Today, there are over 20 million victims of Human trafficking across the globe, in both labor and sex trafficking. 1 million children are exploited worldwide for commercial sex - which includes pornography, prostitution, and stripping - and this problem, contrary to common belief, is not limited to 3rd world countries, or those with little rule of law; 300,000 of these children are trafficked in the United States alone. Just in Franklin County, 1200 women are arrested each year for solicitation- 92% of which are under the control of a trafficker. Human trafficking is a widespread issue, one that affects individuals of all races, all age groups, and all levels of wealth. In fact, 1 in four girls and 1 in 6 boys will experience sexual assault before the age of 18.
Thus, Human trafficking is a serious crime, an immensely harmful crime, and currently the fastest growing criminal industry in the United States- despite which, it is commonly ignored or even glamorized in our society. The problem is that too few really know what human trafficking is, or what its impact is in our nation.
While the State of Ohio has responded to the growth of human
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The student council’s own Vice President Swathi Vudatala, as well as Sen. Sean Fabb-Soto and other members, helped plan and set up the event, which hosted such notable presenters as Veronica Scherbauer, criminal justice initiatives coordinator for the Ohio Attorney General’s office, Vanessa Perkins, herself a human trafficking survivor and now executive assistant to the chief prosecutor, Jennifer Stokes, who works with Gracehaven, and the PAST foundation’s Terry Merriman, who also helps run a program for victims of human trafficking that incorporates horses as therapeutic