Traffic Studies

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Rescue and Restore pilot program in Philadelphia brought human trafficking its first splash of local attention in April, but the issue has been drawing the scrutiny of law enforcement and academia for several years. Here's a look at several in-depth examinations.

by Brian Hickey

November 1999

Center for the Study of Intelligence; International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime

BUNKER MENTALITY: One of the Daewoosa workers kept mementos from her former life within reach.

State Department analyst Amy O'Neill Richard estimated that small crime rings and loosely connected criminal networks traffic 45,000 to 50,000 women and children into the United States annually. Victims—traditionally from Southeast Asia and Latin America, though Richard also found an influx from Europe and Russia—were routed into the sex industry and forced labor. She predicted an increase because of weak economies in victims' homelands and reduced risk of prosecution in the face of "enormous profit potential." Among the more troubling examples: the case of a trafficker who "was purchasing HIV-positive females because he found them to be cheap labor and since he believed they had nothing to live for."
(www.cia.gov/csi/monograph/women/trafficking.pdf)

March 2001

National Institute of Justice/Coalition Against Trafficking in Women; Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States

Investigators Janice G. Raymond and Donna M. Hughes were the first to incorporate interviews with trafficked and prostituted women into a study of both domestic and international victimization. "Incidents of trafficking are often reported in isolation. The who, what and why of trafficking into the United States has not been evident," they wrote. "A great deal remains to be done, however, even in the area of basic research." They also quoted an unnamed law-enforcement official: "[Massage parlors and strip joints] are often connected. They use the same girls. I've seen the girls in New Jersey bars out in the Pennsylvania bars."
(www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/international/programs/sex_traff_us.pdf)

October 2002

U.S. Department of Justice; The Characteristics of Chinese Human Smugglers: A Cross-National Study

Sheldon Zhang, a sociologist at San Diego State University, and Ko-lin Chin, a criminologist from Rutgers University and author of Smuggled Chinese (Temple Press 1999), examined the structure of smuggling organizations. These smugglers—one of whom claimed to make upwards of $2 million annually—included restaurant owners and car salesmen to housewives, taxi drivers and fruit-stand owners.

(www.ncjrs.org.pdffiles1/nij/grants/200607.pdf)

June 2004

U.S. Department of State; Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report

ASSEMBLY LINE: Workers sometimes wouldn't get paid, depending on the whims of their bosses.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 established a mechanism by which the U.S. government could monitor anti-trafficking measures taken across the globe. Each year, the report ranks nations based on their commitment to prosecuting traffickers and protecting victims and potential victims. (It doesn't monitor the U.S., however.) Those that don't measure up to certain standards face U.S. sanctions. "It's appalling that in the 21st century hundreds of thousands of women, children and men made vulnerable by civil conflict, dire economic circumstances, natural disasters or just their own desire for a better life are trafficked and exploited," wrote outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell in the report's introduction last year. That installment estimated that 18,000 to 20,000 victims are trafficked into the U.S. and calls investigations into the practice "among the most labor- and time-intensive undertaken." Humans Rights Watch agrees that it's a powerful tool to fight trafficking, but says the report doesn't go far enough to punish countries that don't comply. To that end, this year's report took convictions and sentencings into account, rather than nations that merely launched investigations. It also focused more attention on "sex tourism," the troubling trend of people traveling overseas to have sex with minors, a practice that President Bush outlawed as illegal for American citizens even outside the U.S.
(www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2004/)

June 2004

Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons

A multi-agency examination by Justice, Health and Human Services, Labor, Homeland Security, Agriculture and the Agency for International Development estimated between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. annually. In fiscal year 2003, 151 victims were certified, or eligible, for refugee benefits; another 297 were approved for non-immigrant "T-visas" while there were 26 successful trafficking prosecutions. The assessment also recommended that state and local police receive trafficking training. "In a world in which crime, poverty, corruption, inequality, low status of women and girls and civil conflict show few signs of abating, individuals will continue to be at risk of being trafficked," the report concludes. "The U.S. Government is developing a comprehensive approach to combating [human trafficking] both domestically and abroad and to assist its victims in recovering from their trafficking ordeal."
(www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/wetf/us_assessment_2004.pdf)

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