Sex Trafficking Challenges

Assignment 2 Now that harms of sex trafficking have been discussed, we can now examine how the Criminal Justice system responds to this issue and how society reacts to it. When it comes to address the problem of sex trafficking, there are a few challenges that arise. First, there is a problem is who the law considers to be victims. “Adults who sell sex willingly, with some kind of assistance, are not considered trafficking victims under U.S. law” (Weitzer, 2011, p. 1337). This brings us back to a subject earlier mentioned, prostitution. Just because it seems as if individuals are willingly exchanging sex acts for money, does not mean that is the case. Though the U.S. law may not think so, people who are involved in prostitution are still

Since most people do not consider themselves to be victims in this situation, it is important for law enforcement officials who come into contact with them to know the indicators. Some indicators present with sex trafficking victims is trauma and the victim’s dependency on their trafficker. Because law enforcement lacks proper training, it would be difficult for them to identify the trauma of the victims. As a result, the chances of a victim cooperating and turning against their trafficker is slim to none (McGough, 2013). It is not likely that a person will clearly say that they are a victim because they are afraid that they will not be believed. Another reason is that whomever they tell may believe that they have alternative motives for reporting the alleged crime such as being deported (Annison, 2013). Extensive and continuous training on sex trafficking indicators provided to police officers can eliminate victim identification as a challenge in the

Some of the organizations take a preventative or a rescue approach while the others have a dual approach. Rescue & Restore is a program that whose objective is to effectively identify victims and provide them with the services needed to get their lives back on track. This program has developed coalitions in over 20 cities across the United States (Office on Trafficking in Persons, 2015). They also help by providing training to law enforcement, healthcare providers and social service agencies so that they know how to identify and assist trafficking victims (Office on Trafficking in Persons, 2015). The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) is another program in place to provide assistance for victims of trafficking. They provide funds, healthcare, housing, and legal supports for victims of sex trafficking (Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, 2011). The pros with these programs is that they provide services that help victims to enter back into society and live and attempt to live a normal life again. One of the main downfalls with both of them is that they focus their services on women and children. With women and children being the focus, it makes it seem like men cannot be victims. That may be due to the belief that men are usually the traffickers and less likely to be victims, but women can be traffickers too. It is