VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING

Human Trafficking For The Purposes of Sexual Exploitation Is Analyzed In Box 2.7 on pages 71 – 77 in the Tenth Edition

How To Spot A Victim Of Human Trafficking

Adds several indicators to the listing on page 77 of Chapter Two of the Tenth Edition.

Individuals who are victims of sex trafficking or labor trafficking might display these signs, according to an outreach pamphlet published by the federal government, as reproduced here. 

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Can transit workers help spot victims of sex trafficking?

Those who operate public and private mass transit systems can be considered to be on the front lines of the campaign to rescue victims of sex trafficking, since almost 2/3 of all victims are moved around by trucks, buses, subways, and trains, as explained here.

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Can Hotel Staffs And Guests Be Trained To Spot Trafficking Victims At Major Sports Events?

Are major sports events in big cities, like the Superbowl, a magnet for sex traffickers to bring in their “captives” to be exploited by the out-of-town fans? Hotel staff and guests are being educated about how to spot trafficking victims forced into prostitution, as described here.

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Q’Anon Promotes Fears About A Fake “Child Sex Trafficking” Epidemic

Describes the latest version of the “missing children” panic that gripped parents in the 1980s and 1990s, as described in Chapter 8.

The “missing child” kidnapping panic is back, but this time the charges are highly politicized. The pro-Trump Q’Anon conspiracy theory cult is duping unsuspecting parents with wild accusations, based on a deceptive campaign to #SaveTheChildren. Read about the false allegations that are raising unwarranted fears about what has happened to children who are missing here.

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Is Prostitution Being Redefined As Sex Trafficking?

Sex workers who say their involvement in prostitution is consensual (as a way of making a living) are beginning to organize and challenge what they call a “moral panic” that equates all forms of prostitution with sex trafficking, as described here.

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Report Provides A Statistical Overview About Sex Trafficking, and Anti-Trafficking Laws, State By State

A law firm has produced an ambitious report that covers a great many issues, as presented here.

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Has the COVID Pandemic Put More People At Risk For Ensnarement Into Sex Trafficking?

The devastating economic downturn at the start of the Pandemic may have forced more financially desperate persons to engage in “survival sex” to raise money, as speculated here.

Some attempts to measure the seriousness of the problem of sex trafficking in the midst of the pandemic appear here.

It seems likely that financially vulnerable people are being drawn into the sex trade in Houston, Texas, according to this report.

Experts from around the world speculate about the effects on the pandemic on sex trafficking in the interviews presented here.

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New York State Law Helps Trafficking Victims.

Victims of human trafficking in New York could have more access to social and legal services because law enforcement officers now must advise persons who they reasonably believe to be or who say they are victims about assistance programs, as reported here.

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Were Sex Trafficking Victims Forced To Perform in a Florida Massage Parlor? 

Illustrates some of the questions surrounding statistics and estimates cited in Box 2.7 on page 76 in Chapter Two of the Tenth Edition about the true scope of sex trafficking in America

The arrest of a billionaire owner of a football team inspired the media to investigate the problem of trafficking victims in massage parlors. At one “day spa” some of the young women from Asia had their passports confiscated by their captors. They worked, ate, and slept in a small store in a Florida strip mall, according to the authorities at a press conference, as recounted here and  here.  

But a few weeks later, at a court proceeding, the government retracted the accusation about sex trafficking. “No one is being charged with human trafficking. There is no human trafficking that arises out of this investigation,” the prosecutor said.

The situation regarding sex trafficking in several parts of the country, and the steps that are being taken to rescue the victims, are discussed here.

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Victims of Sex Trafficking Rescued By U.S. Marshalls

Some vulnerable runaways may become ensnared in the sex trade, and are being sought out by members of this federal agency’s Missing Child Unit , as described here.

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Victims Of Sex Traffickers Rescued By FBI Raiding Parties Across The Land

Updates nationwide statistics about the number of rescued victims appearing on p. 75 in Chapter 2 of the Tenth Edition.

The FBI, along with the U.S. Justice Department’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, as well as the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC),  has been carrying out the “Innocence Lost National Initiative (ILNI)” since 2003. In 2019, “Operation Independence Day” relied on 86 FBI-led Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Forces (CEHTTFs) of state, county, and local police tackled the growing problem of domestic sex trafficking of children within the United States. The health and welfare of recovered minor and adult trafficking victims was addressed by the FBI’s Victim Services Division specialists stationed in 56 field offices.

All of these group efforts since 2003 have led to the recovery or identification of more than 6,600 child victims, and more than 2,750 convictions. During July 2019, 103 child victims were rescued and 67 sex traffickers were arrested by the Operation Independence Day task forces, as summarized here.

However, note that these cases of “trafficking” do not fit the earlier depiction of international smuggling rings deceiving innocent young women and then intimidating them by threatening their families back home. Instead, the offenders are mostly pimps from poor urban communities within the U.S. who are exploiting and oppressing vulnerable minors forced to submit to sex acts.

Some Survivors Of Sex Trafficking Support Decriminalizing Prostitution – But Others Don’t

Because of the violence routinely directed at prostitutes by their pimps and johns, some “sex workers” have urged lawmakers to strip away the penalties for consensual acts between adults. This call for decriminalization has divided victims of sex trafficking and their supporters, as explained here.

RUNAWAY NYC TEEN “TRAFFICKED” AND FORCED INTO PROSTITUTION

A teenage runaway from Manhattan tells a chilling tale about being forced into prostitution in the Bronx. She was held captive, and compelled to submit to sex against her will  with much older men. Now she is a college student, and tells a columnist about her plight and recovery here.

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