Anti-Trafficking Laws Overview

According to the United Nations, Human trafficking has three components: act (what is done), means (how it is done), and purpose (why it is done). Trafficking is a $150 billion dollar global industry, with 20.9 million victims worldwide (Polaris Project, 2017). The majority are victims of forced labor, about a quarter are children, and more than half are women and girls (Polaris Project, 2017). The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 set the stage for federal trafficking laws, with more legislation varying state-to-state.

The TVPA is the “cornerstone of Federal human trafficking legislation” (Polaris Project, 2016). It lays out ways to prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and prevent trafficking. It worked to establish human trafficking and related offenses as federal crimes, attached penalties to these crimes, mandated restitution be paid to victims of trafficking, and established the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons which publishes the TIP report each year (Polaris Project, 2016).   Continue reading Anti-Trafficking Efforts in Ohio →

Human trafficking in the United States has a racialized and classed history. Concerns about trafficking began with anti-slavery and anti-prostitution movements in the 1800s, and moved into a “white slavery” panic, the fear for middle-class white women’s innocence and place in society.  It is easy to see these fears manifested in discourses surrounding human trafficking today. Movies that center around human trafficking many times show “innocent girl-children exploited by treacherous, unscrupulous pimps and criminals,” (Szorenyi et al, 2014) with a racialization of the perpetrators. Human trafficking and sex trafficking have come to be synonymous, when in actuality there are many forms of trafficking besides sex trafficking.

Continue reading Human Trafficking in the US: Misconceptions vs. Reality →