Sex and trafficking has been around for long and local governments are doing their best to make policies that can curb the epidemic. The global nature of the problem has also resulted to its recognition by international bodies like the UN which has laid down standards to be met by all countries UN the fight against sex and trafficking. This paper is going to exhaustively discuss sex and human trafficking and discuss the extent of the problem including the number of people affected by it. The paper will then discuss how the problem occurs and to what extent the problem is dealt with. Lastly, the paper will explain the effectiveness of those actions and what the police could do differently to improve their responses in solving the problem.
The Sex and Human Trafficking problem and the number of people affected by it
In the US, sex and human trafficking is a major problem that is actively happening within our borders. The sex and trafficking industry is multi-billion in nature and cases of its operation are increasing at alarming rates in the US every day (Brinlee, 2018). The industry is large and it estimated to have global profits going up to $150 billion annually with a sum of up to $99 billion in sex exploitation alone (Kessler, 2018). Most of the women are either sold as sex slaves or forced to get into prostitution against their will. The number of people affected by this problem is large and hundreds of thousands individuals are being sold in contrary to their will as sex slaves (Boyce et al., 2018). Among those affected are young children (as young as 3 or 4 years) and teens lured by older people or kidnapped and sold into the industry (Smith, 2011). For instance, in 2017 alone the Federal Human Trafficking Report reported more than 600 active cases of sex trafficking in the country.
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In the National Human Trafficking Hotline, almost 9,000 cases were reported in 2017 which indicates a 13% increase from 2016. The high demand for sex in the country is directly proportional to the cases of sex and trafficking and this will most likely continue to grow unless the high sex demand is reduced. We should all recognize and fight sex and trafficking since it is a modern-day form of slavery and we cannot ignore it.
How Sex and Trafficking occurs
Most of the sex slaves are actually victims of human trafficking who are forced into sexual exploitation. The system begins back at their poor countries (could be Mexico or Eastern Europe) where a billboard advertises lucrative jobs (like housekeeping or waitress) in big cities like Paris or New York (Kessler, 2018). A vulnerable woman often ends up calling the number issued where she is asked to pay some amount of money to secure the job opportunity after which she takes a flight to the respective destination (Smith, 2011). Upon arrival, the woman is not taken to a restaurant or at a home but rather to a brothel where she is sold and forced into prostitution (Kessler, 2018). Since the victim does not know anyone around, she becomes highly exploited to pay her accommodation fee working as a prostitute and threatened by violent treatment or even death in case she tries to flee from the brothel.
The problem, however, is not just from without the American borders as most lost girls and boys in the US are forced to exploit sexually in other big cities and towns. Texas and California have both recorded high numbers of sex and trafficking ( Smith, 2011). According to Tate Santana (2018), the northern part of Texas attracts more cases of sex and trafficking due to its proximity to the border, major airports, and major highways.
How Sex and Trafficking is dealt with
Sex and trafficking is a problem that is faced by most countries and in an effort to reduce it, some countries and seeking to create policies that work best for their cultures while others have no policies at all (Kessler, 2018). International standards, however, have been created by international bodies including the UN to cub the epidemic (Efrat, 2016). The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons came up with universal conditions and standards to be met by all countries to fight and prevent trafficking and also give assistance to its victims.
In the US, suggestions and conditions have been put in place by the Department of State’s Trafficking for the entire nation to follow and comply. Several acts have been proposed to curb the menace in the country. To begin with, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) was authorized to address sex and labor trafficking in the US (Mucha, 2018). The TVPA was the first law to be authorized back in 2000 and it also served to protect survivors of trafficking and prosecute traffickers (Smith, 2011). Recently, the House Bill 133 was passed to address sex and trafficking and it is headed to the Senate. To add on that, the bill H.R. 507 has been around to study the issues related to the epidemic (Mucha, 2018). Last year, the Senate also voted to give approval to anti-sex trafficking bill which focuses on creating a conducive environment that would enable the victims of sex trafficking to look for justice particularly in Internet related recruitments.
Effectiveness of the actions against Sex and Trafficking
The actions are not entirely effective since addressing the variations of sex and trafficking on a global perspective is not easy (Kessler, 2018). This difficulty is highly attributed to the cultural differences, religious differences, and economic variations that make it hard for most countries to implement the standards set within their countries and the UN as well (Smith, 2011). Most of the laws that are laid down are complicated to implement (Efrat, 2016). To add on that, cases of corruption, difference in the justice system, and cultural implementation make the laid down standards difficult to implement the standards at ground level.
Several reauthorizations are being done to the TVPA ever since it was formed and each reauthorization is accompanied by positive changes (Smith, 2011). This act has been effective in several ways including the conviction of more than 15,000 traffickers and the identification of more than 130,000 victims of the epidemic ( Litam, 2017). The bill H.R. 507 has also been undergoing changes in its implementation since it was proposed and currently, Rep. Bass is sponsoring the act to direct the office of the Attorney General to effectively study the issues related to human trafficking (Mucha, 2018). This bill has been effective in addressing and improving the services to victims of the problem, enhanced data gathering on the trends in the menace, and working alongside the victims to obtain as much evidence as possible. According to Kessler (2018), the bill to curb the online recruitment of sex and human trafficking victims was effective and it resulted to around 90% shut-down of sex trafficking online.
Significant improvements in legislations have been recorded at state level. For instance, Massachusetts has created a Human Trafficking Task Force to effectively deal with the epidemic by protecting more trafficking victims and punishing traffickers who use the Internet to lure innocent people into the industry (Beaudet, 2019). However, other states are not having any efforts dealing with the epidemic at all (an example is Wyoming State).
Changes in Police responses to stop Sex and Trafficking
The law enforcements have a primary role of dealing with the perpetrators directly and this has not been successful since most cases of sex and trafficking are still largely underreported while those that have been reported are being investigated at a slower rate (Mucha, 2018). To help reduce this, the law enforcement authorities are required to change their perspectives towards sweatshops and prostitute rings since they seem to think that most of them engage in such services at their own will.
Implementing the new laws to the latter will also enhance their operations and the police should not strongly hang on to the existing law enforcement policies but rather be ready to implement any new suggestions (Mucha, 2018). New approaches include; enhancing their abilities to open up to trafficking victims, creating a better sense of security, and addressing the next steps once they get information on sex and human trafficking (Johnson, 2017). Furthermore, the police are required to be flexible with the new policies and regulations since they mostly collide with other policies and regulations that need to be enforced from other department as well (like Homeland Security) ( Tate, 2018).). Lastly, the police need to realize that sex and human trafficking cases are on the rise in the entire country and just because the issue is not prevalent in the state at which they operate does not mean that it is not around (Mucha, 2018). Due to this, all police officers should always be on the watch out for any potential sex and trafficking case.
Conclusion
To sum up, sex and trafficking cases are felt globally and they need immediate attention both from international bodies and from government bodies. In the US, several policies have been created to fight and prevent the epidemic and most of them have been productive so far. The police can make changes like making changes in their flexibility to enforce the new policies alongside other policies.
References
Beaudet, M. (2019). Trafficked in Massachusetts: Prostitution as pervasive as ever in the Bay State. Retrieved from https://www.wcvb.com/article/trafficked-in-massachusetts-prostitution-as-pervasive-as-ever-in-the-bay-state/27019251
Boyce, S. C., Brouwer, K. C., Triplett, D., Servin, A. E., Magis-Rodriguez, C., & Silverman, J. G. (2018). Childhood Experiences of Sexual Violence, Pregnancy, and Marriage Associated With Child Sex Trafficking Among Female Sex Workers in Two US-Mexico Border Cities. American Journal of Public Health, 108(8), 1049–1054. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304455
Brinlee, M. (2018). 13 Sex Trafficking Statistics That Put The Worldwide Problem Into Perspective. Retrieved from https://www.bustle.com/p/13-sex-trafficking-statistics-that-put-the-worldwide-problem-into-perspective-9930150
Efrat, A. (2016). Global Efforts against Human Trafficking: The Misguided Conflation of Sex, Labor, and Organ Trafficking. International Studies Perspectives, 17(1), 34–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/insp.12097
Johnson, M. (2017). How police can identify, respond to victims of human trafficking. Retrieved from https://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/299013006-How-police-can-identify-respond-to-victims-of-human-trafficking/
Kessler, G. (2018). Has the sex-trafficking law eliminated 90 percent of sex-trafficking ads?.
Litam, S. D. A. (2017). Human Sex Trafficking in America: What Counselors Need to Know. Professional Counselor, 7(1), 45–61.
Mucha, S. (2018). Senate approves anti-sex-trafficking bill.
Smith, H. (2011). Sex Trafficking: Trends, Challenges, and the Limitations of International Law. Human Rights Review, 12(3), 271–286. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-010-0185-4
Tate Santana, M. (2018). Trafficked in Texas: Combatting the Sex-Trafficking Epidemic through Prostitution Law and Sentencing Reform in the Lone Star State. Vanderbilt Law Review, (Issue 5), 1739. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edshol&AN=edshol.hein.journals.vanlr71.46&site=eds-live
