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  • Essay / The Growing Problem of Human and Sex Trafficking in the United States

    Human and sex trafficking is one of the most significant crimes across the world, as well as in the United States -United. Although human trafficking is talked about much less often in the United States than abroad, it is becoming a bigger problem than ever. As of this writing, an estimated 300,000 children in the United States are at risk of sexual trafficking and exploitation; this figure does not even take into account adults in danger or already victims of trafficking. Women and girls are at greatest risk of being exploited for sex trafficking. This is due to many sociological factors, including rape culture, the objectification and infantilization of women, male domination and entitlement, and poverty. Because sex trafficking disproportionately affects women, it is undoubtedly a feminist issue. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Unfortunately, organizations working to provide assistance to victims of human trafficking and sex trafficking in the United States and around the world are often severely underfunded. This means that women and girls are often turned away from shelters simply because there is not enough space for them and the services these organizations can provide are too limited. Fortunately, there is a federal fund called the Crime Victims Fund that exists solely to provide assistance to victims of crime, including victims of sex trafficking. However, in 2015, while trying to pass a budget, Congress decided to withdraw $1.5 billion from the Crime Victims Fund to try to pay off part of the national debt. This tactic shows how little the U.S. government cares about its female citizens, especially those who are victims of human trafficking, abuse, or other crimes. This is simply unacceptable, and Congress must recognize this and reinvest the money into the Fund. Therefore, for this campaign to end sexism, I am proposing a lobbying campaign to pressure Congress to restore the funds. This campaign is called Respect the Fund. I will publicize the removal of the Crime Victims Fund using social media such as Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #RespectTheFund. Then, once awareness is raised, I will encourage people to write letters and call their district and state officials to pressure them to return the money to the Victim Crimes Fund . Hopefully, with enough pressure, Congress will reverse this misguided decision. The United Nations defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, kidnapping, fraud, deception, abuse of power or position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having authority over another person, for purposes of exploitation” (Clift, 2015). While many Americans tend to view human trafficking as a widespread problem in other countries, the truth is that the human trafficking industry is alive and well here in the United States, and sex trafficking is particularly widespread. Globally, sex trafficking is currently the fastest growing criminal industry, as well as the second largest behindtrafficking of drugs and illegal weapons. An estimated 27 million adults and 13 million children worldwide are victims of human trafficking, which includes sex trafficking as well as forced labor and organ harvesting. Of those sold into sex trafficking, eighty percent are under the age of 24, and some are as young as 3 (Clift, 2015). An estimated 30,000 victims of sex trafficking die each year as a result of torture, abuse, neglect and disease. Additionally, victims are often conditioned to be less resilient through the use of torture, rape, forced drug use, isolation, detention, and threats against family members. In today's world, there are more human slaves than ever before in history (Clift, 2015). The average age of entry into sex trafficking for U.S. minors is between 12 and 14 years old. According to recent statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, approximately 300,000 children in the United States are at risk of being victims of sex trafficking and exploitation each year (Clift, 2015). The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) compiled a report based on data from December 7, 2007 to December 31, 2012, compiling data from information the organization received from its hotline. The report, Human Trafficking Trends in the United States, contains data on the most common forms of sex trafficking, victim demographics and the states with the highest number of reported cases. During the data period, cases of human trafficking were reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The most common form of sex trafficking in the United States is pimp-controlled prostitution, which accounts for approximately 42% of reported cases. at the NHTRC. A frequently used process, pimp-controlled prostitution begins when pimps recruit their victims by expressing romantic interest in them and then subsequently forcing them into prostitution. In most reports like this, pimps advertised sexual acts online. More than 60% of sex trafficking cases involving prostitution controlled by pimps involved victims who were U.S. citizens (WomenPolice, 2014). The traffickers are most often said to be male U.S. citizens who trafficked young adults and minor women. Domestic work accounted for the majority of labor trafficking (27%); It is important to note that domestic workers are also frequently victims of verbal, physical and sexual violence from the people they live with (WomenPolice, 2014). 84% of victims in these cases came from outside the United States, with the most frequently cited countries being Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, India and the Philippines. The five states with the highest number of reported cases are California, followed by Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois. Children were referenced in 2,668 of the 9,298 unique cases used to compile the report. Children were the reported victims in 20% of labor trafficking cases and 33% of sex trafficking cases (WomenPolice, 2014). You would think that since human and sex trafficking are still such a widespread problem in the United States, the law and government authorities would do everything in their power to combat it and help his victims. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Too often, victims who escape sex trafficking are accused of prostitution, despite the fact that they were coerced and coerced into getting involved.in this business and made no profit. This is especially a problem for children escaping sex trafficking. Although international and federal laws require that children involved in the sex trade be treated as victims of trafficking and not prostitutes, states and localities across the United States do not comply with these laws. Each year, more than 1,000 children in the United States are arrested for prostitution, even though most of them are too young to legally consent to sex (Clift, 2015). The Trafficking Victims Justice Act of 2015 seemed promising at first. The bill aimed to strengthen the ability of law enforcement to pursue and fine people who purchase sex from trafficked girls and women. Fines collected were to be paid into the Crime Victims Fund, which is a collection made up entirely of criminal fines, forfeited bail bonds and fines. The Trafficking Victims Justice Act originally received great support from both Democrats and Republicans (Clift, 2015). After all, everyone knows that sex trafficking is a despicable practice, so who could vote against such a bill? Unfortunately, congressional Republicans took advantage of this opportunity and inserted anti-abortion language into the bill at the last minute before it came to a vote. These additions would have prevented victims from receiving federal assistance from the Crime Victims Fund that would allow them to terminate pregnancies conceived during their trafficking. Senate Democrats fortunately spotted these additions before the bill came to a vote, and so the bill was blocked. After a month of debate, the bill was adopted and signed into law. However, the compromise reached between the two parties still included certain anti-abortion provisions. Representatives decided to have two sources of funds in the bill: one that collects fines from traffickers and uses them for survivor services, excluding health care, and another that comes from funds from community health centers, which are already subject to limits on abortion (Bender, 2015). Once again, anti-abortion political discourse refuses to treat women and girls as people, even those who have survived sex trafficking. The patriarchal society we live in places such a low value on women's lives that cases like the one that happened with Trafficking Justice happen far too often. Misogyny is alive and well in America today, and this is proven by the actions of our elected representatives. Women's rights issues, even those that have nothing to do with abortion, are frequently co-opted for other purposes or transformed into anti-abortion rhetoric, all of which serve to oppress women, whether on a small or large scale. trafficking is a problem that affects all genders, it is important to note that it mainly affects women. This makes it a very feminist issue. The objectification of women and their lower status in society makes us more vulnerable to crimes such as sex trafficking. Women are also more likely than men to live in poverty, which also makes a person more vulnerable to human trafficking (Shaw and Lee, 2012). The fact that it is a women's issue also means that sex trafficking is an issue that receives less media coverage and attention, less funding, and even less sympathy than issues that affect both sexes equally or problems that affect men more (Danis,.