Office of Justice Programs Innovation • Partnerships • Safer Neighborhoods www.ojp.usdoj.gov
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Traffickers are similarly diverse. There are There are are similarly diverse. Traffickers traffickers working alone to deceive and prey on victims; businesses that enslave their workers; Who Are the Who Are the and Traffickers How Do They Trap Victims? trafficking come from all walks of life and are trafficking come from all walks of life and are Anyone entrapped in many settings. different color, regardless of their race, can be a victim, gender, age, religion, disability, national origin, socioeco- identity, gender sexual orientation, While there status. or citizenship nomic status, is no defining characteristic that all victims traffickers frequently prey on individuals share, living in an unsafe vulnerable, who are poor, These of a better life. or are in search situation, victims are deceived by false promises of love, or a stable life and are lured into a good job, situations where they are forced to work under deplorable conditions with little to no pay. a factory, Whether made to work in agriculture, forced into commercial sex, or a strip club, or abused in a home as a domestic servant, federal law recognizes these individuals as victims of human trafficking.
transportation, transportation, uman trafficking, also known persons or modern-day as trafficking in uman trafficking,
is a crime that involves the exploitation for the of a person slavery, While the U.S. or a commercial sex act. purpose of compelled labor
bondage, or slavery. bondage, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or obtaining of a person for labor provision, fraud, through the use of force, or services, or coercion for the purpose of subjection debt peonage, to involuntary servitude, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a or soliciting of a patronizing, obtaining, person for the purpose of a commercial sex act) in which a commercial sex act is or in or coercion, fraud, induced by force, which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or harboring, transportation, provision, provision, transportation, harboring, Sex trafficking (the recruitment, Sex trafficking (the recruitment, harboring, The recruitment,
Department of Justice (DOJ) has long enforced criminal lawsDepartment of Justice (DOJ) against involun Victims Protection Trafficking enactment of the the tary servitude and slavery, and criminal penalties to services, of 2000 brought new benefits, Act (TVPA) and effective way. address human trafficking in a more comprehensive Who Are the Who Are the Victims of Human Trafficking? fraud, Anyone who is compelled (through force, or coercion) to perform any kind of work or and commercial sex act by another person, is any minor engaged in a commercial sex act, Victims of human a human trafficking victim. The TVPA defines a “severe form of trafficking “severe form of trafficking a defines TVPA The as— in persons” • • What Is Human What Is Human Trafficking? An Introduction to Human to Human An Introduction in the United States Trafficking H OVC FACT SHEET FACT OVC DECEMBER 2015 U.S. Department of Justice Department U.S. of Justice Programs Office of Crime Victims for Office families who have been in the business of human trafficking What Services Do Victims for generations or have just begun exploiting a family member; of Human Trafficking Need? criminal networks, large and small; and front businesses that appear legitimate at first glance but disguise human trafficking. While each trafficking victim is unique, the emergency and long-term services that trafficking victims often require include An individual can be enslaved without chains. Indeed, intensive case management, victim advocacy, shelter and housing, traffickers often go beyond physical abuse and use extreme food, medical and dental care, mental health treatment, substance forms of psychological abuse that exploit victims’ vulnerabilities to abuse treatment, support groups, interpretation and translation maintain control over victims and prevent them from escaping. To services, immigration and other legal assistance, literacy educa- achieve their ends, traffickers instill fear of arrest or deportation, tion, and employment and training services. use threats of harm to a family member, perpetuate shame or guilt about what is happening, and warn of financial ruin. These Primary sources of federal grant funding for services specific to experiences are traumatizing and often result in psychological trafficking victims are the U.S. Department of Health and Human dissociation, distrust, and gaps in the victim’s memory that make Services Office on Trafficking in Persons and DOJ’s Office for recounting a clear and complete story difficult. In addition, Victims of Crime. When victims are involved in trafficking traffickers sometimes promote drug dependencies among their investigations and prosecutions, some victim assistance is also victims, keeping the victims reliant on the trafficker for access provided by system-based victim/witness coordinators and victim to the substances that fuel their addiction. specialists housed within federal agencies, such as DOJ’s U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs How Many Human Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations. Victims of human trafficking are also regularly identified and served by individuals Trafficking Victims Are and organizations working with related vulnerable populations— in the United States? such as child welfare systems, runaway and homeless youth It is difficult to measure the magnitude of human trafficking. DOJ’s programs, and domestic violence shelters. National Institute of Justice supports an array of research projects working to estimate the prevalence of human trafficking in the For more information, please visit www.ovc.gov/trafficking and United States. You can find the most recent research on their Web www.ovcttac.gov/taskforceguide. site at www.nij.gov.
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