{"id":1415,"date":"2022-10-11T15:52:39","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T19:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/?p=1415"},"modified":"2022-10-11T15:52:39","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T19:52:39","slug":"human-trafficking-in-america-what-taken-doesnt-tell-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/2022\/10\/11\/human-trafficking-in-america-what-taken-doesnt-tell-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Trafficking in America: What \u201cTaken\u201d Doesn\u2019t Tell You"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Abigail Scanga Blackburn<\/p>\n

\"\"
https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0936501\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Human trafficking, otherwise known as modern slavery[1]<\/a>, has been oversimplified and sensationalized in the media.[2]<\/a> Taken<\/em>, a popular movie starring Liam Neeson, depicts a terrifying drama where a former CIA agent races around the globe to find his kidnapped daughter and rescue her from the clutches of an international human sex trafficking ring.[3]<\/a> While Taken<\/em> and other such movies are highly entertaining and slightly terrifying, they create a picture of human trafficking that ignores the reality of how trafficking victims in America become victims.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Two primary types of human trafficking exist in the United States: sex trafficking and forced labor.[5]<\/a> \u00a0These crimes involve traffickers who exploit their victims for either sex or labor through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Anyone can become a victim of trafficking.[7]<\/a> \u00a0Victims can be both foreign nationals and native born Americans and come from a variety of backgrounds in regards to gender, age, and race.[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Rather than depicting the diverse victims of trafficking and the different ways traffickers lure victims, the media instead focuses on white, Western women who are kidnapped and violently forced into trafficking.[9]<\/a> \u00a0While human trafficking can involve the kidnapping of women, many traffickers employ more subtle methods to lure unsuspecting and vulnerable people into trafficking.[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal statutes that criminalize human trafficking recognize these more subtle acts by traffickers.[11]<\/a> \u00a0A person who exploits the labor of another person by using threats of force, threats of immigration deportation, or a coercive scheme is a trafficker.[12]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Labor traffickers often tell their originally willing recruits that they must repay a debt to the trafficker before receiving pay for their labor.[13]<\/a>\u00a0 Rather than using force to keep the laborers working, some traffickers will take the victims\u2019 passports hostage or threaten to report undocumented workers to immigration if they do not comply.[14]<\/a>\u00a0 For sex trafficking, a person who uses any force, fraud, or coercion to recruit a victim to engage in a commercial sex act is a trafficker\u2014no kidnapping required.[15]<\/a> \u00a0The statute also criminalizes those who \u201cpatronize[] or solicit[]\u201d a person for commercial sex, meaning that the sex buyers themselves can be considered traffickers that lure victims.[16]<\/a>\u00a0 Additionally, minors who are asked to perform commercial sex acts, even without any force, fraud, or coercion, are victims of trafficking.[17]<\/a><\/p>\n

The reality that the statutory language acknowledges is that traffickers entice their victims in a variety of ways.[18]<\/a> \u00a0Some traffickers trick their victims by befriending them or promising love, but later pressure the victims into performing commercial sex acts.[19]<\/a>\u00a0 Others recruit people for a job, only to then subject the victims to forced labor by using coercion.[20]<\/a> \u00a0Traffickers can even be parents who sell their children for sex right out of their own homes.[21]<\/a>\u00a0 None of these methods of obtaining victims are often highlighted in popular media tackling human trafficking issues, but all are methods that traffickers use to subtly exploit their victims.[22]<\/a>\u00a0 The victims in these situations may not even realize that they are victims of trafficking and then place the blame on themselves for getting into such a situation.[23]<\/a><\/p>\n

To help victims of trafficking, we must understand the methods traffickers use to target their victims.[24]<\/a> We may not be able to stop the unexpected kidnapping, but we can keep our eyes open for victims who are being trafficked by their partners or parents.\u00a0 While popular media about human trafficking can be informative, citizens need to be aware that media does not always capture a victim\u2019s true experience.[25]<\/a> By understanding what acts the law criminalizes, we can better find and assist the trafficking victims living amongst us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you suspect that someone is a victim of human trafficking or want more information and resources, please call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> What is Modern Slavery?<\/em>, U.S. Dep\u2019t of State, https:\/\/www.state.gov\/what-is-modern-slavery\/ (last visited Aug. 28, 2022).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Silvia Rodr\u00edguez-L\u00f3pez, (De)Constructing Stereotypes: Media Representations, Social Perceptions, and Legal Responses to Human Trafficking<\/em>, 4 J. Hum. Trafficking 61, 61 (2018).<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Taken (Twentieth Century Fox 2008).<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0 See <\/em>Carrie N. Baker, An Intersectional Analysis of Sex Trafficking Films<\/em>, 12 Meridians 208, 223 (2014) (noting that media can spark \u201cmoral outrage\u201d but can also \u201cobscure the realities\u201d of trafficking).<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> About Human Trafficking<\/em>, U.S. Dep\u2019t of State, https:\/\/www.state.gov\/humantrafficking-about-human-trafficking\/#human_trafficking_U_S (last visited Aug. 28, 2022).<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> 22 U.S.C. \u00a7 7102.\u00a0 Specifically, the statute defines \u201csevere forms of trafficking in persons\u201d as:<\/p>\n

(A)\u00a0sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or<\/p>\n

(B)\u00a0the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Identifying Victims of Human Trafficking: Fact Sheet<\/em>, Dep\u2019t of Health and Human Services, https:\/\/www.acf.hhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/orr\/fact_sheet_identifying_victims_of_human_trafficking.pdf (last visited Aug. 28, 2022)<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Identifying Victims of Human Trafficking: Fact Sheet<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 7 (explaining who is a victim of trafficking); National Human Trafficking Hotline Data Report<\/em>, National Human Trafficking Hotline, <\/em>https:\/\/humantraffickinghotline.org\/sites\/default\/files\/National %20Report%20For%202020.pdf (noting the statistics and demographics of victims identified by the national hotline in 2020).<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Rodr\u00edguez-L\u00f3pez, supra <\/em>note 2, at 68.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020, UNODC 14 (2021).<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> See <\/em>18 U.S.C. \u00a7\u00a7 1589, 1591 (explaining that a trafficker that uses threats of harm, abuses the legal process, and other such means violates the statute).<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 1589.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Labor Trafficking: Fact Sheet<\/em>, Dep\u2019t of Health and Human Services, https:\/\/www.acf.hhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/orr\/fact_sheet_labor_trafficking_english.pdf (last visited Sept. 28, 2022).<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 1591(a)(1).<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> See <\/em>18 U.S.C. \u00a7 1591 (criminalizing sex trafficking of children and <\/em>sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion).<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> What is Human Trafficking?<\/em>, Dep\u2019t Homeland Sec. Blue Campaign, https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/blue-campaign\/what-human-trafficking#:~:text=Traffickers%20might%20use%20violence%2C%20manipulation,human%20trafficking%20a%20hidden%20crime. (last visited Sept. 18, 2022).<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> Jody Raphael, Parents as Pimps: Survivor Accounts of Trafficking Children in the United States<\/em>, 4 Dignity, no. 4, 2020, at 1, 1.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> Rodr\u00edguez-L\u00f3pez, supra <\/em>note 2, at 68.<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a> Understand Human Trafficking<\/em>, Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Ctr., https:\/\/www.ovcttac.gov\/taskforceguide\/eguide\/1-understanding-human-trafficking\/ (last visited Sept. 19, 2022).<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a> 10 Ways You Can Help End Trafficking<\/em>, Dep\u2019t Health & Human Services (Dec. 16, 2019), https:\/\/www.acf.hhs.gov\/otip\/about\/ways-endtrafficking.<\/p>\n

[25]<\/a> See<\/em> Baker, supra <\/em>note 4, at 224 (explaining that movies can educate their viewers as well as mislead them).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Abigail Scanga Blackburn Human trafficking, otherwise known as modern slavery[1], has been oversimplified and sensationalized in the media.[2] Taken, a popular movie starring Liam Neeson, depicts a terrifying drama where a former CIA agent races around the globe to find his kidnapped daughter and rescue her from the clutches of an international human sex trafficking ring.[3] While Taken and other such movies are highly … Continue reading Human Trafficking in America: What \u201cTaken\u201d Doesn\u2019t Tell You<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5470,"featured_media":1416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51366,67126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-post","category-recent-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/files\/2022\/10\/Picture-1-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1417,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415\/revisions\/1417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}