Human Trafficking Outline

Data collected from The National Human Trafficking Resource Center concludes that victims of trafficking have come from 38 different countries. Some of these include the U.S. itself, Mexico, the Philippines, and China. In almost half of the cases, the origin of the victim was unknown

Human Trafficking is a form of organized crime, in which people of all ages are taken from their homes to be exploited for sexual or labor purposes. The traffickers use fear and violence to get these people to come with them, and all they really want out of it is money. I will be using four main sources to gather my information. First I will give a general overview of two websites giving great depth into the topic of human trafficking. I will then summarize three case studies on human trafficking. Finally, I will give my views on the issue, and tell why it is such any important topic for the public to hear about.

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.”).

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.

“43% of victims are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 98% are women and girls” (UNGIFT). Women and girls are ensnared in sex trafficking in a variety of ways. Some are lured in with offers of real and legal work in restaurants, massage parlors, or anything else. Others are promised marriage, education and a better life. Still others are sold into trafficking by boyfriends, friends, neighbors or even parents (SOROPTMIST). Many of the girls and women are also forced into pornography. With all of the types of sexual exploitation comes abuse. Sexual, physical, and emotional are all types of abuse put onto females in human trafficking. Many people traffic others in hopes of getting money, work done, or just pure pleasure.

This past year in the United States, there were an estimated 21,431 calls made to authorities concerning potential human trafficking situations and yet, the average American does not know that forced labor and prostitution is even a problem. (Melissa) Second to drug dealing, human trafficking is the largest criminal industry in the world today, and is growing fast. (Human Trafficking – Exploitation…) This modern day form of slavery takes victims captive against their will by using violence, threats, deception and other manipulative tricks. Even though each trafficking target has a different story, they all have similar experiences because they lose their freedom. In the United States, the First amendment protects all people citizens or aliens with basic freedoms. Therefore, human trafficking goes against ones American civil rights; human trafficking is major issue in the USA that needs to be stopped.

Human trafficking brings in billions of dollars into the U.S and all around the world. “The prime motive for such outrageous abuse is simple: money. In this $12 billion global business just one woman trafficked into the industrialized world can net her captors an average $67,000 a year” (Baird 2007). The laws around human trafficking are not strict and vary depending on what country it is happening in. Human trafficking is not something that is strictly foreign, it is happening right in front of our faces, in our neighborhoods, and all around us.

Goals: In order to achieve a more effective way of reducing human trafficking, congress needs to implement new domestic and foreign policies aimed towards combating human

I analyzed human trafficking in two different locations of the United States, one being California, and another being Florida. My main reason for choosing the two was because both states have been actively participating in working on helping the police, and prosecutors identify and prosecute trafficking. In California local police have been able to “identify 1,277 victims, initiated 2,552 investigations, and arrested 1,798 individuals” in regards to human trafficking cases (California Justice Department). In California we have our own legal definition to help us identify trafficking through the passing of AB 22 in 2005. California defines human trafficking as “all acts involved in the recruitment, abduction, transport, harboring, transfer, sale or receipt of persons, within national or across international borders, through force, coercion, fraud or deception, to place persons in situations of slavery or slavery-like conditions, forced labor or services, such as prostitution or sexual services,

According to Siskin & Wyler (2012), in additionally the United States Homeland Security, State, and Labor Department assembles a list of issues made up by banning the United States imports and child labor. The United States Justice (2001) defines human trafficking as focusing on the act coercing or compelling an individual to commercial sex, services or labor act. The coercing could be clear or restrained psychological or physical, but used in coercing an individual to perform commercial sex, services, or labor acts. These regulations are based on the United States Constitution XIII Amendment bans involuntary servitude and slavery, and the Civil Rights Division also enforces the regulation with law enforcement agencies and the United States Attorney offices.

You turn on the news and see another story about trafficking in a third world country. You’re not surprised. One day, you see a story about trafficking in the United States. You’re surprised. Human trafficking happens all around the world, yet it’s a taboo subject. Over 20 million people are trafficked around the world. They’re usually forced into labor or prostitution. There are government efforts towards combating this problem. Despite these efforts, the government is not doing enough because in preventing and regulating it.

The United Nations and other experts have made an educated guess the complete market price value of unlawful human trafficking competes with both drug and firearms trafficking. The crime of human trafficking is intercontinental and is established everywhere, as well as the United States. The term “trafficking” is misrepresented in that it is frequently presumed to imply movement across multi-national borders.

There have been many federal laws that have been developed in the United States due to the problem being more prominent and recognized in the United States. One of the laws in the beginning that helped with combating human trafficking was the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which the federal law of human trafficking is based on. The Trafficking Victims Protect Act of 2000 states that developed techniques to prosecute human traffickers, stopping human trafficking, and ways to shield the victims of human trafficking, as well as way to survive being involved in human trafficking. This act was developed so that the crimes of human trafficking could be considered a federal crime, so as a result could have harsher penalties to the human

The United States of America has been fighting human trafficking since the 1800s, when slavery happened to be was outlawed. Since then, several laws have been passed to help the fight against human trafficking. According to the Polaris Project, the “current federal laws” include the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, along with several reauthorizations of the Act during four separate years, the Tariff Act, the Customs and Facilitations and Trade Enforcement Act, the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, The Mann Act, last amended in 1986, the Protect Act, and the National Defense Authorization Act which was passed in 2013 (Current Federal Laws). Each of these laws have their distinct uses, however, these laws were

Where does your mind wander when someone talks about child trafficking? Do you think of children from third world countries being kidnapped or sold into the black market of human trafficking? Most of us probably think of human trafficking as being an issue that poor countries just have but, that isn’t the case. Human trafficking is alive and sadly thriving in the United States. According to Trafficking Source Center, 5,544 cases of human trafficking were reported in the United States in 2015. With human trafficking being around for so long, nations have to find ways to create tougher laws, find a way to focus on the issue, and create better safe havens for the victims of the crime.