Stop Human Trafficking: Modern-Day Slavery and Exploitation - Research Paper

Introduction

Human Trafficking is modern-day slavery in persons, involving victims who get defrauded, forced, or coerced into sexual or labor exploitation. A large number of human trafficking victims are mostly women and children who are trafficked within their own countries and across national borders. Human trafficking occurs in many means. In some cases, false promises are used involving marriage and job opportunities in foreign countries to entrap the victims. In other cases, physical force is applied. It happens to individuals of all genders and ages, and any religious or racial background. The victims often do not seek assistance due to fear of the traffickers, language barrier, and fear of law enforcement. Because it is considered a form of hidden crime, various key indicators can assist people in recognizing any endangerment and notifying law enforcement. In the United States, human trafficking is rampant, making the country to be ranked as one of the worst countries for the crime. The paper focuses on where human trafficking occurs in the United States, its impacts, and how to prevent it.

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Places That Human Trafficking Happens

Human trafficking in the United States occurs in various locations, and it is most prevalent in States such as the Washington D.C, Nevada, Delaware, Nebraska, and California. Washington is on the top in 2019, where per 100,000 people, it reported a rate of 11.66 victims with 34 cases. Then Nevada follows with a rate of 9.97 victims affected per 100,000 individuals, and cases reported were 124. The third state, with the highest rare in Delaware, recording a rate of 4.27 victims, and the number of cases was 14. Then, in Nebraska, the rate was 4.2 victims per 100,000 residences, and cases reported were 25, then lastly, California was number five, with a rate of 4.15 victims per 100,000 people. Human traffickers see California as profitable, low-risk, and high-reward because of its position by the presence of major airports and international borders, which made it record 749 cases of human trafficking in 2019.

Impacts of Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is a multidimensional threat, and itis a global health risk which fuels the growth and spread of organized crimes. The act deprives individuals of their freedom and human rights. More so, human trafficking has a devastating effect on the victims of the crime. People who are trafficked suffer from both emotional and physical abuse, threats against self and family, rape, theft of their passports, and even they might be killed. Also, human trafficking exposes victims to psychological abuse that might incur complicated and severe mental and health consequences.

Only its victims do not felt the effect of human trafficking, but the impact goes beyond the individual victims; it undermines the security and safety of all the nations where it is carried. It affects to a large extend economically vulnerable populations, runaway youth, and persons with disabilities.

Prevention of Human Trafficking

It can be reduced by tightening the existing laws relating to anti-trafficking, which have partially protected victims of human trafficking in the past. The U.S government, through the Trafficking Victim's Protection Act, can need to increase its support on law enforcement to improve investigations and prosecutions, human traffickers.

The government should increase public awareness concerning the crime. There is a need to reach out to broader communities to disseminate more information about the nuances of human trafficking from individuals to take care of themselves so they cannot be victims of the crime.

To successfully stop human trafficking, three P's has to follow, which includes protecting victims, prevent trafficking, and prosecute human traffickers. With the existing legislation on the crime, prosecutors and law officials should be well thought on how to apply such legislation to reduce and prevent human trafficking.

Conclusion

In conclusion, human trafficking is a crime that is the security and freedom of individuals who are vulnerable to the act. It happens in major cities of the United States because of their internationality and geographical locations, which allows cross border movement by people of different countries. There is an agent need to address the crime by tightening law enforcement and prosecutions, then increase public awareness so that citizens can take care of themselves.

Bibliography

Farrell, Amy, and Ieke de Vries. "Measuring the nature and prevalence of human trafficking." The Palgrave International Handbook of Human Trafficking (2020): 147-162. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-319-63058-8_6.pdf

Farrell, Amy, and Rebecca Pfeffer. "Policing human trafficking: Cultural blinders and organizational barriers." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 653, no. 1 (2014): 46-64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716213515835

Sheldon-Sherman, Jennifer, AL. "The Missing P: Prosecution, prevention, protection, and partnership in the trafficking victims' protection act." Penn St. L. Rev. 117 (2012): 443. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/dlr117&div=17&id=&page=