Trafficking Victims Protection Act Of 2000

Human trafficking is one of the many faces of organized crime. Human trafficking is a broad term which contains trafficking for the purpose of sex along with the exploitation of labor. Currently, there are 20.9 million victims of sex slavery (Stacy.j.cecchet 2014 482) whom have or are suffering suffer inhumane circumstances and consequences. Sex trafficking is one of the largest criminal activities in the world (Stacy 249). Vulnerable women and children are taken advantage of and thrown into sex slavery, yet there is no explanation available as to how women and children are taken and thrown into the industry within countries such as Canada and the United States of America (482 Stacy j Cecchet 2014), which have human rights protection. Sex slavery leaves everlasting mental and physical effects on the abused women and children being trafficked. Even though sex trafficking is a crime it is also, for a lack of better words, an industry which would cease to exist if it was not for the supply and demand for women and children.

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

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.”).

Images of foreign lands usually conjure up when the thoughts of human sex trafficking come to one 's mind. The United States of America is not immune to this type of horrific behavior. America is the land of the free and yet something as awful as human sex trafficking occurs in our very own backyard each and everyday. According to the Department of Homeland Security the definition of human trafficking is “modern day slavery that involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act” (“What Is Human Trafficking?”). In this research paper the reader will experience the savagery that comes with human sex trafficking and how it has expanded in the United States over recent years. Within this research

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 has been known to be a tragic and unfortunate crime of the 21st century. Social workers, policy makers, and other human service providers must understand the various policies and forms of legislative involvement that are working towards combatting this issue. For the purposes of this policy analysis, I will be analyzing The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and the implications that it has for social workers and those who are invested in working towards abolishing this social issue.

Human trafficking exists in several nations all around us. No nation, including the United States is exempt from human trafficking. There may be factors that create unique anti-trafficking issues and obstacles for each nation, but the characteristics are all the same or very similar worldwide. These characteristics are how the trafficking is conducted, how the victims are kidnapped, the percentage of victims, the gender of the victims, and the percentage of each gender in different trafficking situations. The situations include children, adults, male, and female victims. The situations the victims fall into are pornography, forced labor, sex slaves, prostitution, child sex tourism, and many more. These are the issues and key points made by the authors to persuade the reader to agree with their position.

Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA) trafficking victims may receive services that are similar to those of refugees. These benefits and services are federally funded and the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement must certify individuals as trafficking victims. In addition to federal program benefits under TVPRA, there is a state-funded program for trafficking victims who have not yet been certified by ORR. Senate Bill 1569 (Chapter 672, Statutes of 2006) extended eligibility for benefits and services to non-certified victims of human trafficking (Human Trafficking. (n.d.).http://www.cdss.ca.gov/refugeeprogram/PG1268.htm). One of the problems however,

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

Even in the land of the free, there are millions of people oppressed through human trafficking. The problem has not been addressed properly to citizens of America, and tends to be overlooked by many. This article will educate one on a variety of topics, regarding human trafficking in America through peer-reviewed research evidence. The first topic focused on is about who the victims are, how to identify international and domestic causalities, and what types of obstacles one may face, when trying to identify a potential victim. Next, one will learn how victims become involved and the common types of human trafficking. Moreover, the plethora of services for victims, eligibility for assistance, and issues for providing help will

In recent years, the United States took a major step against human trafficking by the Trafficking of Victims Protection Act (TVPA). In 2000, the United States passed the TVPA, which was the first federal law in the U.S. created to help victims of trafficking and to prosecute the traffickers. The Reauthorization Act of 2003 reaffirms the U.S. government’s commitment to fighting human trafficking, as stated in the 2000 act, and sets aside another $200 million in funding for various projects against this trade. Between the years 2001-2005 the US government significantly stepped up efforts in convicting perpetrators of this crime, filing 91 cases and charging 248 trafficking defendants. Although the United States passed the TVPA, human trafficking is hard to stop because it is very hard to track down and identify the traffickers, and it may be even harder to put victims in each category of trafficking. Many times, victims can be wrongly identified as illegal immigrants or prostitutes, and can be imprisoned or deported. In the TVPA of 2000, the law provided penalties for sex traffickers only if the victim could prove that they were forcefully threatened into prostitution. This being merely impossible to prove, it ensures that the cases will take longer and thus few criminals have actually been indicted under these terms. However, after

Oftentimes when people hear the term human sex trafficking, they think of heinous acts that take place in other countries where adults, children, girls and boys are exploited to perform sexual acts in exchange for money or goods against their will. They think it typically occurs in places that are less developed than the United States. However, the reality of this horrific crime is that it is taking place in the United States, and it occurs more and more each and every day. Young girls are not solely the victim of human sex trafficking, young boys are victims of this monstrous act as well. Individuals residing in the United States need to be made more aware of this issue as it has started to rise through social media, large events, and by those in other countries being promised work here. After researching, it is apparent that there is a great deal of information that is lacking, on sex trafficking in the United States. Not only is sex trafficking an issue, but the lack of awareness about sex trafficking is also an issue. This thesis proposes that human sex trafficking is an unacknowledged epidemic within the United States, and it seeks to discover why it has become so prevalent.

Policies and regulations to combat human trafficking are motivated by diverse concerns; the concern for the humanity of those who are exploited and the concern for the United States’ economy as it participates in the importation of goods from countries who are knowingly active in the various forms of exploitive work. The following policies have been staples in the movement to combat not just a national but a global issue.

Constant terror, abuse, long days and Isolation. These are the feelings human trafficking victims endure while being held captive and deprived of every basic human right (Behnke 15). When speaking of the term “slavery”, most would think of slaves from past centuries who were brought to North America and were abusively forced to work. However, slavery is not an issue of the past centuries. “Human Trafficking is the term that is used today for modern-day slavery” (Hart 4). Human trafficking manifests through various types of labor exploitation along with sexual exploitation and it is a rapidly increasing problem due to lack of awareness, education and law reinforcement.

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.