Running head: EMANCIPATION FROM SEXUAL SUBJUGATION 1

Emancipation from Sexual Subjugation: The Fight Against Human Sex Trafficking

Charles A. Tamayo Jr.

Legal Studies Academy at First Colonial High School

EMANCIPATION FROM SEXUAL SUBJUGATION 2

Abstract

The gravity of human sex trafficking in the United States will be unfolded in this paper.

The author begins with the methods that perpetrators take in conducting sex trafficking in order

to understand how victims become subjected to this crime. Following is the impact that sex

trafficking has on its victims, both medically, and legally. The author follows by discussing the

profiles of the victims themselves, and their experiences during their servitude, trials, and

beyond. The manner in which the government seeks to eradicate human trafficking is placed

under microscope. Finally, the author compares sex trafficking in the United Kingdom to the

current situation in the United States.

Keywords: Sex trafficking, human trafficking, transnational trafficking, prosecution

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Emancipation from Sexual Subjugation: The Fight Against Human Sex Trafficking

When she became a teenager, Alyssa Beck ran away from home to escape her abusive

father. When she was caught lying about her name while she was drinking and using drugs, she

was sentenced to a treatment facility for her illegal and dangerous substances usage, but was

convinced into running away to Jacksonville with a prostitute. After being preyed upon by

various traffickers that showered her with clothes, makeup, and food, a trafficker ultimately

gained Alyssaʼs trust. Alyssaʼs trafficker would rape her, abuse her, and threaten to hurt her

family to force her to stay and to be prostituted out to random men. She attempted to flee twice,

succeeding on her second attempt, when she was hospitalized and discovered by authorities. Her

trafficker would be given a life sentence in jail for the horrors he committed while trafficking

that 15 year-old girl. Unfortunately, she would become a victim again just a year later (Miller,

2018). Alyssa Beck’s story is one of thousands of the various victims of sex trafficking within

the United States.

Human trafficking is defined by the United Nations as “the recruitment, transportation,

transfer, harbouring … of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of

coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception … for the purpose of exploitation” (UNODC, n.d.).

Human trafficking is considered a form of slavery in today’s day and age (Department of

Homeland Security, n.d.). In recent years, human trafficking has grown to become one of the

largest criminal activities in the world, with the most prevalent circumstance being commercial

sex trafficking (Federal Bureau of Investigation, n.d.). It is estimated that anywhere from 14,500

to 17,500 human trafficking victims enter the U.S. annually while still in captivity (Sabyan,

Smith, & Tanneeru, 2011). It is also estimated that there could be 1.5 million people that are still

in captivity in the United States, much of that population being minors (Ark of Hope for
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Children, 2017). Perhaps one of the greatest issues with human trafficking is the lack of public

awareness. Despite the horrors that occur against victims of sex trafficking in the United States,

there is an inadequacy of protections and services offered to the victims, and the traffickers do

not truly meet justice.

Perpetrators

Methods of Perpetrators

In order to examine the plight of these victims of sex trafficking, it must be noted how

they are captured by the traffickers. One method that various traffickers use is the “Romeo”

method, where a gang member or an individual trafficker meets a teen or young adult female and

proceeds to date her. The girl falls in love with the trafficker after being showered with

expensive gifts and going to parties that contain alcohol and drugs. When the girl begins to feel

that she owes the trafficker for the generosity and the attention, she is coerced into performing

commercial sex acts to pay back the love and affection (Lederer, n.d., pp. 5-7).

Once they have started being trafficked, the traffickers use various types of coercions to

keep the victims in their current state of bondage. They use economic coercion to keep the

victim dependent on the trafficker for basic necessities; psychological to isolate victims from

emotional contact and to degrade them; chemical to force an addiction of drugs; and violence

against the victims to prevent them from ultimately escaping. While it would be reasonable to

believe that most traffickers commit acts of violence against their victims, and many certainly

threaten to, only 12% of traffickers do so (U.S. Department, 2016, pp. 13-14).

Once the traffickers have their products, they need a way to sell their victims in order to

make money. The primary method of making sure their products are being sold on the market is

through advertisement. Traffickers would place ads on websites such as Backpage and Craigslist
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in order to attract clients for their victims (Jackman, 2018). After the recent passage of the Fight

Online Sex Trafficking Act, there was almost an 80% drop of online sex ads (Cohn, 2018).

However, trafficking will still occur, by both current means, older means, and will adapt to

create new ways to advertise victims. Another modus operandi of sex traffickers is to put

exploitation of their victims online as pornography. Any prostitution or pornographic content of

children are illegal, and INHOPE, reports that there are over 80,000 URLS that have child

ponography worldwide. Due to it being worldwide, there is the potential for victims of

trafficking to be exploited online by any person at any time at any place. 9% of that content has

been transferred by payment (Capaldi, 2017, pp. 2-3), giving another avenue for traffickers to

make money in a way that lacks the risk of the victim being arrested. There is some fear that

Bitcoin can become a further driver of human trafficking, due to the crypto-currency being

untraceable (Europol, 2014). However, that concern has not manifested itself so far in present

times, as there are not many trafficking cases involving Bitcoin that the FBI has encountered (T.

Roese, personal communication, November 8, 2018).

Gang Involvement

While there are many independent traffickers, many human trafficking cases are

committed by organized criminal gangs. A gang is defined as an association where there is a

purpose to commit crimes and an identity that its members create and embrace (Jaffe, 2015).

The traditional view of gangs is that their income comes as a result of the drug and illegal

weapons trade. Such criminal activity has its risks for gangs, in that the trade can be traced back

to them, as well as the fact that the gangs must first purchase these illegal items before they can

sell them and make money. In recent years, more and more gangs have entered into the sex

trafficking business, in that there are plentiful victims to find, and victims may be sold
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repetitively, as opposed to a one-time use substance (Stelter, 2016). The evidence of such a shift

towards sex trafficking by criminal gangs in the United States is quantifiable when there have

been over 200 known instances (Lillie, 2013). These gangs sprawl across the country,

attempting to leave their own mark while gathering as much money as they can. It was observed

in San Diego County that more than half of inmates were members of a gang, and a third of the

inmates facilitated in human trafficking (U.S. Department, 2016, p. 12).

Transnational Trafficking

While many of these victims of human trafficking are from the United States, it would be

an injustice to not cover victims of transnational trafficking. Transnational trafficking occurs

when victims are trafficked from another country into the United States. As previously stated,

there is a population of anywhere from 14,500 to 17,500 victims of transnational trafficking, as

they are brought into the United States to be trafficked (Sabyan, et al., 2011).

While these victims of transnational trafficking can come from anywhere in the world,

most of these victims are trafficked across the US’s southern border with Mexico. There is a

significant amount of illegal immigration that occurs across the US’s border with Mexico, where

the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detains numerous crossers daily. Many immigrants

from Central America and Mexico chose to do this due to poverty and violence where they come

from. When they approach the border, they are led across by smugglers of Mexican cartels.

Those who do not pay the cartel smugglers have heightened risk of becoming victims of

transnational trafficking due to their indebtedness. Of significant concern are minors who

attempt to enter the United States both illegally and without their parents. From October of 2016

to June of 2017, US Border control apprehended over 30,000 children who were crossing the

border without an adult family member (Yan, 2017). These minors are at a hightened risk of
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being trafficked, due to their lack of parental supervision and vulnerability to traffickers. Human

trafficking has a larger hidden presence in illegal immigration than many people would

recognize or dare to think of. Much of the news coverage towards the recent migrant caravan

that traveled across Central America and Mexico from Honduras towards the United States has

focused on how these migrants are fleeing corruption, poverty, and violence in search of a better

life. Unfortunately, it is estimated that nearly 100 of those migrants are currently being

trafficked, and their trafficking would continue in the United States should they enter and not be

separated from their traffickers at the border (Osborne, 2018).

Victims

At Risk Demographics

While sex trafficking can occur to any person from any situation or background, there are

several demographics victims of sex trafficking originate primarily from. The National Human

Trafficking Hotline is a free hotline, operated by Polaris, that runs 24 hours a day to combat

human trafficking. In 2016, the hotline identified that 7 out of 10 victims that called were adult

females. Another 27% of calling victims were minors, and transgender victims represented less

than 1% (National Human Trafficking Hotline, 2017). Upon examination of the minors who are

sex trafficked, these children do not come from the best backgrounds. Troubled upbringings and

poor economic status have caused the foster care system and runaways to be targets for sex

traffickers (Department of Justice, 2017). A lack of parental acceptance has resulted in gay and

transgender minors being vulnerable to trafficking. The lack of legal status for undocumented

immigrants causes for several victims to not report their trafficking status, out of fear of

deportation (Romero, 2014).

Exploitation of Minors
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While it is impossible to know the exact number of children who are currently being sex

trafficked, there is an estimate that the population is above 300,000 (Ark of Hope for Children,

2017). Because of how children are generally unable to provide for themselves and tend to be

more believing, it is fairly easy for traffickers to build dependence on false trust that results in

children prostituting themselves out at the direction of the traffickers. The dependence makes it

less likely for the minors to report their trafficking status and to leave the situation (Department

of Justice, 2017). Ultimately, this become more profitable for the trafficker, as they can have a

victim in captivity for a much longer period.

As technology, the internet, and social media continue to grow, minors become more and

more susceptible and in danger of trafficking. Traffickers have begun recruiting minors through

catfishing, or creating false internet identities to lure people into some sort of relationship.

Social media allows for all kinds of people to be connected to one another, which means that

traffickers can have contact and conversations with potential victims online. The risk of

trafficking is severe, as 3 in 10 teen girls have met up with strangers that they have met online

(Lohmann, 2013). Traffickers are able to make more effective contacts with potential recruits

than many people would realize, due to teens and adolescents having lower self-confidence and

wanting to be wanted by someone, and traffickers are willing and able to do so through

grooming (WCET, 2015). Traffickers are also able to gain vast amounts of information from

potential victims without putting in much effort either. Many teenagers on their social media

profiles include their name, date of birth, area code they live in, and school they attend. That is

all public, even if the person has a private account. The actual posts themselves, whether on

public or private accounts, can contain more personal information about the person. This all

gives the trafficker more access to a victim before they become a victim.
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Treatment of Victims

Prosecution of victims. The criminal justice system is structured to punish people who

commit crimes, sometimes placing them behind bars. While the perpetrators of human

trafficking do go behind bars after they are caught, they are not the only ones who do. The

safevictims themselves often end up behind bars, for prostitution that they were forced to engage

in during their captivity. Out of the 50 states in the union, only 22 states have passed safe harbor

laws, which protects minors who are trafficked from prosecution for prostitution and other

crimes they may have been forced to commit while in captivity (Romero, 2014). It should be

noted that these safe harbor laws only apply to minors in a select few states, so if a minor was

being trafficked and they weren’t in a state with safe harbour laws, it’s even more bad luck. This

is exemplified in the case of Cyntoia Brown who was a victim of sex trafficking. At age 16, she

killed her trafficker who had raped and abused her. She was convicted of murder and robbing

her trafficker, and will not be eligible for parole until age 69. As a victim of sex trafficking, she

will be in jail for 56 years (Raphelson, 2017).

While there are some situations where child victims are protected from prosecution, adult

victims of human trafficking can still be prosecuted for crimes committed during their

trafficking. This fear of prosecution makes victims of trafficking more reluctant to report their

trafficking status, which keeps them trafficked for many years more on time. As Special Agent

Ted Roese of the Norfolk FBI’s Civil Rights Program explains, “it is easier for us to convince

minors to come forward because the federal government does not prosecute minors,” but the lack

of protection for adults and older victims makes cooperation less frequent (T. Roese, personal

communication, November 8, 2018).

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Experiences of victims during trials. In the occasions where victims are not being

prosecuted at that moment, they are called to be witnesses in the trials of their perpetrators. Due

to previous encounters with the criminal justice system, these victims of human trafficking are

not always able to give a good enough testimony in the trials of their perpetrators, which could

cause them to get off free of their crimes (Stelter, 2016). The treatment that these victims

receive in their preliminary interactions with law enforcement can influence their reporting of

their experience, as well as their recollections of the instances. Significant variations as a result

of distress and trauma can give the perpetrator’s legal team opportunities to object to the

testimonies and to ultimately discredit the victim (Office for Victims of Crime, n.d.). The

overall environment of the courtroom can be both intimidating and stressful, for people of all

backgrounds, whether they are victims of crimes or not. When factoring the traumatic

experiences that many of these victims of human trafficking have gone through at the hands of

their captors, the intimidation factor will only increase when being confronted by both their

perpetrators, the defense lawyers, and possibly the general public who have an interest in the

case. While it is important to provide due process and a fair trial to the accused of human

trafficking, precautions must be taken in order to protect the victim (Chapter 5 Tool 5.18, 2008).

Healthcare system. When these victims are ultimately discovered and rescued by

authorities, there are a multitude of health issues that need to be dealt with. These victims of

trafficking have also suffered from various forms of violence that result in the immediate issues

of broken bones, STDs, dental problems; and the longer term issues of PTSD, suicidal thoughts,

dependence on narcotics, and insomnia. These victims of sex trafficking can spend up to 20

times more time with an individual health care provider than a regular victim of domestic
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violence, with most providers not having the capabilities to deal with the medical needs of

trafficking victims (Dovydaitis, 2010, pp. 462-467).

Government and community support systems. As a result of the time spent as a victim

of human trafficking, many of these victims of human trafficking are not able to afford their

medical, physical, and psychological needs that they have incurred in their trafficking status. 22

states in the US have set aside funds for the treatment of trafficking victims. Those services

range from medical care, mental health and substance abuse, job training, and a place to stay

(Waugh, 2018). The federal government goes further, providing grants to organizations who

already provide services to victims of human trafficking, so they can continue their services and

expand them to assist more victims (T. Roese, personal communication, November 8, 2018). In

2017, the Department of Justice gave $16.2 million to organizations for trafficking victim

services (Department of State, 2018, pp. 442-449). The Samaritan House is one such

organization in Hampton Roads that works with the federal government to assist victims of

human trafficking with various services, and have helped 57 victims to date (Samaritan House,

2018). The Virginia Beach Justice Initiative is an advocacy group centered in Hampton Roads.

Like the Samaritan House, the VBJI assists in finding safe housing, clothing, and medical care,

but the VBJI goes further, in offering goal planning and career development to victims, both

those currently transitioning back into society and those who are imprisoned for their release

(Virginia Beach Justice Initiative, n.d.).

When victims are freed from their trafficking status, many have difficulty returning home

or transitioning back into normal life. While the many of the community organizations above do

a superb job in fixing those issues for many, there is one population that has a large question

mark over its head: victims of transnational trafficking. These victims are not citizens of the
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United States, and their legal status in this country, while maybe shaky or non-existent initially,

is certainly called into question. These victims had spend years suffering in a country that is not

their own, and have been separated from their country and family members. A return to their

home countries would prompt both the risk of being trafficked again, poor living conditions, and

a lack of services needed for both their psychological and physical health. For various victims of

transnational trafficking, there are T visas available. A T visa is a non-immigrant visa that is

distributed to victims of trafficking who are not citizens of the United States. There were only

672 visas distributed in 2017, almost 100 less than in 2016. This is due to more barriers in

becoming eligible for the visas, but the vast majority of those who are eligible and apply, recieve

them (Department of State, 2018, pp. 445). Unfortunately for those victims who either do not

qualify or do not receive the T visas, they must return to their home country, despite the various

problems they may have.

Prosecution

Methods of Investigation and Identification

The first step law enforcement must take in the investigation sex trafficking is the

identification of potential victims. Many victims may show indicators of narcotic addictions to

deal with their environment, feelings of shame and helplessness, and physical abuse. These

victims may also not have any identification on them, are unable to leave certain locations, and

are constantly accompanied by another person who speaks on their behalf (National Human

Trafficking Resource Center, n.d.). Sex trafficking victims also tend to show signs of paranoia,

are not financially independent or secure, and cannot accurately and consistently explain

themselves (USCCB, n.d.). Many of these psychological and physical problems can become bad

enough for them to require medical attention, and ultimately some victims receive treatment
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while in captivity, but they continue to be trafficked because those who provide the treatment

and others do not report it (Dovydaitis, 2010, pp. 462-467).

Most medical and law enforcement professionals share a commonality in a lack of

training for identification of sex trafficking victims. Of all local law enforcement agencies

across the United States, only 18% have training on human trafficking, 9% have protocols on

how to handle human trafficking cases, 4% have specialized units, 75% do not think human

trafficking is a problem in their community, and 7% investigated human trafficking cases (A.

Farrell, Ph.D., speech, October 29, 2010). It ought to be reiterated again that this is not due to a

lack of human trafficking, but the failures in fighting this issue. Even with training in this issue,

there are still numerous challenges that a report submitted to the National Institute of Justice

identifies that law enforcement encounters. The first problem encountered is the reliance on

victim statements and any corroboration that can be done, due to the few occasions where the

police can catch sex trafficking in action. Anything and everything that can be done to reassure

the victim and make them comfortable enough to tell their case of how they are being trafficked

must be done. Another issue is victim credibility, where the trauma a victim has received may

make them reluctant or unable to give a consistent testimony at hearings, trials, affidavits, or

reports. It is recommended by the report that law-enforcement use a Goldilocks-like technique

for interviewing victims of sex trafficking; not too few to not cultivate trust between the victims

and police, but not too many to give flashbacks of the sufferings for the victim (National

Institute, 2012, pp. 105-141).

The federal government has an array of organizations within the Department of Justice

that are specifically designed to combat human trafficking. The Human Trafficking Prosecution

Unit is a part of the Civil Rights Division, consisting of prosecutors, investigators, and victim-
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witness specialists. The Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit leads the Anti-Trafficking

Coordination Team Initiative, a collaboration of federal agents and prosecutors across various

agencies that has divied up various areas of human trafficking cases to increase investigations

and prosecutions through specialization of resources (U.S. Department of Justice, 2017, pp. 6-7).

Within the FBI’s Civil Rights Unit, there are Human Trafficking Task Forces in every single FBI

field office, which partners with local law enforcement and federal law enforcement to conduct

collaborative investigations and prosecutions on both the local and federal levels. The FBI’s

Violent Crimes Against Children Section has taken over the jurisdiction of child sex trafficking

from the Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes investigating cases of child

pornography (U.S. Department, 2017, pp. 11).

Laws

Virginia laws. The first significant law on the books for the Commonwealth of Virginia

that is significant to sex trafficking is Virginia Code § 18.2-346. This law classifies prostitution

as a Class 1 misdemeanor, while having commercial sex acts with minors are felonies (Va. Code

Ann. § 18.2-346, 2014). It is under this law that many victims are prosecuted, as well as people

who engage in intercourse with children victims. It is built upon by Virginia Code § 18.2-348,

which prohibit people from assisting the act of prostitution (Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-348, 2014).

That particular law is significant because it applies directly to the traffickers, because they are

facilitating the prostitution acts. The traffickers face another charge nearly identical to the

previous one in Virginia Code § 18.2-357.1, which essentially criminalizes the facilitation sex

trafficking (Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-357.1, 2015).

As many victims of trafficking are held in their status and detained, Virginia Code §

18.2-355 has been designed to combat the detainment of people and their subjugation them into
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sex trafficking (Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-355, 2015). This detainment can be a result of abduction,

where Virginia Code § 18.2-47 defines abduction as seizing another person through force or

deception and to rob them of their freedoms (Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-47, 1997). Virginia Code §

18.2-48 expands on the previous law by criminalizing abduction that is meant for the purposes of

prostitution or creation of child pornography (Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-48, 2011).

Because many instances of sex trafficking occur as a result of gangs or criminal

organizations, there are two laws that specifically target when multiple people work together to

traffick a person. Virginia Code § 18.2-22 addresses when someone works with another person

to commit a crime that is a felony under Virginia law. Even if the person does not commit the

crime itself, someone can be charged with this law if they work with someone to commit the

crime, which is conspiracy (Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-22, 1983). Virginia Code § 18.2-513 targets

the actions of street gangs whose members actively work together to commit crimes, such as sex

trafficking (Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-513, 2015).

Federal laws. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, often abbreviated as the

TVPA, is the primary federal law dealing with human trafficking in the United States. The

TVPA created the “T” visa, where certain nonimmigrants who were in the United States as a

result of trafficking can seek to stay in the United States and find a new kind of work. The

United States now issues a Trafficking in Persons report every year, which examines the issue of

human trafficking in the US and other countries, and makes recommendations on how to better

address the issue in each country. A task force was created amongst various federal agencies in

order to better fight human trafficking through increased coordination of efforts. The TVPA

provided that services and funding will be provided to assist victims, and most importantly, set
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the groundwork for future federal anti-trafficking laws by declaring human trafficking to be a

federal crime that is of national concern (Victims of Trafficking, 2000).

Recently, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 was

signed into law. This law gives the federal government and agencies the authority to stop

websites that have advertisements for sex trafficking, which facilitates the crime (Allow States,

2018). Almost immediately after this law was passed, Backpage.com was seized by the

Department of Justice, due to the high volume of human trafficking ads. The resistance to action

of Backpage.com resulted in many of their high level employees to be arrested by federal

authorities (NBC News, 2018). The recent law has also led to Craigslist dropping their personal

ads, due to the high amounts of sex trafficking and prostitution that was being solicited and

facilitated (Chokshi, 2018).

Case law. In a case from Miami-Dade County, Florida, the constitutionality of federal

laws against human trafficking were questioned by Justin Evans. Evans began trafficking a 14

year-old girl by giving her a cell phone to keep in contact and to schedule hookups with clients.

Evans also provided condoms for his victim that were not manufactured in Florida. After

numerous hospitalizations for AIDS, the victim finally stopped being trafficked by Evans. After

being convicted, Evans challenged his conviction of affecting interstate commerce because he

had only trafficked his victim in Florida. The conviction was upheld because his actions

contributed to the national issue of sex trafficking, he used hotels for trafficking that residents of

other states stayed at, and the condoms he purchased for his victim came across state lines.

Evans also argued that the cell phone never made any calls out of state, but because cell phones

are used for interstate commerce, his conviction was affirmed (United States v. Evans, 2007).
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One legal issue that has been questioned on state levels is the amount of evidence that is

required to show that a defendant is guilty of sex trafficking in the state of Virginia. Jeffrey Carr

challenged his numerous convictions relating from a sex trafficking case on those grounds. This

was all after he had accompanied the victim of trafficking and his friend, the perpetrator, at a

hotel and rented two rooms for a period of time, paid for by the profits of the commercial sex.

Carr’s conviction of abduction stood, as a result of his presence at the scene and a desire to allow

the trafficking to occur. Carr challenged his conviction of sex trafficking by claiming the victim

engaged in the commercial sex acts on her own volition, and that Carr and his accomplices gave

her food and a temporary shelter. However, his actions to cause the prostitution through the

hotel payment upheld the charge. It is those reasons that Carr’s conspiracy charges on abduction

and sex trafficking were upheld (Carr v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 2018).

Convictions

Federal agencies, from the FBI to the Offices of the United States Attorneys, have been

coordinating more efforts since the passage of the TVPA to investigate and prosecute instances

of human trafficking. In 2017, the federal courts increased the amount of convictions for human

trafficking to 499, 471 being sex trafficking (Department of State, 2018, p. 443). One conviction

that the federal government secured in 2016 was that of seven members of a Bloods gang in

Virginia Beach after trafficking a minor in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Chesapeake (U.S.

Attorney's Office Eastern District of Virginia, 2016). The Departments of Justice and Homeland

Security worked together to get eight members of a transnational gang a guilty conviction

(Department of State, 2018, p. 443). After Virginia Governor Ralph Northam added his

signature, people who have been arrested for human trafficking can no longer leave jail on bail

before their trials. This comes after numerous occasions where the traffickers leave on bail, and
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then leave town with their victims to continue trafficking them and to stay out of jail (Sidersky,

2018).

Comparison with the United Kingdom

Despite being geographically isolated as an island nation, the United Kingdom has a

significant problem with its transnational trafficked population in comparison to its domestic

victims. In 2017, 5,145 people were identified by the National Crime Agency as potential

victims of human trafficking, which is more than an increase of one-third. Of those victims, 819

were British citizens (Dearden, 2018). While many may look towards the European Union’s free

movement of people to be the main contributor, it appears that Brexit would exacerbate the

problem of human trafficking in the UK. The EU has numerous laws and regulations that

combat human trafficking, and the United Kingdom’s exit would fundamentally alter the

political and governance structure in investigating and prosecuting human trafficking. The

current laws that Great Britain has are considered inadequate, as the Modern Slavery Act

requires the movement of the trafficking victim in order for the trafficker to be prosecuted

(Department of State, 2018, pp. 440-442). Britain must come up with new laws and policies to

replace the 65 measures that they will lose from leaving the European Union (Batchelor, 2017).

Even while still in the European Union, the UK does not provide adequate training for “law

enforcement personnel, public defenders, prosecutors, judges,” and first responders (Department

of State, 2018, pp. 440-442). Both Great Britain and the United States are similar in how they

both operate hotlines for victims and provide funds to non-governmental organizations and

charities to provide services for victims.

Overall, while it is estimated that the United Kingdom may only have 136,000 people

being trafficked, which is less than in the United States, but at a higher rate with 2.1 victims per
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thousand (Global Slavery Index, 2018). While the UK may have less children being trafficked

than in the United States, ⅓ of trafficking victims in United Kingdom are children, which is a

much higher ratio than in the United States (Department of State, 2018, pp. 440-442).

The Way Ahead

Sex trafficking in the United States is a significant issue that does not have one solution,

but rather will require many methods in order to adequately combat it and due diligence by

victims of this heinous crime. The action both federal and state governments need to do first is

to ensure that victims of trafficking are not prosecuted for crimes that they are forced to commit

while in trafficking. In the aftermath of transnational trafficking, where the victims are left

stranded in an unknown country, and return to their own country is dangerous and doesn’t have

the services they have, more T visas must be issued. The removal of barriers and restrictions to

obtaining a T visa allows it to become more accessible, available, and used. Another way to stop

transnational trafficking is by stricter border protection, by being able to separate victims from

their traffickers before they are exploited in the United States. More funding for victim services

must be provided on both the federal and state levels to local organizations so they may expand

their services that allow the victims to both survive and build a new life for themselves. The

research suggests governments need to continue and further their promotion of the psychological

and physical health of the victims, as much of the treatment is not available to them, and they

cannot afford to cover it themselves. As research has indicated a lack of awareness amongst

local law enforcement concerning human trafficking, more training must be conducted. There is

a bright future on the horizon, one where sex trafficking is non-existent and cannot destroy the

lives of innocent people. The US has the means to do so, it just requires the willingness of the

people to take action.

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EMANCIPATION FROM SEXUAL SUBJUGATION 21

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