Cross-posted at Ms. and Caroline Heldman’s Blog.
I suspect that U.S. citizens and policy-makers have a hard time imagining that modern-day sex slavery is prevalent in our country, and an even harder time understanding that the vast majority of trafficking victims here are U.S. citizens. In fact, the State Department estimates that, of the world’s 27 million trafficking victims, about 100,000 live in the U.S.
Yet, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice, only 2,515 investigations of suspected incidents of human trafficking between January 2008 and June 2010, leading to 144 arrests so far. This means investigations were opened on only 2.5 percent of human trafficking cases. Federal efforts to address human trafficking in the U.S., it is clear, are simply not effective.
The U.S., however, still gets a top-notch rating from the State Department, which just-released the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report, which evaluates worldwide efforts to fight modern-day slavery. The State Department uses a three-tier system. Tier 1 countries are in full compliance with the TVPA, Tier 2 countries are making “significant efforts” to comply and Tier 3 countries are making no efforts whatsoever. The U.S. is ranked as Tier 1, which begs the question: How useful is this rating system if a 2.5 percent prosecution rate gets us to the top?
(CNN)
Instead of giving us useful information about what countries are most effective in prosecuting trafficking, this map simply gives the illusion that the U.S. is doing a bang up job. If we were more honest about U.S. efforts, though, it would expose the U.S. as less than the ideal society we think it is. In fact, federal efforts to address human trafficking are an abysmal failure.
Comments 17
gasstationwithoutpumps — July 17, 2011
The goal is not maximizing prosecution, but minimizing trafficking. Deterrents that result in less trafficking may be better than aggressive prosecution.
According to your numbers, the USA has less than 0.4% of human trafficking but about 4.5% of world population. That seems to me to be doing better than average, though perhaps not good enough.
reedke22 — July 17, 2011
I have to agree with the previous commenter. Your use of numbers here is really interesting. It is definitely disturbing if only 2.5 percent of US trafficking cases are pursued, and that such a large percent of trafficked persons in the US are essential invisible legally and socially. This is a tragedy and surprising in a developed country.
That said, if it's true that "of the world’s 27 million
trafficking victims, about 100,000 live in the U.S." then the US comprises only .0037% of worldwide trafficking cases. That seems like a huge success if the US government's goal is to keep the US out of human trade.
bamboo_princess — July 17, 2011
I have to add my support into the comments. As someone who works with an anti-trafficking organization I can tell you the TIP report is meant to rate a countries *efforts* against trafficking, not their success. It's mostly just a measure of "does this government care"
Dean Peters — July 17, 2011
The statistic "100000 trafficking victims" in the US is frequently cited, but there's very good reason to believe that this number is significantly inflated by individuals and organisations with an interest in publicising the issue.
The Village Voice (http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-06-29/news/real-men-get-their-facts-straight-sex-trafficking-ashton-kutcher-demi-moore/) did an article recently tracking down the source of that statistic and find that it is the result of a single study with extremely dubious and speculative methodology. They argue that, given the huge quantity of resources ($50 million in 2005 and 2006, $21 million in 2010) invested in combating human trafficking in the US, the number of prosecutions is probably a significantly more reliable measure for how much of it is actually going on than the statistics cited here.
Measuring Anti-Trafficking Enforcement; Maps of Global per Capita Income; And More « Welcome to the Doctor's Office — July 17, 2011
[...] Capita Income; And More Posted by drhiphop85 ⋅ July 17, 2011 ⋅ Leave a Comment MISLEADING MEASUREMENT OF ANTI-TRAFFICKING ENFORCEMENT by Caroline [...]
Gilbert Pinfold — July 17, 2011
what's that I see? Switzerland and Iceland hotbeds of human trafficking? More likely they just didn't send in the survey returns.
Fitzerroneous — July 18, 2011
I've reread the post a number of times to make sure it's not just me, but isn't it making a huge assumption to say that 2,515 investigations means that 2.5% of cases are prosecuted? Doesn't that assume that each case involved only one person being trafficked? My limited understanding of sex trafficking is that small groups of perpetrators are responsible for trafficking large numbers of people.
Michael W Story — July 19, 2011
Or perhaps the fact that only 2,515 investigations have been opened means that the 100,000 victims number (repeatedly debunked) is vastly overstated.
I really would like to see a little more skepticism on this blog.
eSunshineOrg » Sex trafficking:Won’t someone think of the children?! — October 18, 2011
[...] Americans, generally, don’t like actual sex or real life violence in our news. Descriptions are fine, but video and photographs we could really do without. We prefer such glossed-over posturing over the much harder reality of life, so is it any wonder that’s what we get? Is it any wonder why nothing is ever accomplished, why nothing gets done? [...]
monimoa — February 4, 2012
The actual statistics for prosecutions of incidences involving trafficking may be underreported.
From what I understand, to prosecute someone for human trafficking prosecutors will usually only prosecute someone if there is evidence of force, fraud AND coercion (even though not all three elements are needed to classify a crime as trafficking in persons). I understand that it is this way because prosecutors want to be sure someone will be charged for the crime and do not want to set a precedent where someone would not be prosecuted.
Further, because it is difficult to prove that all elements are present in certain cases, prosecutors may prosecute under a different law. The bottom line is that the perpetrators are brought to justice even though the crime they are charged with is not "trafficking in persons" specifically.
What is being done? « Campaign to Learn — June 27, 2012
[...] according to an article from The Society Pages the in United States “only 2,515 investigations of suspected incidents [...]
eSunshine — June 30, 2012
[...] We prefer such shiny posturing over the much harder realities of life, so is it any wonder that’s what we get? Is it any wonder why nothing is ever accomplished, why nothing gets done? [...]
Diana Carney — June 1, 2021
This is a big enough problem that surrounds us everywhere, but people for some reason do not want to delve into it. We need to talk about this in order to avoid spreading and eradicate this problem. I can recommend you the article 5bestthings.com/human-trafficking/, which will definitely not leave you indifferent. It seems to me that it is sheer hypocrisy to talk about tolerance, technological and economic progress, when people are still sold on the market like cattle.