Human Trafficking Research Essay

The Council crafted the following operational definition to guide policy development on trafficking in persons: Trafficking is all acts involved in the recruitment, abduction, transfer, harboring, auction or acceptance of a person or persons; within national or across global limits. These types of recruitments are done through force, fraud or trickery; to place persons in a circumstance of slavery or slavery-like conditions, forced labor or services, such as prostitution or sexual services, domestic servitude, bonded sweatshop labor or other debt bondage (E.M. Gozdziak, 2005)

However, the truth is that majority of the victims of human trafficking are American citizens. In fact, it is estimated that the vulnerable

who sell sex to survive, are considered trafficking victims by default under many federal and

Victims of sex trafficking can be U.S. citizens, foreign nationals, women, men, children, and LGBT individuals. Vulnerable populations are frequently targeted by traffickers, including runaway and homeless youth, as well as victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and more. Sex trafficking occurs in a range of venues including fake massage businesses, via online

With an estimated 17,500 individuals trafficked into the U.S. annually, 1,000 individuals received certification within six years following the laws that were set up to stop human trafficking.(Wolf-Branigin, 2010, pp. 424-436) .Certification makes victims of trafficking eligible to receive services from federally funded or administered programs. Even after significant funding for services to support victims of trafficking at the federal level, these resources appear insufficient to meet the demand (Wolf-Branigin, 2010, pp.

In fact, the criminals who are responsible for all the abductions and putting these victims into slavery should not be solely reliable for this heinous crime. Instead, society should be held accountable for letting our passions and desires take superiority over the freedom of an individual. Many would agree that those who fall victim to sex trafficking tends to be foreign immigrants which is seen to be a common misconception. The idea that foreign nationals are the only ones who are primary targets to sex trafficking is nothing more than a myth. Today’s society has become so oblivious to those who are being targeted. According to Doung (2012), Within the sex trafficking business, the victims tend to be both citizens of the United States and those of the foreign nationality which are protected within the statutes of federal

In accordance with this research, the TVPA attempts to address these complexities by creating specific definitions related to trafficking. The TVPA allows for victims of trafficking to be treated as victims versus criminals, and allows for legal immigration status under certain criteria (United States Department of Justice, 2004).

Today, many people say that slavery has ended many years ago, however, there is a hidden population that were being exploited in exchanged for financial and economic gains of others. The victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act(TVPA) of 2000 defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, harboring, transporting, provision or obtaining of person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.” (Hachey and Phillippi, 2017, page 31) Sexual trafficking and labor trafficking are two types of human trafficking. With sexual trafficking, an individual is utilized for commercial sex acts; with labor trafficking, an individual is utilized for

The policy this paper will address is the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) and its many Reauthorization Acts. It was passed in 2000, and was reauthorized in 2003, 2005, and 2008. The main purpose of this policy is to address the needs of individuals who have been trafficked and is the policy around which all human trafficking legislation is based. The act “established several methods of prosecuting traffickers, preventing human trafficking, and protecting victims and survivors of trafficking” (Current Federal Laws 2016). Overall, it really attempts to combat any type of human trafficking and support victims and punish the perpetrators of this awful crime.

In order for a crime to qualify as human trafficking, transportation is “not a required element of the trafficking definition” (NHTRC). There also does not have to be physical abuse although this is true in a large percentage of cases. Victims can be threatened or coerced, especially minors, and this can be just as effective as physical abuse. These are just some of the many common misconceptions of human trafficking. For those that don’t believe sex trafficking is prominent in the U.S., “more than 100,000 children are victims of sex trafficking in America” (Goldberg). One reason that people are unaware of this is because the victims are often targeted

Human Trafficking has become one of the fastest growing businesses in the world, yet it is a subject that continues to be widely misunderstood. Law enforcement personnel (N=121) will be asked to participate in a survey relating to the knowledge of human trafficking and the safety responses they provide for victims. A survey will help to determine whether the knowledge that law enforcement has on the subject of human trafficking effects how they respond to victims. It is anticipated that the less knowledge an officer has on human trafficking, the more likely they will be to sanction rather than help victims. Case file reviews will also be used to look at previous roles of law enforcement and their decisions in human trafficking cases. This research hopes to gather information on the knowledge that law enforcement agents have on human trafficking, along with the way they respond to victims. Specifically whether the safety response that officers give to victims of human trafficking is detaining the victims, placing victims in witness protection or not having any involvement in a safety plan at all.

Every year, thousands of immigrants are victims of criminal activity. Significant factors that contribute to this violence, never to be reported are language barrier, fear of deportation, cultural differences, and fears of the unfamiliar. In 2000 the Congress passed a law known as the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act. (Victims of criminal activity, n.d.). The U.S. Congress created this law as a form of immigration relief that is available aliens who are victims. The Congress wanted to aid law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting human trafficking by providing a way for alien victims to remain in the U.S. to assist in an investigation. Through the whole process the victim is working very closely with an officer. Victims

According to the FBI website, “human trafficking is believed to be the third-largest criminal activity in the world” (FBI). Human trafficking is the sale and trade of people for the purpose of forced labor and sexual slavery. Victims can be U.S. citizens and foreigners alike, and has no demographic restrictions. The victims are from different races, ethnicities, men, women, and include adults and children. Human trafficking could also include providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, or used for forced surrogacy. Victims are often vulnerable; they can be a missing person or teenager who has run away or been lured by someone they believe is a friend. The perpetrators can be almost anyone: family

Upon receiving a human trafficking tip or investigative assistance/expertise request, sworn agents from the FID HTS will:

Similar to social workers our local police department must be equipped and trained to handle sensitive issues of human trafficking. Most trafficked women are sex slaves and confused as prostitutes, so instead of feeling like they have been saved victims they are dehumanized and arrested. The importance of educating law enforcement is to get rid of the stigma that all women willfully participate in prostitution, which is not true at all. If these officers have training they would be able to better identify victims. In the quantitative study conducted the participants were asked Q3: How does police understanding of human trafficking influence the ways the police identify and investigate these crimes? According to A. Farrell et al, he found that