Human Trafficking
Irma Angelica Juvera
Kaplan College

Mr. DeMatteo
CJ299
December 14, 2013

Abstract
Human trafficking has become a major issue that has global ramifications. The United States, Mexico and Europe are some of the countries involved in this multi-billion dollar industry. Human trafficking has been an issue in the criminal justice system for many years. Human trafficking not only affects the person being trafficked and their families but it also affects society. Many people do not know much about human trafficking or they know so little that it makes them think it would never happen to them. Unfortunately the victims of human trafficking are those that think it is never going to happen to me.
Law enforcement as well society plays a huge part in raising awareness on this issue. As mentioned above the United States and other countries are the home of human trafficking. Human trafficking happens right outside of our door and it might look at as common everyday activity; but it is not a common everyday activity because the victims are under fear and intimidation. Traffickers best weapon to use on victims is the use of fear to intimidate them and keep them captured. Fear can be one of the worse feelings a human being could have.
This paper will discuss human trafficking in more detail. It will provide the history of human trafficking and how it works. It will also discuss statistics and how it affects the victims and their families. Lastly this paper will discuss a viable solutions and how they would make a difference in addressing this criminal justice issue.
Human Trafficking Industry/History
Human trafficking has been around for a very long time. What is human trafficking? According to Human Trafficking, (n.d) there are three elements to define human trafficking; the act, the means and the purpose. Human traffickers work by recruiting, transporting and harboring people; that is part of the act (what is done) element. People that live in poverty conditions are the most vulnerable. How it is done in is by threat or use of force, abduction, fraud and abuse of power; giving payment to the person in control. The purpose (why is it done) includes sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.
Human trafficking and exploitation has been in existence across the globe for thousands of years. “From the ancient Greek and Romans to the medieval times, and up until today, humans have been subject to various forms of physical and sexual slavery” (Timeline of human trafficking, n.d). Since the 1400’s-1600’s there had been many forms of slavery. In the 1400’s the European started the slave trading in Africa between Portuguese. In 1562 the British also joined on the slave trading. By the 1600 other countries were involved in the slave trading in Africa. Some of those countries were North America, France, Spain and Sweden.
In 1927, the League of Nations was founded after WWl and their main focus was to maintain world peace and concentrate on international issues such as human trafficking. During this time children of both genders were recognized as targets and victims for human trafficking. “During WWII, Japan had set up a horrifying and outrageous system where women all across Asia were forced into sexual slavery” (Timeline of human trafficking, n.d). Woman had been forced into the sexual slavery in 1932. These women were housed in comfort stations. The conditions inside of these comfort stations were dreadful, each woman was held in a small cubicle. They would be brutally beaten and tortured if they were defiant.
Today slavery involves more than just transporting people from one place to another for hard labor. The people who are recruited into the human trafficking industry are not only serving as hard labor slaves but as sex slaves. The modern sex slaves of the 21st century are from different backgrounds, ethnicity, ages and economic statuses. According to What