
(N)
SIZE (n)
TOTALS
(ALL STRATA)
FRACTION
1
Largest 20
20
20
27,096,105
0.3%
1.000
Counties 8
2
Border Counties
13
32,539,232
17.9%
0.042
3
Northeast
4
28,551,302
9.0%
0.025
4
Midwest
8
46,095,644
15.5%
0.008
5
South
1,247
11
48,367,036
23.0%
0.009
6
West
4
17,539,221
10.7%
0.010
DOJ Task Forces
52
81,233,366
23.6%
TOTALS
3,141
60
281,421,906
Table 2 reveals the demographic characteristics of the stratum. The household median income of the participants is $34,787, and the income is between $26,000 and $45,000. The average age is 37 years, and age range from 29 to 44 years.
TABLE 2:
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF STRATUM
BORDER
NORTHEAST
LARGEST COUNTIES
COUNTIES
COUNTIES
CHARACTERISTIC
(STRATUM 1)
(STRATUM 2)
(STRATUM 3)
POPULATION
1,354,805
137,552
114,007
AGE
37
37
38
RACE
WHITE
70.1%
80.9%
94.6%
AFRICAN/AMERICAN
14.8%
6.0%
1.4%
ASIAN
5.2%
0.8%
0.7%
OTHER
7.2%
10.3%
1.8%
MULTIRACIAL
3.1%
2.0%
1.3%
ETHNICITY
HISPANIC
16.1%
11.8%
3.8%
MEDIAN INCOME
$51,138
$34,187
$40,461
PERCENT BELOW
11.0%
6.2%
9.4%**
POVERTY LEVEL
CHARACTERISTIC
MIDWEST COUNTIES
SOUTH COUNTIES
WESTERN COUNTIES
(STRATUM 4)
(STRATUM 5)
(STRATUM 6)
POPULATION
58,467
63,194
54,110
AGE
39
36
38
RACE
WHITE
96.2%
68.7%
92.8%
AFRICAN/AMERICAN
0.9%
25.9%
.3%
ASIAN
0.4%
1.6%
.9%
OTHER
1.7%
2.7%
4.2%
MULTIRACIAL
0.8%
1.1%
2.0%
ETHNICITY
HISPANIC
1.0%
4.0%
7.4%
MEDIAN INCOME
$35,092
$30,856
$35,723
PERCENT BELOW POVERTY LEVEL
12.2%
19.3%
13.2%
TABLE 3: AGE AND GENDER HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS
GENDER
AGE
TYPE OF
19 &
MANY
TRAFFICKING
MALE
FEMALE
BOTH
DK
UNDER
20-29
30-39
40+
AGES
DK
LAW ENFORCEMENT
LABOR
5
0
4
0
4
4
2
0
0
1
SEX
0
15
0
1
4
4
1
1
4
2
TOTALS
5
15
4
1
8
8
3
1
4
3
SERVICE PROVIDERS
LABOR
1
2
6
5
0
0
1
0
7
5
SEX
0
11
2
1
5
3
0
0
5
1
TOTALS
1
13
8
6
5
3
1
0
12
6
The table 3 show that sex trafficking is the largest proportion of human trafficking and female victims are higher than the male victims showing that women are more vulnerable than men.
TABLE 4: ETHNICITY AND RACE OF VICTIM
RACE AND ETHNICITY
TYPE OF
OTHER
TRAFFICKING
ASIAN
BLACK
HISPANIC
WHITE
RACE
MIX
DK
LAW ENFORCEMENT
LABOR
3
1
6
1
3
0
0
SEX
10
4
4
3
1
4
4
TOTALS
13
5
10
4
4
4
4
SERVICE PROVIDERS
LABOR
0
0
5
0
1
3
5
SEX
0
1
6
0
0
4
2
TOTALS
0
1
11
0
1
7
7
The table 4 shows that Asians and black ethnic groups are the larger proportion of the victims.
TABLE 5: PLACE OF RESIDENCE FOR VICTIMS
TYPE OF
PLACE OF RESIDENCE
TRAFFICKING
OTHER
OTHER
OTHER
OTHER
STATE/
LOCAL/
LOCAL
STATE
COUNTRY
COUNTRY
COUNTRY
MIX
DK
LAW ENFORCEMENT
LABOR
0
0
4
3
0
1
0
SEX
2
0
3
5
0
3
3
TOTALS
2
0
7
8
0
4
3
SERVICE PROVIDERS
LABOR
0
0
7
0
0
2
5
SEX
4
0
9
0
0
0
1
TOTALS
4
0
16
0
0
2
6
TABLE 6: FREQUENCY VICTIMS ARE U.S. CITIZENS
TYPE OF TRAFFICKING
VERY
SOMEWHAT
ONCE IN
RARELY
DON’T
OFTEN
OFTEN
AWHILE
KNOW
LAW ENFORCEMENT
LABOR TRAFFICKING
0
1
0
5
2
SEX TRAFFICKING
6
0
1
4
5
TOTALS
6
1
1
9
7
SERVICE PROVIDERS
LABOR TRAFFICKING
0
1
2
6
5
SEX TRAFFICKING
4
0
9
0
1
TOTALS
4
1
11
6
6
TABLE 7: AGE and GENDER OF PERPETRATORS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
GENDER
AGE
TYPE OF
19 &
MANY
TRAFFICKING
MALE
FEMALE
BOTH
DK
UNDER
20-29
30-39
40+
AGES
DK*
LAW ENFORCEMENT
LABOR
5
0
5
0
0
0
1
5
2
0
SEX
8
1
3
0
0
5
2
3
3
0
TOTALS
13
1
8
0
0
5
3
8
5
0
SERVICE PROVIDERS
LABOR
3
0
3
0
0
1
0
2
2
1
SEX
5
0
5
0
0
2
0
2
6
0
TOTALS
8
0
8
0
0
3
0
4
8
1
TABLE 8: ETHNICITY AND RACE OF PERPETRATOR
RACE AND ETHNICITY
TYPE OF
OTHER
TRAFFICKING
ASIAN
BLACK
HISPANIC
WHITE
RACE
MIX
DK
LAW ENFORCEMENT
LABOR
3
3
5
2
2
1
1
SEX
6
11
5
2
1
0
1
TOTALS
9
14
10
4
3
1
2
SERVICE PROVIDERS
LABOR
0
0
1
1
0
1
3
SEX
0
3
3
0
0
3
1
TOTALS
0
3
4
1
0
4
4
TABLE 9: PLACE OF RESIDENCE PERPETRATOR
PLACE OF RESIDENCE
TYPE OF
OTHER LOCAL +
OTHER
OTHER
OTHER
STATE/
STATE +
TRAFFICKING
LOCAL
STATE
COUNTRY
COUNTRY
COUNTRY
MIX
DK
LAW ENFORCEMENT
LABOR
1
1
2
4
0
0
1
SEX
6
1
1
5
0
1
2
TOTALS
7
2
3
9
0
1
3
SERVICE PROVIDERS
LABOR
4
0
0
0
2
0
0
SEX
6
0
0
0
3
1
0
TOTALS
10
0
0
0
5
1
0
TABLE 10: ARRESTS, PROSECUTIONS, AND CONVICTIONS OF PERPETRATORS
CRIMINAL JUSTICE INTERVENTION
LABOR TRAFFICKING
SEX TRAFFICKING
INVESTIGATIONS
8
62
ARRESTS
1
8
CASES REMAIN OPEN
3
4
PROSECUTIONS
1
6
CONVICTIONS
0
0
INCARCERATIONS
0
0
Chapter V
Conclusions
This chapter will include information regarding the story’s overall findings along with recommendations and a conclusion for decreasing incidents of human and sex trafficking.
Procedures
As for the victims’ country of origin; the frequency distribution of the country of origin of human trafficking victims shows that out of the cases analyzed, the country of origin for 35% of victims was the United States, 10% of victims’ country of origin was Brazil, 5% of victims’ country or origin was Mexico, and 45% of victims’ country of origin was unknown. Therefore, this data shows that the United States is the primary destination for human and sex trafficking. One can make the assumption that this is because it is easier for illegal immigrants to be trafficked into the U.S. instead of other countries.
The database entailing the location of sex trafficking incidents shows that most of the incidents of human and sex trafficking occur in the Midwest area. Exactly 50% of the incidents took place in the Midwest. Forty percent in the East Coast, five percent in the West coast and five percent was unknown. The states of Texas, Michigan, California, Arizona, and New Mexico were listed as the primary location of sex trafficking in the United States. (Mizus et al., 2003).
The study indicated that the male gender is the dominant gender of sex trafficking perpetrators because 65% of the cases had male perpetrators. Women made up only 10% of sex trafficking perpetrators. The other 25% was made up of a mix of both female and male gendered sex-trafficking perpetrators.
The next important factor is the type of violence utilized by the perpetrators. The study found that eighty percent of perpetrators used violence to control their victims. In 15% of cases, it was unknown as to which type of violence was used. The majority of the sex trafficking victims experienced severe physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from perpetrators. Such acts included deprivation of water, food and shelter. Perpetrators often used violence to manipulate, coerce and deceive victims. Overall the study shows patterns of sex trafficking in the United States. The majority being minors, United States Citizens and mostly being trafficked from the Midwest.
Even though human and sex trafficking are underground operations and it is often difficult to catch the perpetrators in the specifically in the United States there is a lot being done trying to put an end to this crime. There is certainly a lot of inconsistencies in the federal government and state policies. However, there are many local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that have had tremendous involvement assisting with the end to Human Trafficking. The United States Customs and Border Protection has defined human trafficking as one of the most heinous crimes that Immigration Customs Enforcement officials investigate. Customs and Border Protection officers protect nearly 7,000 miles of land border and 327 ports of entry- they are “uniquely situated to deter and disrupt human trafficking.” (Human Trafficking, n.d.) ICE relies on tips from the public to dismantle these organizations, they encourage everyone to keep your eyes and ears open to suspicious activity. Both ICE and DHS have trafficking awareness campaigns, titled; DHS Blue Campaign and ICE in Plain Sight Campaign. (Human Trafficking, n.d.)
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) helps protect victims of human trafficking and other crimes by providing immigration relief. The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) utilizes the full capacity of the authorities granted as a result of the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, they launched “Project Stamp” (Smuggler and Trafficker Assets, Monies and Proceeds) to attack organizations involved in human trafficking from an aggressive anti-money laundering standpoint. (Project Stamp, n.d.)
There is also an infamous “Polaris Project” which is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that works to combat and prevent modern-day slavery and human trafficking. The organization works directly with victims, hosts tip and crisis hotlines, and offers solutions to those victimized by human trafficking. The organization is one of the largest anti-trafficking organizations in the United States, with programs operating at local and national levels through their offices in Washington, D.C. and Newark, N.J. (Bouchard, 2012) (Wagner, 2013)
In order to decrease the rate of sex trafficking, the researcher believes that future research should be focused on understanding the awareness and involvement of the public in the United States. Human and sex trafficking is one of those issues that, to date, remains active across the world. Although, there is a lot being done to eliminate it, it seems obvious that there is more being done in some countries versus others. However, if citizens are advised and they continue to help with advocating for laws to ban all forms of exploitation, and volunteering with companies or organizations to destroy the profiteers and organized crime leaders, years from now, we may be able to finally say that human and sex trafficking on this Earth are topics of the past. That day will be a very bright day, not only in the United States of America, but around the entire globe.
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