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Robyn Oliphant
Criminal Justice 1010
Section 43
Professor Gary Cox
21 November 2014

Human Trafficking
Dai was an immigrant from Asia that fell in love with a man in the armed forces.
She moved with him to a rural area where he handcuffed her and continuously raped
and beat her. Once Dai finally left this man, she walked the streets to try and find help.
She was offered a job by a female pimp. Dai thought it was just a dating service.
Soon after becoming involved with this dating service, Dai found herself being
transferred to a new master, who contracted her out for sex. To cope with being raped
and beaten continuously, she taught herself not to feel anything and just tried to get
through it all. Dai watched multiple women being punished with rape and beatings.
Some were even murdered. When Dai finally got her thoughts together and decided
that she wanted to live and get out of the sex trade, she left her master. One of her
clients showed her compassion and helped her get out of the industry, taking her to find
a safe place in a church or refugee camp. From there Dai has continued to build her life
up and only regrets not getting out of trafficking sooner. She wishes she had those five
years back (A Survivors Story, New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition).

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Women are being forced into human trafficking and the sex trade. Their agency
is being taken away from them. They have no choice but to have sex with these
customers. In some cases, even when a few victims escape from this situation, their
so called master tracks them down and threatens their lives or even forces them back
into trafficking. Victims of this crime live with the effects for the rest of their lives.
Victims have to live with sexually transmitted diseases as well as reoccurring
nightmares from being trafficked. With human trafficking growing as an underground
culture, more victims are brought in. The numbers of victims of human trafficking are
increasing. Countries must make a move to help these victims. This essay will explore
how people are brought into human trafficking and the rising number of victims; why
victims dont try to escape their owners and the trafficking scene; what people and
police are doing to prevent human trafficking, and steps law enforcement is taking.
Most victims who are involved with human trafficking are women. These victims
usually come from broken homes where they have been abused, neglected, are lonely,
and poor. (Human Sex Trafficking, FBI) These victims are brought into trafficking in a
variety of different ways. The article Human Trafficking, Womens Health; gives a few
examples of how women are brought in. They include kidnapping, being forced into
marriage and false promises of a better life. Dai was promised a job, but ended up
being trafficked. In July of 2004, there were an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 victims
(By the Numbers: Human Trafficking) involved with human trafficking worldwide. As
time has continued those numbers have almost tripled, according to the 2013 statistic

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there are nearly 2.9 million victims and the rate is still increasing (Facts about Human
Trafficking Victims, Havoscope). The average age for a victim to be acquired into
human trafficking is 12-14 years old and the average amount of time they spend as a
victim is longer than they can remember due to being drugged (Human Sex Trafficking,
FBI).
Victims of human trafficking dont try to escape for multiple reasons. Many are
scared of what will happen to them. Theyve been relocated to different countries and
some dont even know where they are. Some victims are threatened by their owners
and many are even drugged so that they cant run away.
Victims are often deprived of food and sleep, are unable to move about
freely, and are physically tortured. In order to keep women captive, victims
are told their families, and their children, will be harmed or murdered if
they (the women) try to escape or tell anyone about their situation (Facts
on Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery, Soroptimist).
Human traffickers routinely confiscate the birth certificates and passports of their
victims, making escape even less viable. If they (the victims) leave, they dont have the
proof they need to get back into their initial country. To cope with everything that has
happened to them, most victims take drugs to numb the pain and become prone to
abuse and punishment. These women have been so broken down that they have little
hope left to be saved.

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Multiple approaches have been taken to try to decrease the number of people
involved in human trafficking in the world. Various programs and projects have been
started and small baby steps have been taken to alleviate this issue. The Polaris
Project is one of the many organizations that are trying to prevent human trafficking .
Inspired by the example of the Underground Railroad, Katherine and Derek developed
a vision for an organization where everyday people could come together to do
extraordinary things to overcome the scourge of slavery. (Polaris Project, Founding
Story) The Polaris Project is committed to combating human trafficking and modern day
slavery and to strengthen the anti-trafficking movement through a comprehensive
approach. One of their main goals is to raise awareness about human trafficking so
that others will be informed about this escalating issue. They also help those currently
involved in human trafficking and try to prevent others from being trafficked . Overall,
their biggest goal is to transform the way that individuals and communities respond to
human trafficking. As the group expands and reaches out more, they hope to grow into
other countries and to make long-term solutions to change the underlying system of
human trafficking. (Polaris Project, Founding Story)
Now knowing the basics of what human trafficking is and that if we go quiet it
could hurt multiple womens lives, we have to look at the aspect of what our law
enforcement is doing to help this up and coming epidemic. Most states in the United
States have made their own human trafficking laws that make human trafficking an
illegal crime. Each state, though, has to follow the federal laws that have been placed

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to stop this criminal activity. (Law Enforcement, Homeland Security) Most human
trafficking cases are dealt with by specialized teams that have been trained specifically
for human trafficking situations. Some of these teams are as follows: Immigration and
Customs Enforcements along with Homeland Security Investigations. These teams
have had a lot of training on how to handle human trafficking situations, some of the
trainings focus on the following:

How to prosecute traffickers

How to identify victims of human trafficking

Methods to protect the rights and safety of victims

There are more trainings but these are some of the key points in most of the human
trafficking trainings that take place today (Polaris Project, Building Capacity).
Prosecuting traffickers will take increased efforts. Getting a victim to testify
against a trafficker will be a challenge in and of itself. If a victim testifies, they will then
have a target painted on their back. They will fear their life and the loved ones in it.
Because of this, most victims will not testify against the person that is the cause of their
life being ruined. To help with this, in 2007, the United States started the Human
Trafficking Prosecution Unit. (Department of Justice) This unit works closely with fast
moving trafficking investigations and is the main source for prosecuting human
traffickers. With such great forces and task teams that have started in the last few
years, cases for prosecuting traffickers have more than doubled in recent years. More
measures will continue to take place as time goes on to make sure that traffickers will
be prosecuted for their crimes.

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Law Enforcement has taken measures to also learn what victims of human
trafficking look like, what questions they should ask them and key words they should
look for in conversations held. To help with all of this there are 5 key indicators that you
should look for, they are: Labor or Service, Control, Living Conditions, Travel, and
Medical. (Law Enforcement, Homeland Security) With each of these there are things
law enforcement will look for.
Labor or Service: Do they work long unusual hours? Most of these victims will
not stop working. Their pimp works them constantly because all they care about is the
money that they (the victims) are bringing into them. Do they dress for the type of work
that they say their involved with? Most professions dont wear straggly clothes with
holes in them and smell like they havent showered in a couple of weeks . This can be a
huge sign that they are involved with human trafficking. (Signs of Human Trafficking for
Law Enforcement, Homeland Security)
Control: Does the person talk to their family freely? Most victims are secluded
from the life that they were typically from. Their pimps dont want them to interact with
any one that they might tell. They want everything to be a secret so that no one knows
they are traffickers or they could be prosecuted. Do they show signs of mental or
physical abuse? Most victims are drugged and abused so that they are afraid to say
anything to anyone. Their drugged so that they dont feel pain and dont know where
they are. When talking to someone you think is a victim, pay close attention to how well
they are focused. Because they are drugged so much, their attention span will be

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shorter than most people. (Signs of Human Trafficking for Law Enforcement, Homeland
Security)
Living Conditions: Do they have personal belongings with them? If they have
nothing with them it could be a huge sign. In the world today most people usually carry
their whole life around, especially women. It is considered unusual if they dont. Have
they been deprived of basic necessities? Using a bathroom with running water, or
giving them a glass of water could mean the world to them . Along with anyone being
nice to them you can receive interesting reactions from victims of this crime. (Signs of
Human Trafficking for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security)
Travel: When traveling do they know where they are going? Do they give you a
direct answer of where they are going or what they are doing there? If they are
oblivious of what their travel plans are, they are more than likely involved with human
trafficking. If a child is traveling with an adult and they seem to be nervous or timid
about the adult they are with, pay close attention. Avoiding eye contact and not talking
to anyone around them and acting awkward around the adult theyre traveling with,
could signal a trafficker transporting a child. (Signs of Human Trafficking for Law
Enforcement, Homeland Security)
Medical: Do they have scars, burns or even infections? Most victims arent
allowed to take care of themselves. Seeing unusual scars and burns on them raises
questions. If they give a fishy response it can usually be because they dont want you
to know how they really got the scars, burns, and infections. (Signs of Human
Trafficking for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security)

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All of these measures that are learned in trainings, law enforcement uses when
they have a reasonable suspicion. A stop is a brief detention of a person by law
enforcement agents for questioning. This is only done when a person is suspected to be
involved in human trafficking. More questions will be asked to those people law
enforcement think are the traffickers themselves. These 5 steps are some of the simple
ways that law enforcement try to identify human trafficking. (Signs of Human Trafficking
for Law Enforcement, Homeland Security)
Even though law enforcement wants to help these victims they still have to
protect their rights that are stated in the bill of rights. To help with this, law enforcement
created a unit to protect these victims known as, Victim and Witness Assistance. This
unit gives these victims rights, some of them are:

Right to privacy and treated fairly

Right to be protected from the accused

Right to be excluded from any public court proceeding, unless they feel
that their testimony would be altered by another testimony given . (Victims,
Department of Justice)

They protect their rights because in the future their knowledge of this
underground sex trade can help them catch more traffickers in years to come.
Protecting these victims becomes this units number one job.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter. As shown, human trafficking is a major issue world-wide and

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is constantly growing. As Dais story illustrates, the life of a victim is not even close to
the life anyone would want to live. Victims have everything taken away from them and
feel there is no escape. If we continue to make society aware of such issues in our
world, progress will be made in ending modern day slavery. Law enforcement has
started programs in hope to end modern day slavery sooner than later. They are
focusing in on helping victims, learning how to identify a human trafficking victim and
how to protect victims rights. Not only law enforcement programs are helping this rising
issue but also non-government programs, like the Polaris Project. They have started to
inform the public, but they and law enforcement need everyones help to continue to
spread the word about this issue. Spreading the word and not staying silent could help
change or even save a womans life.

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Works Cited
"A Survivor's Story." New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition. N.p., 2000. Web. 15 Apr
2014.
"By the Numbers: Human Trafficking." Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News
Services, 30 July 2004. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.2facts.com/article/in091402>.
Chon, Katherine, and Derek Ellermen. "Founding Story | Polaris Project |
Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery." Founding Story | Polaris
Project | Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery. Polaris Project,
n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
"Civil Rights Division Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit Page." Civil Rights Division
Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit Page. The United States Department of
Justice, 2010. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
"Facts About Human Trafficking Victims." Havocscope RSS. ABC News,
Associated Press, UN Says Human Trafficking Found in 118 Countries,
13 Feb. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
"Facts on Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery | Soroptimist." Human Trafficking Facts.
N.p., 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
"Human Sex Trafficking." FBI. FBI, 22 Feb. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
"Human Trafficking." Womenshealth.gov. Office in Women's Health, 18 May 2011. Web.
15 Apr. 2014.
"Law Enforcement." Homeland Security. United States Government, n.d. Web. 05 Nov.
2014.

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"Law Enforcement Training on Human Trafficking | Polaris | Combating Human

Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery." Law Enforcement Training on Human
Trafficking | Polaris | Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery.
Polaris Project, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.