Sex Trafficking Into The United States - Essay - United States literature - Edward J. Schauer, Essays (high school) of American literature

Download Sex Trafficking Into The United States - Essay - United States literature - Edward J. Schauer and more Essays (high school) American literature in PDF only on Docsity! SEX TRAFFICKING INTO THE UNITED STATES: A LITERATURE REVIEW EDWARD J. SCHAUER ELIZABETH M. WHEATON This study is an investigation of the literature relating to the trafficking of women and children into the United States for sexual exploitation. The intent is to discover the extent and com- plexity of the problem, the cost in both human and economic terms, and research directions toward the development of probable political, legal, economic, and social solutions. A subject rife with research possibilities and probable solutions, trafficking is poorly defined, differen- tially and intermittently quantified, and handicapped by obsolete legal codes and a sexist pros- titution enforcement paradigm. Recommended are state statute creation, police training and paradigm change, and increased/broadened victims’ services. Keywords: sex trafficking; economics; sex work; feminism; United States The United States of America ranks as the world’s second largest destination/marketcountry (after Germany) for women and children trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation in the sex industry (Mizus, Moody, Privado, & Douglas, 2003). By conserva- tive estimates, there are 18,000 persons trafficked into the United States per year. Ninety- six percent of these are females, and almost half are children (both males and females; Mizus et al., 2003). Some estimates are as high as 50,000 persons trafficked into the United States annually. The CIA estimates that 700,000 people are trafficked annually worldwide (Office on Violence Against Women [OVAW], 2000). The U.S. government defines trafficking as a modern type of slavery. It is estimated that between 100,000 to 150,000 persons, mainly women and children, are kept under slavery in the United States. Slavery, again conservatively estimated, controls the lives of three mil- lion persons worldwide. Human trafficking and sexual exploitation are “part-of and parcel” of the larger world- wide, and exponentially increasing, slave trade. Trafficking is slavery because it includes fraud or extortion in recruitment and coercion, restraint, gang rape, threat of physical harm, loss of liberty, and loss of self-determination on arrival in the destination industry. Incidence of slavery, in its sex trafficking form, appears to be directly correlated with the increasing universal marginalization of women. Initially the authors believed that the issues relating to the trafficking of children would prove to be similar to those relating to the trafficking of adult women. However, after 1 Criminal Justice Review Volume 31 Number 1 Month 2006 1-24 © 2006 Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc. 10.1177/0734016806290136 http://cjr.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com An earlier version of this article was presented to the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Chicago, in March 2005. further investigation, it appears that although the logistics of international trafficking are similar for both women and children, the attendant circumstances of children in their source countries, the logistics of their travel (e.g., usually accompanied by bogus “parents”), and the milieu of a well-established commercial child sexual exploitation industry in the United States argues for a separate research agenda for each, while still admitting areas of overlap (cf., Estes & Weiner, 2001). The merger of the interests of criminal justicians and economists in this study should come as no surprise: Criminal justicians themselves describe the interrelated crimes of traf- ficking, prostitution, extortion, and slavery in economic terms. We assert that worldwide slavery and human trafficking cannot be greatly affected without changing worldwide eco- nomic convention. The joint fields of juvenile justice and criminal justice must become intimately aware of the seriousness of human trafficking, its impact on human rights, and its probable future impact on justice practice. Experts presently sense a shift in international crime: International criminals appear to be increasingly shifting from drug trafficking to human trafficking. Profits from human trafficking are higher, the humans are easier to move and store, and there are fewer risks incurred in the practice of human trafficking over drug trafficking. It is therefore possible, maybe even probable, that human trafficking will supercede drug trafficking as the Number 1 international crime within the next 10 years. METHOD This study represents an attempt to bring together the scientific literature available in the English language on the subject of sex trafficking of women into the United States for the purpose of illuminating trafficking’s negative impacts; the need for further research and lawmaking; for insight into improving interdiction, enforcement, and prosecution of traf- fickers; and for knowledge relating to the victims’ needs for support and services. Many documents exist on the subject, produced by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and by governmental agencies, however most of this information is at best “allegorical” in nature, and some are produced with decided political or dogmatic bias. It is difficult to sort out the proverbial wheat from the chaff in the process of reading and reviewing the mass of these documents to discover their scientific and legal value. On the other hand, there exists a small, growing body of scientific literature, yet this does not as yet display a disciplinary concentration or orientation. A few articles are found in the criminal justice, legal, and economics collections. A few more are found in the social sci- ences and human rights fields. There is a modest collection in the field of women’s studies. And the U.S. government has commissioned several scientific studies to bolster its knowledge for the purposes of lawmaking, interdiction, enforcement, and victim rescue and services (viz., Estes & Weiner, 2001; Protection Project, 2002; Raymond & Hughes, 2001; Richard, 2000). Last, the International Office of Migration (IOM) has collected data and published documents concerning human trafficking. This study attempts to avoid the documents that are not directly related to the sex traf- ficking problem within and relating to the United States. This is however somewhat illogical because of the realities of global factors affecting the United States. This is especially true 2 Criminal Justice Review consent places the burden of proof on the victim and offers a loophole for traffickers to use the alleged consent of the victim in their own defense. (pp. 198-199) Severe forms of trafficking in persons. The U.S. Congress in the TVPA emphasizes human trafficking by labeling it “Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons” (OVAW, 2000, p. 5); and by so doing, it distinguishes trafficking from human smuggling. According to the TVPA, severe forms of trafficking fall into two classifications: (A) sex 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 (B) the 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 invol- untary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. Sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is further defined and elaborated on in the TVPA as follows: The term “sex trafficking” means the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act. (OVAW, 2000, p. 5) A victim of a severe form of trafficking is logically defined as one “subject to an act or practice” described as “severe forms of trafficking in persons” above. Likewise, a victim of trafficking is “a person subjected to an act or practice described” in either of the two defi- nitions of trafficking above (OVAW, 2000, p. 5). Demleitner (2001) points out that little attention has been paid to forced prostitution in the United States. And although her definition is similar to the first category of severe forms of trafficking above, it may be more complete: . . . forced prostitution . . . refer(s) to women or girls who are compelled to engage in sexual acts with strangers in exchange for commodities with the compulsion emanating from either physical violence and abuse, threats to their lives or bodily integrity or those of their families, emotional and physical coercion based on their indebtedness to the smugglers and procurers, and/or their presence in a foreign country without legal status and any support network. (p. 263) The reader will readily notice that whereas Demleitner is sensitive about semantics when it comes to the subject of forced prostitution, she does not distinguish between traffickers and smugglers. The literature is replete with precise definitional distinctions and also with broad definitional differences. L. Kelly (2003), on the other hand, asserts that extreme care must be taken when using the concept of force in definitions, as well as when using the worst cases in debate. For example, worst cases arguments tend to suggest that only the most extreme cases of traf- ficking warrant scholarly, NGO, or governmental attention. The use of the term force, and its position in legal definitions, is critical. L. Kelly (2003) explains that overinclusive legal definitions will tend to engage the police in mass exporta- tions of women, whereas exploitation and traffickers will be ignored. Underinclusive defi- nitions will result in few victims receiving support and services. Thus, to maximize both prosecution and victim services, lawmakers must take the definitions very seriously. Schauer, Wheaton / SEX TRAFFICKING INTO THE UNITED STATES 5 Two additional terms are defined by the TVPA that are necessary in the understanding of sex trafficking: Commercial Sex Act — The term “commercial sex act” means any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person. Debt Bondage — The term “debt bondage” means the status or condition of a debtor aris- ing from a pledge by the debtor of his or her personal services or of those of a person under his or her control as a security for debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined. (OVAW, 2000, p. 4) Modern-day or contemporary slavery. Venkatraman (2003) argues that modern-day slavery is the same as (i.e., AKA) trafficking in persons because it is an “assault on funda- mental human dignity” (p. 2). Debt bondage is the most common form of modern slavery (Bales, 2000b). Prostitution. The reader may suppose that prostitution has been in the myriad legal codes for so many years, that there would exist no question concerning precise definition. Yet the argument has some merit, that prostitution has been euphemized by men as an occupation, which supports the myth that women logically and willingly choose prostitution over other boring and low-skilled jobs. It must be remembered that when most laws controlling pros- titution were codified, only men held positions that allowed the power of definition (Plachy & Ridgeway, 1996, p. 34). It should also be noted that the masculine actors, the purchasers of sexual services (who will later be referred to as fautors) and pimps, receive either no or “slap on the wrist”–type sanctions. Twenty-five states have no statutes that sanction the behavior of those buying sexual services, whereas 9 have none sanctioning the pimp; although, 47 states make prostitution (i.e., women selling sexual favors) a crime. So with all the above said, how is prostitution usually defined? Usually it is assumed that the chief actor is a woman and that she sells sexual favors for money, products, or privi- leges. Criminal justicians, whether practitioners or scholars, must be aware that this defin- itional problem exists and that what is defined is done with the suspicion of sexist bias. This article argues that in actuality, there is less question concerning the agreed-on def- inition of prostitution than there is on the validity of that definition. Preliminary questions of validity could be as follow: (a) Should women’s selling of sexual favors be codified as crime? (b) If codified as crime, how serious is the crime; in other words, should prostitu- tion be a felony or a misdemeanor? (c) Who should be considered the criminals? Presently, the prostitution statutes in 25 states apparently criminalize only the women’s actions (“State Statutes Prohibiting Prostitution Surrounding Activities, United States,” 2004). Although U.S. federal law, United Nations’ pronouncements, and much of the literature make distinctions between sex trafficking and prostitution, the relationship between them is vital but differentially explained. Proponents of one polar stance argue that sex traffick- ing is founded on and supported by the illegality of the practice of prostitution. They fur- ther argue that the prohibition of prostitution creates lucrative underground markets for sex trafficking; and therefore, one of the best ways to effectively deal with sex trafficking is to grant women involved in the sex industry their basic human rights (e.g., right to self- determination; freedom from workplace violence and to receive a fair proportion of their 6 Criminal Justice Review earnings; right to health care, to leave employ or employer, to fair access to legal remedies, and to fair and equal treatment before the law) (Bindman, 1998; Doezema, 1998). This argu- ment concludes that if prostitution were legally recognized as work, it could be regulated by existing labor laws, and sex trafficking would become a much smaller slavery issue (Bindman, 1998). The second polar argument views the concepts as inextricably linked. According to this view, sex trafficking is equated with inter- or intranational prostitution, whereas prostitution is defined as domestic sex trafficking (Leidholdt, 2003; see also Campagna & Poffenberger, 1988; Estes & Weiner, 2001). Those who favor legalized prostitution tend to make defini- tional distinctions, whereas those who assume that (a) most sex consists of men asserting power over women and that (b) prostitution is morally degrading tend to favor overlapping definitions. This definitional issue is critical to the issue of law making and law enforcement and is therefore raised once again in the discussion of paradigms found later in this article. Fautor. What shall the buyers of sexual favors be termed? The term John is common in vulgar usage. These men have been referred to in the literature as “clients,” “customers,” “consumers,” “patrons,” “punters,” and a host of other terms. The authors feel that the proper term must be more pejorative than any on the preceding list. There would exist no prostitution without willing customers; there would be little cause for supply if there were no demand. The term fautor fits the person as well as the act in having a double meaning: In middle English, fautor meant transgressor or miscreant, whereas in more modern usage, the term means patron, supporter, or abettor. The authors urge the usage of the term fautor when criminal justicians and economists are referring to the persons (usually men) who frequent, use, and pay for the sexual services of other persons (usually women). EXTENT As in the case of prostitution, the statistical quantifications of sex trafficking variables are based largely on conjecture or, at best, founded on educated guess. The USDOJ (2003) explains that “the nature of this crime — underground, often under-acknowledged — con- tributes to the inability to determine the precise number of people who are victimized by traffickers each year” (p. 6). Six obvious factors limit precision: first, the clandestine nature of the enterprise — traffickers simply do not publicize their activities, and only a minute fraction of the operations (when and where prohibiting statutes exist and are enforced) are interdicted and prosecuted. Second, trafficked persons by definition are a mobile popula- tion — moved from one country to another, then probably on to a third destination, and/or then possibly back to the source country. In all honesty, however, it must be mentioned that some scholars question whether the lack of numbers indicate extremely low incidence (Kempadoo & Doezema, 1998). Third, precise definitions are not followed: For example, persons smuggled and persons trafficked are often counted in the same list (Demleitner, 2001, p. 260). Some countries, not wishing to lose some forms of U.S. aid (Office of the Under Secretary for Global Affairs [Under Secretary], 2003), turn a blind eye to trafficking and report only “smuggling.” Fourth, government corruption in source countries inhibits both control and reporting. Schauer, Wheaton / SEX TRAFFICKING INTO THE UNITED STATES 7 runaway and thrown-away youth are especially vulnerable to being tricked/enticed by recruiters for purposes of sexual exploitation. Human trafficking investigations, steadily increasing in number, confirm that serious forms of trafficking are occurring in many neighborhoods throughout the United States (Campagna & Poffenberger, 1988; Estes & Wiener, 2001; Venkatraman, 2003). Federal prosecutions since January 2001 number in the hundreds, but this affects an extremely small proportion of the trafficking that exists (Venkatraman, 2003, p. 2). A con- siderable amount of trafficking is most likely occurring in our communities, which is unde- tected (or unrecognized) by the police. IMPACT The impact of sex trafficking on the dignity of the entire human family, the economic stability of world markets, and the fragile cultural structures of third-world and newly inde- pendent countries are discussed later in this study in the Economics section. However, it is necessary for the discipline of criminal justice to realize the impacts of the misogynism of sex trafficking on the well-being of Americans as part of the human race, as well as the myriad types of behaviors of traffickers and the seeming inability of the criminal justice system to effectively respond to this growing worldwide and national crisis. Demleitner (2001, p. 257) exclaims that the crime of sex trafficking is characterized by extreme violence, by its industrial scale, and by its organization. The criminals bringing women and children into the United States are extremely adaptable in the practice of traf- ficking. As laws change, as the police respond, as the markets change, traffickers (as well as the entire sex industry in the United States) through their diversification and plasticity have commonly been able not only to cope but have been able to continually increase the scope and size of their enterprise (Plachy & Ridgeway, 1996, p. 38). The seriousness of sex trafficking may be readily understood by the fact that through enforcement and investigation at the federal, state, and local levels, police have been able to link trafficking to document fraud, money laundering, migrant smuggling, and prostitu- tion (USDOJ, 2003). Beyond this, the USDOJ (2003) states that sex trafficking — like prostitution and related activities — “is inherently harmful and dehumanizing” (p. 1), as it is an assault on human dignity. Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing forms of international and intranational commerce and crime. Most of the victims are women and children of third-world countries or newly independent states. Most women and children are trafficked for the sex trade — they being the most vulnerable members of humanity to sexual exploitation. The United States — through its burgeoning and multifaceted sex industry — is presently the second largest consumer of the human products delivered by international traffickers. The increas- ing seriousness of this crime can be illustrated by the recent substantial growth in the body of international and multinational law (Klueber, 2003, p. 2). CAUSES AND EXPLANATION Although historically migrants have been men, recently a steadily increasing number of migrants are women on their own. Reasons women have for wishing to migrate to the United 10 Criminal Justice Review States are threefold. First, the Western world offers more lucrative employment and better marriage partners. Second, the situation at home is bad — unemployment, few career oppor- tunities, and economic and social oppression of women — so they are looking for a better future. Third, traffickers offer false hope — through fraudulent contracts, by facilitating ille- gal border crossings, and by providing fraudulent papers (Demleitner, 2001, p. 263). Significant fees are demanded by traffickers to bring women into the United States ille- gally. Large fees expected from poor women (marginalized worldwide) make debt bondage (sex slavery) more likely. It was shown, for example, in United States v. Gasanov that on arrival in El Paso, Texas, three women from Uzbekistan were assessed $300,000 in trans- portation and documents fees by their traffickers; they were then forced to work in strip clubs to pay off their debts (Zakhari, 2005, p. 141). Two arguments are brought forth in the literature to explain the high fees. The first and most common argument is that rapidly increasing and increasingly restrictive immigration laws create an underground economy in which the returns from investment are positively correlated with the level of restriction (Kwong, 1997). The second argument advanced by L. Kelly (2003) is that vast distances between source and destination countries, complications on the way, and having no contacts or support sys- tem in the country of destination would preclude vast numbers of marginalized women from migrating to the United States or Europe without resorting to third parties. The costs of travel and relocation are far beyond the means of most trafficked women, who more likely were struggling for mere physical survival in their source countries before being trafficked. With their countries of origin suffering from political and economic instability, there being a lack of employment opportunity, and suffering from sex discrimination or gender inequality, the women are especially vulnerable to the false promises of traffickers (Klueber, 2003, p. 6). All of the above factors especially oppress women because they make less money than men; therefore, they are more likely to be caught up in debt bondage and more likely to end up in the sex industry (Demleitner, 2001, p. 263). A century ago, conditions appear to be similar when the issue was then the causes of White slavery. As Goldman (1910) explains, What is really the cause of the trade in women? Exploitation of course; the merciless Moloch of capitalism that fattens on underpaid labor, thus driving thousands of women and girls into prostitution. (p. 184) Today, with worldwide capitalism, the questions and answers may be similar, for sex traf- ficking and White slavery are very similar crimes. In a similar vein, Klueber (2003, p. 7) suggests that globalization may be the key to the problem of human trafficking. Other arguments as to the cause of human or sex trafficking follow. First, the economic differentials between first-, second-, and third-world countries cause economic and cultural instabilities that in turn make more women vulnerable, as in Southeast Asia (Bales, 2000a, 2003). Second, political instabilities create vulnerable women and children, as in Asia and the states of the former Soviet Block (Derks, 2000; Hughes, 2000, 2002). Third, Goodwin (2003) argues that women are used as political pawns in radical and conservative Muslim countries. The freedoms of daughters and wives may be severely Schauer, Wheaton / SEX TRAFFICKING INTO THE UNITED STATES 11 curtailed, whereas husbands and sons are free to pursue other women or men in prostitution, sex tourism, or clandestine meetings. The fourth argument centers around worldwide capitalism and transnational corpora- tions (Anderson & Davidson, 2003). And fifth, there exists today almost universal devalu- ation and marginalization of women (Demleitner, 2001). Women are stigmatized and objectified (Klueber, 2003, p. 7), and the fact that they are barred from legitimate careers fosters illegitimate jobs. Although convention assumes that prostitution (the end product of sex trafficking) is an occupation or a job freely chosen by women, the authors suspect that prostitution is not so much a profession as it is a universally accepted and adopted expectation for females who are so unfortunate as to be born into particular socioeconomic, political, and/or familial cir- cumstances. Thus, when it is proposed that prostitution is simply another profession, that assertion is based on the conclusion that prostitution is a normative life’s choice for women born into poverty, into minority status, into countries with radical or unstable governments or economies, into male-dominated misogynist cultures, or into child-abusive families. This faulty argument (as the authors view it) concludes that this is the way it is and always has been; there is nothing which can be done to change circumstances; therefore prostitu- tion must be accepted as normal and proper, socially approved. This argument does not take into consideration the force, fraud, and coercion involved in the sex industry, nor does it take into account that to survive, marginalized women may have few legitimate alternatives (Bloom, Owen, & Covington, 2003; Demleitner, 2001; Farley, 2003; L. Kelly, 2003; Leidholdt, 2003). On the other hand, Cabezas (1998) and Fusco (1998) explain that women choose pros- titution for a variety of reasons, including the wish to experience lifestyle at a higher socioeconomic level. Anarfi (1998) goes on to explain that some women choose sex work to amass money to finance their own future business interests. The most frequent explana- tion given by women working in prostitution is that sex work is the best choice among alter- native jobs available to them (Kempadoo & Doezema, 1998). Klueber (2003, p. 7) mentions two ways that women become victims of trafficking: (a) They respond to advertisements to work or study abroad (the ads usually also include legit- imate jobs) and (b) women seek the help of smugglers to travel to enter foreign countries for the purpose of seeking better employment opportunity. A fee is set, they sign a contract, and debt bondage ensues. A common misunderstanding is that all victims of sex trafficking are poor and unedu- cated. Many, especially those from the newly independent countries, are high school grad- uates and often have college degrees. These seek to use their education to improve their lives and support their families (E. Kelly, 2002; Klueber, 2003, p. 7; Richard, 2000). Tactics used by traffickers to control women and children include, but are not limited to, the following: threats, physical and sexual assault, taking away of legitimate travel and immigration documents, and threats against family members back in the source country (Bertone, 2000; Richard, 2000). These are the common tactics of traffickers, but it must be remembered that one of the most ubiquitous characteristics of traffickers specifically, and of those in the sex industry generally, is adaptability; therefore, lawmakers and law enforce- ment must be sensitive to the possibility of other forms of coercion. 12 Criminal Justice Review market demand; on the other hand, they themselves may be used to stem the tide of trafficking and prostitution in two ways. First, they are the ones who may be the first to recognize trafficking, develop serious interest in rescuing victims, and be willing to bring instances of trafficking to the attention of the police. Second, fautors represent a wealth of information of interest in furthering criminal justice and economics research into sex trafficking and prostitution, including the cultural justifications of, means and methods of, and attitudes toward solicitation. Understanding, and publicizing this paradigm shift, is, and needs to be, at the forefront of the lawmaking process and of adapting the criminal justice system to effectively deal with the continuously increasing crime of sex trafficking. Heretofore, one of the most dif- ficult problems worldwide has been the difficulty of formulating coherent and applicable policy, partially because of the overall universal lack of political will to control trafficking in both receiving (e.g., US and Germany) and sending countries (e.g., Thailand and Ukraine) (Demleitner, 2001, p. 269). Achieving federal, state, and local government and criminal justice understanding and agreement on this paradigm shift is a large step in the battle against sex trafficking. CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES AND RESPONSE The USDOJ (2003, p. 8) explains that with a new crime like human trafficking (or sex trafficking), four issues relating to the states and local police need to be addressed. First, new sentences based on the new understanding of the seriousness of the crime must be developed. The federal statute, if used as an example, includes heavy fines, asset forfei- tures, and long prison terms for traffickers. Second, state and local police must be trained to rethink prostitution with what the authors have termed the new trafficking paradigm, how to apply the new trafficking laws, and how and when to coordinate efforts with federal law enforcement. Third, the state and local police must also be trained in awareness — that is, to recog- nize the characteristics of trafficking in the normal course of policing. Klueber’s (2003) study showed that 83 of the largest police departments in the United States were largely unaware of trafficking as a crime problem in their jurisdictions, had little or no training in trafficking laws or issues, and believed that trafficking was an organized crime problem. This illustrates the serious need for training local law enforcement in trafficking laws, observational skills, and paradigm shift. Fourth, victims services, witness support services, and victim reintegration programs must be identified and engaged in the process of removal, protection, healing, and reintegrating female and child sex trafficking victims (de Baca & Tisi, 2002; Farley, 2003). Police and prosecutors also need to understand the many state and federal laws that can be used to prosecute traffickers for related crimes. For example, Venkatraman (2003) points out that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970 has been suc- cessfully applied to trafficking and related crimes. Venkatraman (pp. 3-5) goes on to show that federal statutes exist that allow prosecution for crimes of involuntary servitude; forced labor; sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud, or coercion; and seizure of documents. Immigration statutes, labor law statutes, tax codes, and other federal criminal laws may be applied, as well as many state laws. Schauer, Wheaton / SEX TRAFFICKING INTO THE UNITED STATES 15 ECONOMICS The fields of criminal justice and sociology have in the past been the main areas of human trafficking research. Looking at the human trafficking literature of today, we find the field of economics emerging as one of great importance. From the criminal justice side, as we have discussed earlier, sex trafficking involves crimes such as fraud, extortion, coercion, restraint, gang rape, threat of physical harm, loss of liberty, and loss of self-determination on arrival in the destination industry. From a social context, sex trafficking separates family units and takes advantage of the vulnerabilities created by poverty, unemployment, war, and a lack of opportunity for much of the population in the local populations. The purpose of all forms of human trafficking is to make money through the exploitation of the suscepti- ble. Therefore, economics is the link between the vulnerability of populations and the crime of human trafficking. Perhaps Bales (2000b) best describes the situation when he says, “Until we work to understand slavery as a global phenomenon with distinct characteristics, our response, both intellectually and practically, will be partial, ill-formed and ineffective” (p. 481). It is impossible to look at the economics of sex trafficking within a single country. Sex slavery is made possible in part because of the openness of economies and the ease of transporta- tion of goods and money. Bales states that economic exploitation is in the very definition of slavery. Economic changes, along with the state of the government, legal, and social systems, affect how slav- ery manifests itself in a nation. Bales estimates that slave labor directly produces between $13 and $20 billion each year and, through the use of slave-made inputs, indirectly pro- duces much more. He also notes a distinct difference in some cases between the rural slaves and the urban slaveholders. He surmises that as poverty leads to desperation in rural areas, women are lured into slavery by recruiters. To connect the criminal justice and sociology perspectives, this section looks at the agents involved in human trafficking and how their actions and circumstances are affected by the economics of trafficking. Their relationships will be analyzed within the demand and supply of human trafficking framework. Becsi (1999) divides the participants, willing or otherwise, of human trafficking into criminals (human traffickers), noncriminal households (vulnerable population), legitimate businesses, and the government. From this perspective, criminals establish the supply of crime, and the rest of society establishes the demand for crime. Governmental control affects each side of the equation. This article concentrates on only three agents that fall into two groups within Becsi’s cat- egorization. In the context of economics, all three agents are classified as members of “households.” On the demand side, fautors pay to exploit women and children. The supply side is made up of the victims from vulnerable populations. The human traffickers or crim- inals make a decision to be the middlemen (or suppliers) linking the demand and supply side of sex trafficking. Leuchtag (1995) describes many facets of international prostitution. She briefly describes this pattern of supply and demand. Because of poor economic situations, desper- ate women and children have a high propensity to be lured, kidnapped, or sold into the world of human trafficking, where they fall prey to recruiters, brokers, and traffickers. 16 Criminal Justice Review Leuchtag asserts that the women are sold or rented to affluent men who use anonymity to buy sex. Hughes (2000) analyzes the “Natasha” trade for Eastern European women in the sex trafficking market. Although countries of origin in the sex trade were historically Asian, the fall of several Eastern European economies have created situations in which large popula- tions of women are susceptible to sex trafficking scams. Sex trafficking is thus defined as “any practice that involves moving people within and across local or national borders for the purpose of sexual exploitation.” The United Nations estimates that there are around 1 million people trafficked into the sex industries each year. Hughes mentions trafficking is relatively hidden because of a “relative media blackout” on the subject. VULNERABLE POPULATIONS The majority of the economics research in this area has been done on international and local conditions that make populations vulnerable to human traffickers. Van Impe (2000) uses data from the IOM to specify four distinct human trafficking waves within the past decade into Western Europe and the United States. The first wave came in 1992 with the trafficking of Asian women. This was followed in 1993, when South American women were heavily exploited. Africa provided the third wave in 1993, and 1994 saw the fourth wave from Central and Eastern Europe. Van Impe explains that these waves were caused by the push factors of origin countries and the pull factors of destination countries. The ideas of the papers presented here point to evidence that when certain elements accumulate, an area becomes especially susceptible to human trafficking. Local ingredients often include poverty, unemployment, and civil unrest. Important cultural aspects to con- sider are low education levels, lack of opportunities for women, and subservience as women are pressured to sacrifice themselves for the survival of their families. Inequality between countries, the access to media touting a better life, and thus a wish to migrate help to create the international situation that encourages profiteering through human trafficking. Local economic situation. Local economic issues in human trafficking include both fam- ily economics and culture. Weisheit and Morn (2004) discuss reasons for the existence of “new slavery.” When population grows faster than the economic growth of a country, fewer resources are available to take care of each person. This includes health care and policing resources. Economic as well as social changes have occurred in many countries, leaving populations without strong leadership and goals. This instability leads to the search for new moneymaking opportunities. Slavery has become one of the big financial opportunities as parts of the expanding population become more vulnerable. Furthermore, an increasingly international community has lead to new opportunities to market sex trafficking. Trujillo (2004) reported on a pilot study done in nine Latin American countries by the Inter-American Commission of Women, the Inter-American Children’s Institute, and DePaul University. The study suggests that the factors of poverty and a society prone to vio- lence, corruption, and gender and age discrimination contribute to the prominence of traf- ficking within a nation. Armed conflict and economic and social inequalities between and within countries, tied with a growing demand for sex work, are some of the characteristics indicated by Watts and Schauer, Wheaton / SEX TRAFFICKING INTO THE UNITED STATES 17 illegal goods and services. Schloenhardt lists the actors in the migrant trafficking organization as being arrangers/investors, recruiters, transporters, corrupt public officials and protectors, informers, guides and crew members, enforcers, and supporting personnel and specialists. In a presentation at the Globalization Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hughes (2003) reiterates the fact that sex trafficking occurs because traffickers and pimps can make money. The women and children are trafficked from countries where recruiting is fairly easy. They are trafficked into countries where demand for prostitution exists. As Hughes explains that trafficking and prostitution are driven by demand (pp., 22-24). She speaks of the normalization of the demand, whereby nations, corrupt officials, and/or orga- nized crime groups benefit from the illegal sale of sex. Hughes (2000) addresses the demand side of the human trafficking market equation. She characterizes the sex trafficking industry as transnational networks of traffickers and pimps supplying men’s demand for sex services. This industry has low risk accompanied by high profits for traffickers. Privatization, liberalization of markets, computer communication of international financial transactions, political and economic weakening and collapse, and the desire to migrate are listed as contributors of the modern day slave market. Hughes asserts that sex trafficking occurs because there are people willing to traffic sex. Many social and economic factors provide the recruiting ground for trafficking, but traffick- ing occurs because of the criminal element willing to take advantage of women and children. FAUTORS Little has been written on the economics of the fautors or final consumers of sex traf- ficking. There is a lack of data on this type of crime. Skrobanek, Boonpakdee, and Jantateero (1997) focus on the research of the experiences of Thai women in human trafficking. In this study, sex trafficking is viewed as a product of international labor migration. Traffickers take advantage of this migration of women to reroute them into forced prostitution. The 1980s saw the start of significant migration of Thai women, mainly into domestic and service industries. They note that the establishment of U.S. military bases in Thailand lead to an expansion of the local illegal sex market. They surmise that contact with servicemen led to increased possibilities for women to migrate, mainly into the service sector. Exploitation of these women came about as they were forced to be dependent on someone else. The authors believe that the extent of trafficking has been hidden because of regular migration patterns. “To understand the position of trafficked women requires multiple perspectives. They must be seen as migrant workers, as prostitutes and as women in a male-dominated society. Force and deception, however, are the keys to the issue” (Skrobanek et al., 1997, p. 18). “The economic impact of prostitution may gen- erate a net gain for the sex provider because of her earnings, or it may lead to greater indebtedness because of the percentage taken by agents, and the loss of a worker from household production” (Wijers, 1995, p. 155). DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Because of its feasibility and profitability, it is possible that human trafficking will replace drug trafficking as the Number 1 international crime within 10 years. Increased levels of 20 Criminal Justice Review human trafficking to the sex industry by (semi)organized groups of persons are expected as long as demand for sex services exists and there is a profit to be made. The implications for research put forth by Aronowitz (2003) call for further investigation into the recruitment practices by traffickers and the structure of trafficking groups. The high availability of women and children from vulnerable populations and the lack of means to identify and prosecute traffickers and fautors and to handle police corruption in this area are issues that must be faced. Along with the economic incentives for criminals to deal in modern-day slavery, there is a lack of coordination and organizational means to stop the flow of human trafficking. Below are listed areas that must be fortified. First, qualitative research is needed to develop valid definitions (and ones that can be agreed on by lawmakers and criminal justice) of the legal concepts relating to the crimes of sex trafficking. Most law enforcement are unaware of the many criminal elements making up the crime of sex trafficking. Realistic crime descriptions must be created. Once the definitions have been established, quantitative empirical analysis and data, which are almost entirely missing in the literature, are needed. Data collection must also be improved to identify and carefully describe the signs of trafficking that may be more easily recognized by the police and by citizens. States must develop trafficking laws consistent with the federal TVPA and consistent with each other for sex trafficking to receive the full effects of the criminal justice system. The state model proposed by the federal government is a giant step toward a coordinated nationwide attack on sex trafficking. Furthermore, legal and law enforcement coordination are needed between countries. In light of modern thought, elitism, sexism, and racism must be removed from state pros- titution statutes through the redefinition and rewriting of prostitution laws. Laws must be rewritten to afford women providing sex services their basic human rights and equal pro- tection under the law (Kempadoo & Doezema, 1998). Police must receive training in trafficking law enforcement, how to identify trafficking, how to perceive the paradigm shift from prostitution to trafficking, how to rescue victims and how to make contacts for victim services, and how to deal with victims who may will- ingly serve as witnesses in the prosecution of traffickers. Victims’ services must be devel- oped and expanded to deal with the special needs of women and children victimized by sex trafficking. There exists much question about the type and availability of victims’ services required for women and children rescued from sex trafficking (Farley, 2003). Research is needed to understand the needs, to develop the victims’ services needed, and to organize coordination between victims’ services and the criminal justice system. The public must be educated to understand the worldwide and national criminal crisis that trafficking is becoming. The public must be taught the trafficking paradigm. As a start, in 2003, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded the public-affairs firm Ketchum with around $5 million to inform the U.S. public about human trafficking (Jacobson, 2003). Finally, Bertone (2000) argues that the long-term costs to an economy from international human trafficking will far outweigh the short-term economic benefits. An economy based on illegal activity will suffer heavily when the social and political structure of the country matures and forces work to curtail illicit activity. Women who have been trafficked will Schauer, Wheaton / SEX TRAFFICKING INTO THE UNITED STATES 21 have little to contribute to the growth of the economy. Global marketing will be difficult for a country that has gained a reputation as a human trafficking origin country. 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