Trafficking And Violence Prevention Act

Here in Michigan, Michigan state police and Michigan state attorney general say some of their cases of human trafficking happen on Mackinac Island. Human trafficking--mainly labor trafficking--has occurred in this area right here in our own homeland; human trafficking can happen anywhere and affects those that are most vulnerable. Although human trafficking is a complex social problem that preys on society 's most poor and vulnerable, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act hopes to address prosecution of traffickers and justice for the trafficked. This paper will explore the economic, political, ideology, social movement 's, and history of human trafficking and how the TVPA can relate and is working towards change.

Out of the thousands of people that have been human trafficking victims each year, only an insignificant amount of them is actually reported. Imagine being in 8th grade. Having all sorts of hopes and dreams. Now flash forward to dreams being taken away by a pimp that lures people into human trafficking. In short, this is true for Holly Austin Smith, a survivor of human trafficking. The punishment for the pimps that ruin the lives of these young girls is not severe. Therefore, there is not much help for the girls after they get rescued from this tragedy. A realization Holly had soon on and explains, “...Although I was soon recognized to be a victim, the specialized aftercare needed for a trafficking victim did not yet exist... Twenty years ago, there were no anti-trafficking laws in place. This pimp, who raped and lured a child into prostitution, served only 365 days in jail” (Smith). This young girl had recovered from this horrible incident all by herself. Many other girls in her position have gone through similar experiences and have been hurt by their pimp. In addition, the pimp will not receive much punishment. A sad story repeated across America and is very prominent in other countries. In America, most of the time victims are the ones that usually serve time in jail since in some cases it’s considered prostitution, even if it was forced by the pimp. In most cases, the pimps stay uncovered and if the victims of trafficking come forward as to who their pimp is, they

The policy under analysis is the H.R. 4980 (113th): Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014. It was introduced to Congress on June 26, 2014, and it was enacted on September 29, 2014 (Civic Impulse, 2017). The law was enacted to target several problems: first, to prevent and address sex trafficking of children in foster care (Subtitle A); second, to improve adoption incentives and extending family connection grants (Subtitle B); and third, to improve international child support recovery (Subtitle C) (Children’s Defense, 2014). The law cites the definition of ‘sex trafficking’ from the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) as, “The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person

The response to victims was the ‘visas’ system. The Federal Government also the “Support for Victims of People Trafficking Programs” This was integrated into the visas system, this program provides individualized case management. A person is identified as eligible by the

The Tier System, set in place by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), is subject to political misinterpretation and biases concerning what data should be deemed as relevant, which undermines the integrity of the report and its ability to combat human trafficking. Many critics believe that the primary cause of political manipulation or misinterpretation is trade and commerce restrictions set in place by President Barack Obama in 2015 aimed at Tier 3 nations. Nations that are vital to U.S. trade and are not working to fight human trafficking are avoiding downgrade for the benefit of the United States. Political opponents of the Tier System have began to mention two nations in particular, China and Malaysia, that were recommended to be placed on Tier 3, but instead were placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. A suspected link between these nations not being placed as Tier 3 and the Trans Pacific Partnership have been made by the Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank) and Reuters (a multinational news agency). For example, “If Malaysia had remained Tier 3 [in 2015], it would have proposed a potential barrier to Obama’s proposed trade pact…” (Reuters). Why is the idea of possible political manipulation important? If political manipulation can happen in any system or policy, why should we care? It is imperative and relevant to our world today regarding human rights, and it is something to be apprehensive about, especially in the case of the Tier System. Many defendants

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.

Traffickers continue to be in this cruelest method of oppression because human trafficking remains highly lucrative. The United States efficiently fight against the global as well as the country’s slavery by providing legal protection and post psychological development to the victims. This modern human right issue in the United States was made illegal when it passed the Trafficking Protection Act (TVPA) in October 2000, and later under reauthorization, Congress established a private right of action for victims of human trafficking into or within the United States to bring a civil action against their perpetrators. It is designed to combat human trafficking in America and abroad and through it, human trafficking victims qualify for governmental protection and services (Pierce). This enables the victims to sue and collect damages from

millions and “Human Sex Trafficking” has been termed the most common form of “modern-day slavery” (Leary). It is an industry that is “woven into the fabric of everyday life”. (Leary) The reasons for human trafficking range from forced prostitution, pornography, forced labor, organ harvesting and drug smuggling. In 2000, the U.S. Congress passed the “Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)” (Gouty) and as defined in this act of legislation, human trafficking does not require transportation of victims from one location to another and it does not require the crossing of an international border (Gouty). President Obama signed the latest

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 aims to combat human trafficking within the United States as well as abroad. On October 16, 2000, President Clinton signed the bill into law (Ryf, 2002). This statute states that slavery continues through the 21st century and is an issue that must be addressed. There is a three-tiered method to target human trafficking: prevention, protection, and prosecution. Additionally, this law requires the President to assign an interagency task force to monitor and combat trafficking as well as the responsibility to release the Annual Trafficking in Persons Report (Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act, 2000). Throughout this policy analysis, these areas of the law will be discussed in greater detail.

A significant feature to the VTVPA is that the United States will penalize countries if they do not comply with the VTVPA (Holman, 2009). This is an imperative feature and I think that it should be implemented throughout every single piece of legislation that deals with trafficking. Countries should be held accountable if they do not comply. The only way that sex trafficking can be officially over is if every single country complies with all the legislation. The United States looks at six different factors when deciding if they have met the criteria for eliminating trafficking. The United States looks at whether the country has investigated and prosecuted severe forms of trafficking, if they protected the victims, educated the public,

Furthermore, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 was best known for providing the framework to respond to human trafficking (Feldman, 2011). Likewise, it also helped for the redesigning of the laws in the United States by making sex trafficking an individual crime and allowing the government to focus on the victims. Even though this law has been reauthorized in 3 years the latest time, 2008, is the one that actually strengthens protections for the victims as well as, improves the protections for the victims. While this law already helped to develop people to prohibit the crime, the reauthorization of it, created a new set of criminal tools to reach unscrupulous labor recruiters (Feldman, 2011). Although the revisions of this law

The combined act reauthorized anti-trafficking programs and included new protection for victims and survivors of trafficking (Chon, 2013). The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 called to eliminate trafficking both internationally and in the United States (VAWA, 2013). In International persons, the act calls to provide regional plans to fight trafficking. These plans make it an obligation for each region to provide goals and objectives to fight trafficking. The act also provides partnerships between the United States and other countries in risk of trafficking, to help fight trafficking. The act also states that the United States will not use any item made by or with the use of someone who is a victim of trafficking. VAWA also protects and assists victims by providing proper resources such as shelters, hotlines, counseling, and education. It also provides the best practices to remove individuals from trafficking and provide protection for nonimmigrants. Finally, the act prevents child marriage by empowering girls at risk, and also restricts military funding to countries that employ child soldiers (VAWA,

Polaris has helped pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, a law that established HT as a federal crime exercising severe penalties if convicted. This legal document calls for restitution to the victims and families (Polaris Project, 2017). Another law supported by Polaris Project is Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA), establishing a federal, civil right action for HT victims to sue their perpetrators. This law introduced the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) a new provision, protection of the victims and their families from deportation. TVPRA requires the Attorney General to annually report activities of the United States government in the fight for HT (Polaris Project, 2017). In 2005, TVPRA added a new clause that provides sheltering for surviving minors of HT (Polaris Project, 2017). The revision instituted programs to assist local and state law enforcement with combating

In 2006 with the appointment of Brad Schlozman as Western District U.S. Attorney under the Bush administration, Human Trafficking took top priority. After filling their first case the Western District received US$450,000 in grant to combat the issue. (Duncan 2013) In 2004 Florida followed states like Missouri, Texas and Washington in which trafficking became a felony. Yet these efforts are beneficial in the prosecution of the traffickers, undocumented victims still are limited in receiving care and benefits so greatly need. Due to their undocumented status some juvenile have been advised to maintain their assumed names that are legally documented in the United State in order to receive the care and treatment they need. (Carr 2012:89)

Human Trafficking is a horrendous crime that takes advantage of people through the illegal trading of human beings for purposes of forced labor, and commercial sexual/child exploitation. Traffickers tend to prey on the vulnerable, those who want a better life, have little or no employment opportunities, very unstable, and have a history of sexual abuse. With this being popular in society, anyone can easily become a victim. By being an undocumented immigrant, runaway and homeless youth, and a victim of trauma and abuse, you have already put a target on your back. The most popular victims are the undocumented immigrants due to the lack of legal status, language barriers, limited employment options, and social isolation. ("The Victims.")