Human And Sex Trafficking In The United States

Human trafficking is the modernized version of slavery that involves force, fraud, and/or a type of labor in a sexual act. The United States government defines it to be “In which a sex act is forced in which the person induced has not yet been attained eighteen years of age” (National Institute of Justice). Human trafficking is a threat to all nations and promotes breakdown of families and can support organized crime. Trafficking can occur everywhere. Human trafficking and human smuggling are related to one another, but different crimes. The difference between smuggling and trafficking is that smuggling is the illegal movement of someone across a border while trafficking is the illegal exploitation of a person.

“Human trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, and the transport of people within countries for sexual exploitation, forced labor, and/or organ donating.” (Gale) “Slavery is the condition in which one or more persons is owned as property by another and is under the owner’s control.” (American Heritage Dictionary) Trafficked people who are often regarded as disposable, are often used for these various reasons. Although, many believe slavery ended with the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery still exists in 2017. In order to understand that human trafficking is a form of slavery, one needs to examine what it is, the effects, and the solutions.

Human trafficking is a public health problem within the United States and Internationally. The victims subjected to the lifestyle of human trafficking can have sexually transmitted disease, HIV virus, and AIDS. It is an estimated 30,000 victims of human sex trafficking dying each year from abuse, disease, torture, and neglect. According, to U.S. government an estimates, of 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually, and up to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year (Hodge, 2008). “According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), over the past 30 years, over 30 million children have been sexually exploited through human trafficking” (Random Facts, 2015, para. 24).

Human trafficking is a prominent problem within the United States that is often overlooked. The definition of human trafficking is, “Human trafficking - the illegal practice of procuring or trading in human beings for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, or other forms of exploitation” (“Human trafficking”). People in the United States believe that human trafficking is a problem that occurs in other less developed countries compared to the United States. What these individuals do not realize is that human trafficking occurs on American soil contrary to popular belief. The United States is one of the top three destination countries of human trafficking and human trafficking is a top criminal enterprise across the world (“WEAVE, Inc.”).

Human Trafficking is in America, it’s in backyard and most don’t even know it. Many Americans believe that this horrible action only takes place in countries such as China, Japan, India, and Ghana but no; it happens in the United States also. The definition of human trafficking is the “illegal practice of procuring or trading in human beings for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, or other forms of exploitation” (dictionary.com). Slavery was abolished in 1865 in the 13th amendment in the constitution but it sad to say, it still exist. “60,000 people in America in November 2013 could safely be called modern day slaves” (Slavery isn’t a thing of the past). Today human trafficking is counted as immigrant workers who are smuggled into the country and forced to work under the threat of violence. And also men and women, forced to sell their bodies for sex and give all their money to their pimps (Slavery isn’t a thing of the past). Pimps are the ones who usually run the human trafficking business. Approximately75-80% of human trafficking is for sex (55 little known facts about human trafficking). Many believe that only adults are being worked but children and teens are too, matter of fact the average age is between12 and 14. The number of human trafficking in the United States will continue to increase because it is too difficult to find and prevent.

Each year about 17,500 individuals are brought into the United States and become victims of human trafficking. Every country has this problem and it has become the 3rd largest illegal industry worldwide.

The United States has always been known for sticking their nose in places where it does not belong. America has been part of wars that could have been avoided, scandals that had nothing to do with the United States. Millions of lives over the years could have been spared if America would have just simply stayed where they belong. What if though, America feels like they have to get involved in forging affairs if they think it can cause or is causing a problem on American soil or with the Americans themselves? Human trafficking is issues that most people do not necessarily knows about or even really think about. There are several different types of human trafficking and smuggling crimes that are in today's society. The number one kind of human trafficking is sex trafficking. The handlers usually kidnap someone, ninety percent of the time, a girl under the age of eighteen, and sell them to different people all over the world for sexual reasons. The girls they kidnap and sell can be from the area or just passing through and get in the wrong place at the wrong time. Forced labor is the second most common type of human trafficking in the world. This is where a person takes advantage of a worker and changes labor laws to make them work longer hours or harder, more tiring jobs with very little pay. Victims of forced labor most of the time do not even know what is happening to them. Most of the people that get sucked into the forced labor trade are very vulnerable;

Human sex trafficking and its sister category, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking also referred to as DMST, (Kotrla,K. 2010) is the most common form of modern day slavery. In the United States there are an estimated 293,000 youth who fall under high risk factor or DMST (Walker-Rodriguez, A. & Hill, R. 2011). Many men prey on the at risk youth to make a fortune for themselves. DMST exposes the youth to a life filled with violence, abuse that is both mental and physical as well as a isolation. The Victims of the Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 defines sex trafficking, “in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion or in which the person induced to

Back in the 1600’s slavery was brought to the United States to help aid in the production of crops. We have come a long ways since then through our government system to help provide a more riotous and free system, the land of the free. Slavery ended and racism has declined but today there still exists a different type of slavery and this is known as human trafficking. Many call sex or human trafficking the modern day type of slavery because people are forced to work for another person mostly by selling their body. According to the United Nations and their protocol signed by more then 80 countries sex/ human trafficking is the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use

Slavery has evolved from what we used to know as African American’s being tortured and abused to now being transformed into a modern type of slavery existing currently in the United States of America, human sex trafficking. Human sex trafficking is a form of slavery that violates human’s rights, individuals benefiting in forms of profit by exploiting humans. Which then results in physical and psychological consequences. In today’s society, Latina women are trafficked into the United States from third-world countries and forced against their will to have sex with men to later then suffer from this emotionally and physically. In addition, they are battered, exposed, and drained from their dignity and freedom as women and human beings. At a young

The trafficking of human beings has evolved and become more universal and serious over the years. Trafficking of people is equivalent to modern day slavery. The duties and expectations of these people are outrageously irrational. The victims are forced to do unthinkable tasks for people they may or may not know. Anyone can be a leader or a victim of human trafficking. Victims of trafficking programs span from an extensive variety of women, children, and men ranging widely in age. There are two very diverse trafficking programs: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Sex trafficking, the most common of the two trafficking programs, can also be referred to as sex slavery. The sex trafficking occurs when the unwilling are being forced to

In 2014, the states considered more than 220 bills that addressed human trafficking, including 24 bills in 11 states that called for expanding services to sexually exploited youth. (State Legislative). The United States expanded services like the “safe harbor” for sexually exploited children. In the United States, about 300,000 children are at the risk of being exploited and trafficked for sex. Human trafficking impacts millions of people globally; as a community we need to come up with a solution to stop it; some solutions may be, provide security for victims (of being trafficked); and help force laws against it.

In America illegal crimes are committed every day. One out of the three most frequent illegal crimes committed is sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is a major issue throughout the world. Most of the victims in sex trafficking are American-born. Not only women are considered victims of sex trafficking but also men can be forced into a life of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is considered modern day slavery. The number of victims that are minors is one-third of the whole total. The United States has been trying to end Sex Trafficking to no avail. No matter what laws are set in place pimps find a way to get around the laws all together.

Human trafficking can take many forms, as well as many victims. One form of trafficking is slavery. Slavery is having a worker who is unpaid and who works by force using coercion, fraud or threat of bodily harm. “According to the United Nations, there are between 27 and 30 million modern-day slaves in the world (Jesionka, “Human Trafficking: The Myths and the Realities”).” “By 1860, the nation’s black population had jumped from 400,000 to 4.4 million, of which 3.9 million were slaves.(Henry Louis Gates).” That means there are nearly ten times more slaves today than there were in the late 1800’s.

Slavery is a modern, pervasive problem. Human trafficking has been found in every state in America (humantrafficking.org). It seems that most Americans likely live within a comfortable drive of someone who is being exploited through human trafficking. There is a growing trend in human trafficking toward sexual exploitation (Bennetts, 2011). The Information Age has helped to create new opportunities for sex trafficking to flourish.