Kansas City Sex Trafficking

Have you ever walked into Wal-Mart and taken the time to look at the numerous pictures of missing youth that is plastered on the wall? When looking at how long they have been missing, it ranges anywhere from months to years. Looking at their age, both boys and girls, it is hard not to wonder if these kids are being trafficked. Child sex trafficking, also known as human trafficking, is a major issue that is not only plaguing the United States, but the world. Residing in a state where teen sex trafficking is very common, it is imperative that not only adults, but the youth understand what child sex/human trafficking is, what is a sex-trafficker, and the data that reveals the seriousness of child sex

You may be asking yourself, what is the real problem before the solution is stated? Sex trafficking is the selling of children and adults for money with them performing prostitution, pornography and sexual performance in return for drugs, shelter, food, money, or clothes. According to Safe Ventures in 2016, every 3 minutes a minor is sexual abused, 10-15 minors sold as sex slaves a day, 5.4 million reports of child exploitation in the US alone. According to the ILO it estimates human trafficking generates $150.2 billion in illegal profits every single year. What most people fail to notice is that sex trafficking is business that is strictly just profit which makes it that much more dangerous of an issue because there is no supply to buy. Traffickers use several tactics to lure their victims with using fear, intimidation, violence, and threats to make their slaves follow their commands. Sex trafficking is pure evil and we need to do something about so it does not happen to those who are possible victims.

Imagine knowing that your parents set you up to be raped, just so they can make money. This violence leads to depression and even suicide, making the children feel extremely weak and empty. Weak law enforcement and poverty has driven sex slavery out of hand. A solution to end this violence begins with people who raise awareness. To raise awareness, it is important to meet with the federal and local government to inform them on the issues and convince them to combat sex trafficking. Come up with different fundraisers for battered victims, host awareness events so people become familiar with the issue, and eventually the victims can become educated and well equipped with the proper care they need. Consider working with different organizations that help women who have fallen victims of prostitution, pornography, trafficking and other forms of sexual violence. Work with a religious community that can help raise money for families in poverty. This can decrease the amount of women and children traded for sex. Internationally, we need to become more familiar with, knowledgeable of, and aggressive to end this suffering of dehumanization and advertise what the poor victims have to face on a daily

Imagine being trapped in a box and having things and people thrown at you. You cannot get out and you have no control of who or what comes in. That is the life of a young girl who is trapped in sex slavery. On average over 100 adolescent girls are being used in sex trafficking every night in Atlanta, and most of those girls are with at least three men. Sex trafficking mostly consist of people taking control of the lives of young girls. They take their bodies to make money: in fact, this industry makes over thirty billion dollars per year. They destroy their emotions by trapping them from their freedoms. Those that are taken into the system are often innocent girls who are walking in Atlanta which should be a save city. Girls are threatened or beaten if they try to escape and forced to do things no one wants to do. Many girls who do get out end up getting back into the system because they feel that they cannot do anything else to support themselves, or because they aren’t looked after and they get taken back in. Sex trafficking in Atlanta has become a huge issue and more action should be made to stop it and help those who are trapped in it.

Human trafficking is one of the largest growing criminal activities. The commercial sexual exploitation of children, also known as CSEC, is often perceived as a hidden atrocity that occurs in an international setting. However, this manifestation of sexual abuse has increased and has become a recognized health issue in the United States. You may hear this problem to be known as domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST). Domestic minor sex trafficking is defined as the “recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act” where the person is a citizen younger than the age of 18 years by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. This includes sexual acts like survival sex, prostitution, and stripping, where the child is the victim of criminal exploitation in exchange for remuneration in the form of money, food, shelter, or other valued entity. Approximately twenty-eight percent of US minors living on the streets are reported to exchanging sex for drugs or money. The estimation so far is that 150,000 to 300,000 children are falling at risk of being victimized each year, and the average age at which they are recruited is twelve to fourteen years of age. By raising awareness we are avoiding children suffering from long-term health consequences such as severe sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. By raising awareness a family may not lose their little boy or girl to human trafficking. Consider how many young women have been kidnapped, drugged, tricked or even sold by

Women’s Foundation). The numerous entry points into Texas allow perpetrators to easily bring new victims into the state. Only 10 years ago, Dallas reported having 55 domestic minor sex trafficking cases (“Texas”). In 2007, multiple cases of both labor and sex trafficking were reported in Dallas. The Dallas Police Department identified “119 minors exploited for commercial sex,” (“Texas”) as well as, charging “33 people with sex trafficking” (“Texas”). Although Dallas only holds “26% of the Texas population,” the city accounts for “35% of the state’s commercial sexual exploitation cases” (“Texas”), proving Dallas to be a top city for human trafficking.

Now that the effects of human trafficking on its victims and the risk factors of being trafficked have been covered, it is now time to address the top four states within the U.S. that have been effected by this issue. It is also important to cover what each corresponding state is doing to put an end to this issue. According to The Denver Post, South Dakota ranks number one as the most effected by human trafficking with a category 4 Tier. In the past this state has been known to do very little when it came to fighting against human trafficking. This is because South Dakota’s state legislature only meets every other year which creates a lack of opportunities to take legal action against human trafficking. With this being the case, there was a

Kotrla, K., & Wommack, B. A. (2011). Sex Trafficking of Minors in the U.S.: Implications for Policy, Prevention and Research. Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk: Vol. 2 (Iss. 1), article 5.

So what exactly is the problem? Well according to the US department of health and human services, human trafficking is second largest criminal industry making $12 billion per year off of a staggering 1.2 million child victims, all from the ages 5 to 17. Unlike other criminal industries children can be sold over and over again. The profits from one girl alone can range to as much as 250,000 dollars. This is not just distant problem but LA which hits close to home for me is the second larges trafficking city in the United States. I am going to share with your the one statistic that lead me to write this speech. (CAS Research and Education) fewer than 1% of all children in California are in the foster care system (SCEC 2012 study) and yet they make of 60% to 80% of all commercially sexually exploited children in California. This is as much as 8 out of every 10 kids. That is a problem. Not only that but the average lifespan for a trafficked child decreases to just seven more years. Subjecting these children to a horrible death of disease, drugs, murder, or suicide.

Human trafficking is a serious problem in modern society. In fact, the United Nations has referred to it as “one of the gravest human rights violations of our times” (“Secretary - General Calls Human Trafficking”). It is a fast growing industry that affects millions. No gender, age, or status is spared from the cruelty that is trafficking. To stress this point again, human trafficking is not just a problem of the “world” or “United States”, in general. As previously seen, it strikes very close to home, affecting hundreds of men, women, and children of our own community. In fact, “North Carolina ranked as a top-10 state for human trafficking with Charlotte being the top destination. It is estimated that more than 1,700 girls are trafficked

Sex trafficking in Houston is a big issue because the Super Bowl was just held in the city. Houston Chronicle author Emily Foxhall reports, “Houston is considered a hub for human trafficking because of its location along major highways by which victims can be transported, its international port and two major airports, and a diverse population and economy” (Foxhall A003). Foxhall also shares the importance of using the Super Bowl as a way to inform Houstonians of the major issue in their city. According to the U.S. Trafficking in Person Report 2016, the United States is categorized as a Tier 1 country, “The United States is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, transgender individuals, and children—

Traffickers manipulate adolescents and youth into the sex trafficking through targeting their emotional vulnerabilities. To begin, traffickers use threats, intimidation and violence to enforce or entice adolescents into trafficking. One adolescent, a runaway from Baltimore County, Maryland, is gang raped by a group of men associated with the trafficker, who thereafter executes a “rescue” (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011) Following the “rescue”, the trafficker imposes she recompense him by working for him as one of his prostitutes (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011). Unfortunately, in many cases youth are generally beaten up until they yield to the trafficker’s orders (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011).

Many Americans remain ignorant of human trafficking within the United States, believing that this inhumane act only occurs in third-world countries. No one likes to believe that it can be happening in our own country let alone in some of our own states and cities. Society rarely takes the time to understand these women and what lead them into trafficking and what factors contributed to them staying in trafficking. This study seeks to voice the ability to raise awareness, enhance penalties for the traffickers/violator’s, and offer rehabilitation for the victims.

Sex -trafficking has not dissipated over time; it is a growing, adaptive market that is prevalent across the world. We are not talking about an industry that sells depleting commodities. Sex trafficking is a giant market that profits on human slavery. It is paramount that this issue be moved nearer to the forefront of global consciousness, in light of violations of basic human rights and losses of autonomy.

“Sex-Trafficking” is a very complex and layered phenomenon. Critically evaluate some possible explanations for it's continued prevalence and seeming invincibility to regulation and control.