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Classified Websites, Sex Trafficking, and the Law: Problem and Proposal

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Classified Websites, Sex Trafficking, and the Law: Problem and Proposal ASENCION_MACRO( DO NOT DELETE) 7/5/2017 2:05 PM CLASSIFIED WEBSITES, SEX TRAFFICKING, AND THE LAW: PROBLEM AND PROPOSAL MARIA LOURDES ASENCIÓN* I. Delimitation of the Problem Since the beginning of the 1600s, slavery was a known issue in the United States (U.S.).1 Although slavery was abolished in 1863 as a result of the Civil War, slavery persists in the present day.2 Modern day slavery is human trafficking.3 Although there is a * J.D. 2017, St. Thomas University School of Law; M.Sc. 2012, B.S. 2010, Florida International University. I want to thank the Intercultural Human Rights Law Review for the careful revision and dedication to my Article. I also want to thank my family who stood beside me for all these years to see my dreams come true; my friends that have motivated me and have helped me during the researching and writing process; and my husband who pushed me to achieve the unachievable at all times. I want to thank Professor Wiessner for his firm belief in my topic for this Article, his guidance, and his dedication to making me a better writer. Thank you to all that have contributed to this process one way or another. 1 Africans in America: Europeans Come to Western Africa, PBS ONLINE (1998) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr1.html (discussing how European ships brought millions of Africans to colonies and plantations in the Americas); see Slavery in America, HISTORY.COM (2009) http://www.history.com/topics/black- history/slavery (explaining that the first African slaves were brought to aid in production and help build economic foundations of the “new nation”); see also Slavery in the United States: A Brief History, CIVIL WAR TRUST (2014), http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/ civil-war-overview/slavery.html (describing how a Dutch ship loaded African slaves traveled to the United States to work on large farms to work on crops, and tobacco). 2 Kelly E. Hyland, Protecting Human Victims of Trafficking: An American Framework, 16 BERKELEY WOMEN’S L.J. 29, 38–39 (2001) (discussing how human trafficking has become a transnational crime); see also Slavery Today, END SLAVERY NOW (2016), http://www.endslaverynow.org/learn/slavery-today (explaining how there is an estimated 20.9 million people in slavery today, known as “modern-day slavery”). There are different types of slavery besides sex trafficking, such as forced labor, bonded, child labor, domestic servitude, and forced marriage. 3 What is Human Trafficking?, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking (last visited Dec. 6, 12-6 ASENCION (DO NOT DELETE) 7/5/2017 2:05 PM 228 INTERCULTURAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW [Vol. 12 misconception that human trafficking is only an international issue, victims need not cross international borders to be trafficked.4 Even though trafficking suggests movement or travel, there is no requirement that victims must be transported in order for trafficking to take place.5 Annually, approximately 700,000 victims are trafficked within U.S. borders.6 In the U.S. alone, there is an estimated 2016) (defining human trafficking as a “modern-day slavery [involving] the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.”); Human Trafficking & Modern-Day Slavery, Schuster Institute, (Jun. 17, 2011) http://www.brandeis.edu/investigate/slavery/index.html (explaining how slavery is not as obvious or visible as it once was.); See also Karen E. Bravo, Exploring the Analogy Between Modern Trafficking in Human and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, 25 B.U. INT’L L.J. 207, 213 (2007). The abolition of slavery throughout the colonies and in the United States post-Civil War is known as the first era of abolition. Id. Modern society is experiencing another sense of abolition. Id.; see Cheryl Nelson Butler, Kids for Sale: Does America Recognize Its Own Sexually Exploited Minors As Victims of Human Trafficking?, 44 SETON L. REV. 833 (2014) [hereinafter Kids for Sale] (explaining how human trafficking is an epidemic in the United States). The Obama Administration has estimated that more than 20 million men, women, and children are victimized by forced labor and sex trafficking worldwide. Id. 4 See Sarah Kujawa, Note, Modern-Day Slavery: Human Trafficking in Oklahoma, 38 OKLA. CITY U. L. REV. 105, 107 (2013) (describing how human trafficking does not involve transportation of a person); see also What is Human Trafficking?, EXODUS CRY, http://exoduscry.com/about/human-trafficking/ (last visited Dec. 6, 2016) (describing human trafficking as the “recruitment, transfer . of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion . .”). For human trafficking to occur, actual physical transportation of an individual does not need to take place. Id. 5 22 U.S.C. § 7102(9) (2015). The statute provides the definition for the severe forms of trafficking in persons. Id. See also Amy Hewat & Kathleen Leslie, Eradicating Modern Day Slavery, THE CHRISTIAN LAWYER, 3 (2014) (explaining how the word “trafficking” means movement but does not require movement for the crime to occur); Trafficking Victims Protection Act, FIGHT SLAVERY NOW, https://fightslaverynow.org/why-fight-there-are-27-million-reasons/the-law-and- trafficking/trafficking-victims-protection-act/trafficking-victims-protection-act/ (explaining how the physical transportation of an individual from one location to another is not a requirement). The trafficker uses psychological coercion to control the victim. Id. 6 See 22 U.S.C. § 7101(b)(1) (2015). Id. See also Trafficking in Persons Report, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE (Jul. 2015), http://www.state.gov/documents/ 12-6 ASENCION (DO NOT DELETE) 7/5/2017 2:05 PM 2017] WEBSITES, SEX TRAFFICKING, AND THE LAW 229 100,000 American children trafficked for sex each year.7 In 2016 in the U.S., 5,748 human trafficking cases were reported.8 Out of those reported cases, 1,828 were children.9 The Department of State stated that there are more than twenty million adults and children that qualify as victims of modern slavery worldwide.10 Human trafficking is deemed to be the third largest criminal activity in the world aside from drugs and the illegal arms industry.11 organization/245365.pdf [hereinafter TRAFFICKING REPORT 2015] (describing how human trafficking is not only an international issue only). 7 Stephanie Silvano, Fighting a Losing Battle to Win the War: Can States Combat Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Despite CDA Preemption?, 83 FORDHAM L. REV. 375, 380 (2014) (explaining that experts estimate that more than 100,000 American children are victims of sex trafficking within the United States); see Human Trafficking, POLARIS (2015) http://www.polarisproject.org/human- trafficking/overview (stating that an estimated amount of 100,000 children are in the sex trade in the United States every year). 8 Hotline Statistics, NAT’L HUM. TRAFFICKING RESOURCE CENTER, http://www.traffickingresourcecenter.org/states (last visited Dec. 6, 2016) (comparing the amount of cases reported in 2015, a total of 2, 795). 9 See id. See also Roza Pati, Trafficking in Persons and Transnational Organized Crime: A Policy-Oriented Perspective, in HANDBOOK ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING, PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE LAW 27–31 (Wilhelm Kirch et al. eds., 2013) (explaining how in the Trafficking in Persons Report in 2006, “800,000 people were being trafficked across international borders every year, 80% of them being women and 50% being minors”). 10 Kari Johnstone, Seven Things You Should Know About Human Trafficking, DIPNOTE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE OFFICIAL BLOG (Jul. 27, 2015) (describing how boys can be subject to victimization in sex trafficking), http://blogs.state.gov/stories/2015/07/27/seven-things-you-should-know-about- human-trafficking; see also An Overview of Child Sex Trafficking, NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESOURCE CENTER (2015) (http://www.trafficking resourcecenter.org/resources/overview-child-sex-trafficking (defining that child sex trafficking is a form of child abuse) [hereinafter Child Sex Trafficking]; see Sex Trafficking in the U.S., POLARIS (2015) http://www.polarisproject.org/human- trafficking/sex-trafficking-in-the-us (“is a form of modern slavery that exists throughout the United States and globally”). 11 Pinghua Sun & Yan Xie, Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery in the Modern World, 7 ALB. GOV’T L. REV. 91, 93–94 (2014) (describing how drugs and guns are profitable industries in the United States aside from human sex trafficking). 12-6 ASENCION (DO NOT DELETE) 7/5/2017 2:05 PM 230 INTERCULTURAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW [Vol. 12 Although illegal, the human trafficking industry makes an estimated thirty-two billion dollars per year.12 In the U.S., child sex trafficking is one of the most prevalent and unconscionable of crimes.13 Classified websites such as Backpage, or in the past, Craigslist, have served to enhance sex trafficking in a significant manner.14 Even though there have been recent criminal charges against the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Backpage, nothing seems to be defined or determinative.15 Up to now, the U.S. lacked landmark civil or criminal cases against websites for their actions to serve as platforms for advertisers of sexual services. Since the evolution of the Internet, traffickers use websites and social media to recruit their victims, rather than on the streets or public areas.16 With social media sites at a child’s fingertips, such as Skype, Facebook, and Snapchat, there are new avenues to access and 12 See Kujawa, supra note 4 at 105, 107. See also Janelle Zabresky, Creating a Safe Harbor for Florida’s Children: An Overview of Florida’s Legislative Evolution in Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, 40 FLA. ST.
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