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Skylar Bass

Senior Research Paper

2B

April 7, 2018

Since the 16th-century slavery has been depicted as only blacks being brought from Africa and

forced to work under European rules. Slaves were used to build diverse structures and they were

also exchanged for goods and other warfare. When thinking of the term “slave” many will think

of uneducated blacks, whips, plantations, and a host of southern slang terms. Since slaves were

not paid they were seen as a dependable source of labor. Over the past 500 years, there have been

millions of rallies, activist, and wars fought to end the racial inequalities of slavery and

segregation. Laws have been created in order to support the rights of those that were once taken

away from them. Slavery was abolished in 1865 and people were to look at it as a disgusting

piece of American history that should forever be avoided. But if I were to tell you that slavery

still existed not only in America but throughout the entire world, would you believe me ? These

certain slaves still have masters but they are called traffickers instead. Their lashings are equal to

physical punishment by owners. Their body parts are shown and traded all over the world and

they are exploited as a source of riches for their owners. Aside from its heinous nature, this

particular form of slavery is incredibly lucrative causing even authorities to fall into its

unrelenting grasp. So what is this horrible, exploitive crime that is supposed to outlawed from

countries all over the world? It is sex trafficking: the modern day slavery. Sex trafficking is the

recruitment, harboring, transportation, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial

sex act where money is voluntarily exchanged and the act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion.

It is one of the most profitable crimes in the world today with the least amount of sentencing.
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Sex trafficking involves the forced prostitution of women, children, and men but can also be

subject to any domestic service that a trafficker wants to put them in. Most of these jobs are

childcare, construction work, restaurant work, or other criminal activities. Children in sex

trafficking rings are mostly used for sex tourism. Sex tourism in this sense is the luring of others

into the sex rings by having the children perform acts with each other. There are many factors

that contribute to the phenomena of sex trafficking. According to “Soroptimist – Women's

Organization – Volunteer Organizations” “ Organized crime is responsible for the spread of sex

trafficking.” Sex traffickers find each other in different countries and work together to capture

their victims. Even though prostitution is illegal almost everywhere local law enforcement and

police officers will work together with sex traffickers to spread corruption. There are five key

people in the recruitment process; recruiter, travel agent, forger, an employer, and enforcer. The

recruiter will look for vulnerable people and report back to the enforcer. The travel agent will

work with the forger and create fake documentation that a victim needs to make it out the

country. Once they are out the country the employer will capture and sell the young female or

male off to an enforcer. The enforcer then keeps victims from running away and keeps the police

from arresting the employer. Poverty and political instability with the help of police corruption

make trafficking a global problem. Individual greed and the easy prey also make this a very

appealing crime to many and the known short sentences are hard to resist for many traffickers.

Although sex trafficking is just beginning to have national coverage its history is rather

extensive. Sex trafficking can be dated as far back as to 1840 starting with indentured servants

forced into prostitution. The sexual trade of the servants began with other countries and the

known sex trafficking ring was created. Race, ethnicity, and backgrounds determined what

country and trafficker you went to in the past days of sex trafficking. Present day sex trafficking
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is not based on your gender or ethnicity mainly but mostly on your everyday life and

background. According to (2014) National Trafficking Hotline, “ Sex trafficking can be arranged

into three major populations of people.” These three groups are children under the age of 18

induced into sexual acts. Adults and children forced into commercial sex through force or

coercion and anyone forced to engage in sexual acts or domestic jobs involving sexual acts.

Trafficking victims come from all over the world and have very different backgrounds. Pimps

usually want someone from a broken home that are easy to brainwash. They search for boys and

girls that are seeking the attention from someone because they never had it. A lot of rescued

victims have a history with abuse and drugs. Trafficking is broken into groups in order for

authorities to try to crack down and understand the focus of potential victims and to set

boundaries between sex trafficking and prostitution. Officers throughout the countries are also

trying to study the pattern and locations of victims to prevent further incidents from happening.

Purple Teardrop Association” reveals to us that most victims come from underdeveloped

countries. Most victims are from Thailand, China, Nigeria, Albania, and Bulgaria. The greatest

destination places are Japan, Israel, Belgium, and the United States.

. Police all over the world are trying to work together to disband many sex trafficking rings.

While there are a lot of government officials trying to eliminate the groups there are thousands

working with traffic leaders for their benefit. Officers nationwide are falling into corruption that

has plenty of benefits for them . They will sneak victims through the borders and stop other

officers from investigating rings that they find out about. The benefits include cash rewards and

sometimes sexual acts by victims in exchange for hideouts and the destruction of information

that could lead to bust of a traffickers ring. A case was studied by authorities in Washington, DC

for the disappearances of the many missing girls there. In (2014) author Atieno, Evelyn “ The
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Huffington Post” writes about the case saying that the girls were indeed in a sex trafficking ring

and that the local police were involved and covering the tracks so that they and the people they

were working with would not get caught. In the United States it is being found that hundreds of

police officers are working with traffickers and are sometimes even starting their own rings.

Traffickers in other countries rely on police corruption in order to recruit new victims with

detection. Countries with the most police corruption are affected the most when it comes to

trafficking outflow. Police corruption add to the various way that traffickers are getting their

victims. ” High Speed Training Hub” informs us that traffickers use methods of force, false

advertisements, romance, and kidnapping to lure their victims. Force includes threats to hurt

family members, physical abuse, and kidnapping. There have been instances where a person will

get into a relationship with a trafficker and promises of romance will be told. Pimps will form

romantic relationships with victims . It usually starts out as the perfect relationship and the pimp

will be a complete charmer. This forces the victim to fall in love with them and to sometimes

neglect their friends or family. Pimps will also suggest things as moving out of the country to

have a” better life.” Victims will be so blinded by love that they will willingly go out of the

country and then the trafficker will show their true colors. Another commonly used tactic is false

advertising. Traffickers will promote interesting jobs and advertise them in legitimate places

such as newspapers and phonebooks. Most of these jobs are things such as maids, nannies,

cooks, or positions in tourism. Once they arrive for the job most are raped and tortured in other

ways and enter the trafficking ring. One of the most surprising methods of contact is the selling

of a victim through a family member. Countries suffering through extreme poverty, famish, and

disarray will sell the children in their family in exchange for money, clothing, and food.

Sometimes the money is paid to families but there have been cases where families will never
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receive any money and their loved one will be gone forever. Recruitment of new slaves will even

be done by old slaves. Pimps will usually have a favorite slave that they use in recruitment

sessions. Older victims will be in flashy clothing and drive nice cars that will entice people and

bring them in. The slaves will then use the same methods of recruitment used on them and trick

people into doing things they did not sign up for. A method based on mind control and

manipulation is abusing religious beliefs. In certain regions where everything is based on

religion, traffickers will abuse their belief system and act as if they put a sort of curse on

victims. They exert control over them and tell them that they must repay their debt and that if

they don't karma will happen their families. Religion means everything to these groups of people

and they believe that death will fall upon them or their family if they refuse to do what their

masters says. The last and most disturbing forms of recruitment are “ baby factories.” Hundreds

of underaged girls are abducted and placed together and are forced to become pregnant numerous

times by grown men. Their babies are then sold all over the world to clients that are willing to

pay thousands of dollars. The underaged girls never receive any of the money and are kept by

their will and are even worked by traffickers. Although it seems as if it would be easy to locate a

“ baby farm” it is not because they are disguised as hospitals, orphanages, and retirement homes.

Pornography is a new and interesting form of sex trafficking recruitment. Pornography is visual

content containing the display of sexual organs and sexual activities, used to stimulate sexual

pleasure and feelings. Most of the stars used in pornographic movies have consented and paid for

the films that are made. That is not the case in sex trafficking. ( 2017) author Lillie, Michelle

“The Connection Between Sex Trafficking and Pornography Human Trafficking” pornography

is a new recruiting method for victims. Victims are filmed and their videos are shown all over the

world. Pornographic videos are also sent to other traffickers to decide if they would like to trade
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victims or not. Not only are the videos used as a recruitment method but it is also used a training

method for victims. Owners will play pornographic material and tell their victims to do the

certain sexual positions that they see . Pornographic films are are shot and sold to other

traffickers as a form of advertising to others wanting to partake in a sex trafficking ring.

Manipulation is used here because traffickers say things such “ look at yourself” or “ nobody

wants you” after they watch the videos they have made and victims begin to believe what they

are saying is true. These videos also haunt victims after they are rescued from rings. Rescued

victims are a emotional wreck after they are rescued. They have been manipulated, used,abused,

and lied to for as long as weeks, months, and even years. Families have not been together for

holidays and have missed important moments because their loved ones have gone. It seems that

victims should be rescued and learn to cope and should enjoy their new freedom ,but that is not

always the case. Thousand of rescued victims will return to their owners every year. Some get

accustomed to the fast way of living and enter the ring willingly as a prostitute. In (2016) author

Mehlman-Orozco, Kimberly of “What Happens after a Human Trafficking Victim Is 'Rescued'?”

interviewed a former trafficking victim that returned to her master. The interviewee reported that

at a time where she could not find a steady job and do not have any income, she returned to her

victimizer. The romance appeal comes back into play a lot with victims that return. A victimizer

will reach out to former victims and apologize numerous times. False promises will be made and

the victim will be in contact with their victimizer. Victims will then fall back in love with their

owner and everything will seem fine again. Physical and drug abuse will start to show again and

many victims find themselves back enslaved in the ring. There are times when a person will re-

enter the ring as a prostitute but will end up being enslaved again by their owners. This one of

the many reasons why it is so difficult to prosecute and keep traffickers inside of prisons. When a
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trafficker is arrested they will most times strike so much fear into a victim that they will not

testify against them. Owners will threaten victims lives and even their families lives as a way to

quiet them down. Studies has found sex traffickers usually get less time than drug dealers if any

at all . But why is this ? Why do drug dealers and a person that takes underage children and sells

their bodies for the benefits of themselves get a lesser sentence ? Author Costantini, Cristina.

“Why Did These Sex Traffickers Only Get A Slap on the Wrist?” ( 2013) tells us that Barriers

such as their victims being too afraid to testify, legislation sees prostitution as a misdemeanor

crime, and the short sentencing scares away many victims because they will believe that the

trafficker will only get a short sentence . Some owners hold so much power over their victims

that they will not testify, but some will also take the side of the trafficker as well.Federal law

requires you to be able to prove that the sexual acts were by force or coercion. In some countries

prostitution is viewed as only a misdemeanor crime and when traffickers are arrested they will

manipulate their victims into turning themselves in as prostitutes. This forces the light to be

taken from traffickers and shone on the victims. There is also a concept called “ traumatic

bonding.” This is when a victims feels that a trafficker is their only source of protection. The

back and forths of abuse and reward and punishment creates a very strong bond between owner

and victim. Because promoting prostitution is only considered a misdemeanor, it will not be

taken serious or carry any serious sentences. The last reason why police have such a hard time

putting traffickers in jail is because witnesses and victims already know that sex trafficking

carries a short sentence so they do not bother to say anything. Sometimes they feel that they will

only be in jail a short time and then will come back and kill them. Constantino feels that officers

and federal agents need to always be thinking ahead of a sex trafficker in order to keep them in

prison. She believes that you can not stop at just imprisoning the trafficker but that you must also
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shut down the entire ring. Connections, other victims, and other officers involved in the rings

must be investigated and prosecuted in order to show people that sex trafficking is real and is

happening everywhere. "We have to find a way to be as sophisticated as traffickers are

themselves." Finding out the ways that a trafficker thinks and always suspecting their next move

is beneficial to stopping sex trafficking in the world. Being able to spot out the keys signs of

abuse and sex trafficking is crucial in prevention. DeGarmo, Dr. John. “5 Ways You Can Help

Stop Child Sex Trafficking, of the Huffington Post writes “ There are nearly 300,000 children

trafficked in the world yearly.” He also gives us five key steps to help stop sex trafficking. Being

educated on what trafficking is and what it means is the number one way to prevent it from

happening. You should be able to recognize the signs and report any suspicious activity that you

feel is related to sex trafficking. You should not only be educated yourself but you should be an

advocate for sex trafficking and teach other people that do not know the signs of human

trafficking. Spreading awareness and teaching about the importance of prevention can not only

stop trafficking in your country, but globally as well. Throughout the article it says that you

should write to local newspapers and to have meetings with your local and state legislatures in

order to press the issue of sex trafficking. Globally countries are working together to get rid of

this monster of a crime. “In 2003, the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking

in Persons established a universal trafficking definition and set a goal for countries to prevent

and combat trafficking and assist victims” Jesionka, Natalie. “What's Being Done to Stop Human

Trafficking?” ( 2016 ). Different economic systems and cultures are proving to be some

challenges when trying to come together to create international laws to prevent sex trafficking. In

the United States TVPA ( Trafficking Victims Protection Act) was created to ensure that victims

that were once apart of a ring would be protected now that they were out. Their main goal is to
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protect trafficked survivors. In South Korea they barely meet the standards for preventing sex

trafficking. In South Korea there are acts to make sure that sex traffickers get harsh sentences but

there is not a clear legislation that states what sex trafficking actually is. In Sweden there is a law

called “ Kvinnofrid” and it states that it is illegal to by sex. The country does say that selling sex

is illegal. This does not necessarily make sex trafficking stop but it does force prostitutes to work

in secret. Some countries are taking the voice of their people over the choices of surrounding

countries. Denmark for example laws state that prostitution is not against their laws. They have

support groups for their prostitutes. Sex and human trafficking is illegal there and they offer

services to victims of sexual trafficking. Trying to effectively implement trafficking laws is very

challenging. There are a ton of barriers that make it hard globally for everyone to work together

and to cooperate to create the international laws needed in order to stop sex trafficking. Human

trafficking is one of the most deplorable international crimes and has been growing over the past

few years. Women, men, and most children are twisted up and manipulated into this messed up

sex ring every year. Families are broken, children are missed, and even some people lose their

lives every day because of sex trafficking. It is a non- discriminatory crime that preys on the

vulnerabilities of others. It is a twisted and dark pathway of pain, abuse, and struggle that some

victims can never overcome. Victims can be any age, race, background, or culture and

experience human trafficking. This international phenomenon is driven by poverty and despair

caused by economic turmoil. It is also fueled by the greed and corruption of those who are

supposed to protect you. Manipulation through faith and religion forces victims to believe that

they are doing the best and that they must repay their debt to their owners. Romance turns into an

ongoing cycle of abuse, exploitation, and seduction again. The promise of a decent income can

result in your body parts being shown to the entire world and you being sold as if you were
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nothing. Victims lose all sense of self esteem and begin to feel as if their enforcer is the only

person that they can turn too. Trust is broken from families and victims being to turn on each

other. Sometimes victims enjoy the fast life that they live and begin to recruit other people to go

on a deteriorating path they experienced. Global efforts have been put forward in order combat

the sale of humans. There should be more punishments and laws regarding human trafficking.

Without the fear of harsh sentencing enforcers will never stop enslaving people and victimizing

them. If countries could cooperate and come up with international laws that would benefit the

economic struggles that some are experiencing , sex trafficking would go down by the thousands.

People would not have to experience this modern day form of slavery and have their dignity

shred because someone decided to take advantage of them. Maybe the answer to stopping this

heinous crime is to come together and fund to support the research and awareness of sex

trafficking. We must work towards the end of modern-day slavery, together or it shall never be

done.

Bibliography

1. Atieno, Evelyn. “A Number Of Police Have Been Arrested For Human Trafficking - Could

They Be A Part Of The Missing Girls In DC?” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26

Mar. 2017,

2. Costantini, Cristina. “Why Did These Sex Traffickers Only Get A Slap on the Wrist?” ABC

News, ABC News Network, 28 June 2013,

3. . DeGarmo, Dr. John. “5 Ways You Can Help Stop Child Sex Trafficking.” The Huffington

Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Jan. 2018,

4. Jesionka, Natalie. “What's Being Done to Stop Human Trafficking?” Free Career Advice,

The Muse, 1 Feb. 2013,

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5. Lillie, Michelle. “The Connection Between Sex Trafficking and Pornography • Human

Trafficking Search.” Human Trafficking Search, 22 Aug. 2017

6. Mehlman-Orozco, Kimberly. “What Happens after a Human Trafficking Victim Is 'Rescued'?”

The Hill, 29 July 2016

7.“Methods of Human Trafficking: Modern Slavery Guidance.” High Speed Training Hub, 31

May 2017

8. “The Victims.” National Human Trafficking Hotline, 7 Oct. 2014

9. “Sex Trafficking.” Polaris, 26 Oct. 2017

10. “Where Do Trafficked People Come from?” Purple Teardrop

11. “Facts on Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery | Soroptimist.” Soroptimist – Women's

Organization – Volunteer Organizations

12. “Human Trafficking Research Questions.” Powered by Sites at Penn State - WordPress,

sites.psu.edu/gddavisrclblog/2013/02/08/human-trafficking-research-questions/.