Essay on Understanding Sex Trafficking as a Criminal Justice Issue in the United States

Introduction

Sex trafficking in the United States is conceptualized as a criminal justice issue that dignifies the fundamental rights of humanity, and this is applicable not only in American society but also in every corner of the globe. The victims of sex trafficking are also enticed to access lucrative job opportunities alongside other economic advantages that always proves as a fallacy and depicts the sense of complacency upon a successful engagement of the victims. The initiative of understanding sex trafficking in the United States does not focus on the criminal injustice issues affecting the immigrants but also the Americans. In this context, it is quite imperative to note that young American women have found themselves being forced into the streets to engage in commercial sex and also sorts of indecent activities that demean their fundamental civil rights (Austin & Farrell, 2017). The victims of sex trafficking are quite often engaged in acts of forced labor against their will, and this justifies the reasoning why the survivors of sex trafficking always experienced symptoms of trauma during the recovery process. Hence, the issue of sex trafficking needs to be given a closure look, and this denotes the reasoning that the victims of sex trafficking may not enjoy the commercial sex activities, but they are always forced into the act against their consent and knowledge.

Background

The report presented by the United Nations justifies the reasoning that 700,000 women and young girls come out as potential victims of sex trafficking across the globe, and 28% of this population are residents in the United States (Middleton et al., 2018). The culture of sex trafficking in the United States portrays activities of forced labor and prostitution since young women are enticed to engage in commercial sex activities through the provision of jobs and other economic advantages. The immigrants are considered as the most affected group of people living in the United States by the phenomenon of sex trafficking. The justification of engaging the immigrants in commercialized sex activities is embedded in the reasoning that they come from poor backgrounds, and the majority of them come into the United States to seek employment opportunities. However, the existence of the belief in systematic racism is used as an advantage by the sex traffickers to enforce the victims offering sex for business against their wishes and knowledge (Lorenz, 2017). The U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000 has made every attempt in the past to enlighten the government about focusing on the welfare of the victims of sex trafficking, and this was instituted to enable the victims to get back their lives. Article 3(a) of the United Nations Conventions Act perceives the act of sex trafficking as an organized criminal activity that that focuses on the transfer of victims to engage in commercial activities without their consent, and this calls for the sense of justification to criminalize the activities and prosecute the offenders.

Problem Statement

Sex trafficking is conceptualized as a criminal justice issue that has caused civil unrest not only in American society but also across the globe. The fact that the victims of sex trafficking target under-age girls and young women mean they are being enticed and swayed without their knowledge to take part in criminal activities that they would otherwise not accord the requisite attention. As a result, the failure to acknowledge and respect the wishes of the victims by the offenders of sex trafficking laws justifies the perception that commercialization of sex trafficking needs to be considered a criminal offense, and the perpetrators need to meet the full wrath of the law (Bromfield, 2016). The United States constitution guarantees the health and safety of the citizenry, and the behavior to forcefully engage women and young girls in acts of prostitution is a criminal justice issue that needs to be revisited by the United States judicial community as a capital offense against the fundamental rights of the humanity.

Research Question

How is Sex Trafficking perceived as a Criminal Justice Issue in the United States?

Literature Review

According to the research conducted by Le et al. (2018), the United States government perceives sex trafficking as a serious criminal justice issue that has caused civil unrest issues ever since the advent of human civilization and the attainment of modernity. Hence, sex trafficking is conceptualized as a criminal activity that requires substantive legal attention not only by the American judicial community but also the world at large. Hence, the initiative of battling with the criminal issue is to make it a capital offense and prosecute the offenders to the full extent of the law. The victims of sex trafficking are always sexually and physically abused by the sex trafficking organizations, and this is deeply rooted in the sense of justification that they are dominated and controlled without their consent (Middleton et al., 2018). Sex trafficking in the United States affects both American citizens and immigrants, and the solution to the criminal issue of sex trafficking requires a closure look by the American government to find modalities and approaches of mitigating the phenomenon of sex trafficking. The core underlying issue that results in the incidences of sex trafficking is poverty and the sense of belief that living in American society provides an individual economic advantage of living the American Dream.

Puerto (2020) observes in his article that the immigrants are enticed and lured by the sex trafficking offenders to offer them lucrative job opportunities, and the moment they land in the American society, their travel documents are taken, and they are forced to take part of prostitution. Also, the young American girls are being swayed into the system of sex trafficking through the ideological orientation of finding opportunities to sustain their lifestyle. As a result, the United States government has always perceived the sense of perception to provide resources and medical assistance to the survivors of sex trafficking as shows of good faith to enable them to get their lives together. The victims of sex trafficking have a history of experiencing traumatizing incidents that are characterized by symptoms of anxiety disorders (Miller-Perrin & Wurtele, 2017). Hence, the establishment of medical and mental healthcare facilities for the survivors of sex trafficking and the popularization of the awareness of the existence of forced prostitution are considered as potential solutions to meeting the challenge that women and young girls faced in the present age.

Based on the information presented by Sobel (2016), the offenders of sex trafficking in the United States enforce the victims in both physical and sexual abuse, and this is founded on the reasoning that whatever they were promised does not always seem to be embraced by the people who lure them by facilitating their travels in America. The United Nations Convention considers the act of organizing a transfer of women and young girls into the United States to take part in prostitution as a criminal offense. Hence, the initiative of failing to provide decent jobs, economic opportunities, and appropriate shelter is perceived as an act of fraud and failing to embrace the sentimental value regarding the civil rights of humanity, particularly women and young girls living in the United States (Austin & Farrell, 2017). The failure and the difficulty in classifying the victims of sex trafficking as potential criminals involved in the business of sex trafficking denote why the law enforcement officers find it a challenge to recruit the survivors of the sex trafficking in the investigation process. Survivors of sex trafficking may find difficulty in helping the United States law enforcement department based on the obligation to meet their basic needs and residents of American society. Besides, the sense of justification based on the fear of being deported back to their home country and the possibility of being humiliated in public makes it very challenging for law enforcement officers to identify the perpetrators of sex trafficking as an organized criminal activity.

The United States judicial community perceives sex trafficking as a criminal issue that compromises public safety. In this context, the victims of sex trafficking are always engaged in forced labor and sexual abuse and make them feel frustrated. Hence, the sense of perception that the American young girls and women are living in fear through the existence of the outlawed groups, such as sex traffickers, denotes the reasoning why the issue of commercializing sex needs through enticing and coercing needs to be considered as a serious criminal justice issue that affects health and the security of the citizenry (Lorenz, 2017). The initiative of understanding sex trafficking in the United States as a criminal activity needs to focus on the interests of and aspirations of the victims. For instance, taking a closure look at the faces of sex trafficking victims would enable a law enforcement officer to make a judgment on whether the victims are interested in pursuing the culture of prostitution are they are forced through conditions and threats by the traffickers (Miller-Perrin & Wurtele, 2017). The United States government, under the directives of the judicial community, needs to make a follow up on the nature of lifestyle lived by the survivors of the sex trafficking, and this entails provision of temporary residence and the quest to understand the conditions under which they found themselves being lured and swayed to engage in the acts that portray the intent of criminal activities.

Given the nature of perspective shared by Bromfield (2016), the advancement made by the United States Law enforcement agencies to find and prosecute sex traffickers is based on the sense of acknowledgment of forcefully engaging a teenager or an underage person to take part in prostitution and commercialization of sex as a business opportunity. In this context, a young woman who is under the age of 18 years old who voluntarily engages in the commercialization of sex needs to be taken to the juvenile court for purposes of finding the best approaches of offering them rehabilitation services. Also, a sex trafficker who is found guilty in the United States to enforce underage women in sex trafficking faces the full extent of the law, and this is justified under federal law. The initiative of going after the buyers of sex-trafficked youth is conceptualized by the American law enforcement agencies as the requisite solution with regards to containing and mitigating the challenges of sex trafficking (Middleton et al., 2018). In this context, the perception of targeting the clients of the sex traffickers is an essential tactic of finding the hiding spots of the offenders who sexually abuse under age women in American society.

The intervention of the government in the lives of the survivors of sex trafficking is perceived through the initiative of offering legal assistance to the victims in a bid to get their lives back. The United States government has managed to guarantee the safe return of the immigrants to their home country, particularly the immigrants who have survived sex trafficking (Miller-Perrin & Wurtele, 2017). The consideration of the perspective of offering quality education and job opportunities to the survivors of sex trafficking is considered by the United States government as one of the approaches revolving around the conflicts created with regards to the understanding of sex trafficking as a criminal justice issue in the American society.

Methodology

Design and Approach

The research shall consider both quantitative and qualitative approaches to gain accurate insights about the understanding of sex trafficking as a Criminal Justice Issue in the United States. The application of the mixed approaches of the research design is intended to gather both qualitative and quantitative data through secondary research within the online platform, and this justifies the reasoning for considering secondary research to gather the opinions of the Americans about the perception of sex trafficking in the United States. The use of qualitative and quantitative approaches for gathering data through secondary research shall be considered a core guideline for justifying a platform for correct representation of facts (Rahi, 2017). The conceptualization of the mixed methodology shall be considered based on the context of the study. For instance, the fact that sex trafficking is an issue that demeans the fundamental rights of the young and under-aged women in American society means that the mixed design shall present the opinions of secondary researches without bias.

Participants and study sample

The secondary data will be collected from the online platform through the consideration of the ideological orientation of substantive secondary research. The identification of the most appropriate study samples, particularly the secondary researches that have ever been conducted, shall be a key guideline to an accurate understanding of sex trafficking as a criminal justice issue in the United States. Besides, the choice and selection of the most sampling technique are intended to make the research not only reliable but also valid. For instance, the fact that sex trafficking is one of the social injustices faced by under-aged women in the American society means that non-probability sampling shall be the most appropriate sampling technique that shall enable a researcher justifies the reasoning for considering the selection of credible secondary materials for the research (Rahi, 2017). Non-probability sampling is visualized as a sampling technique in which a researcher selects study materials of respondents for the study that suits his/her convenience. Hence, the research shall use purpose sampling since it gives researchers a sense of applying personal judgment to select the right secondary materials and researches that comprehensively presents the concept of sex trafficking in the United States.

Hypothesis

H1: The Initiative and modalities used by the United States government to understand the phenomenon of sex trafficking as a criminal justice issue in America’s society

Results/Discussions

The findings and the perspectives shared in the literature review affirm the reasoning that sex trafficking is an organized criminal activity that does not uphold the dignity of human beings and respects their fundamental civil rights of young women as the most affected group with regards to the commercialization of sexual activities. The women, particularly teenage girls who fall under the age of 18 years, are physically and sexually abused by the traffickers to take part in sexual activities and prostitutions without their consent (Sobel, 2016). The study findings acknowledge the sense of perception that the victims of sex trafficking are dragged into the nasty life based on their history and backgrounds as hopeless and poor immigrants. The victims of sex trafficking are swayed and lured into the business of commercializing sex with the intent to award them economic advantages, such as job opportunities and quality education. However, the nature of the treatment they face upon travels depicts a sense of complacency since they are forced to participate in prostitution contrary to their expectations.

The U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000 perceives sex trafficking as a serious criminal activity in the present age, and the offenders need to be punished to the full extent of the law. In this connection, the study findings justify the reasoning by the United States law enforcement agencies are tasked to target the buyers of sex, particularly to the under aged victims of sex trafficking, as a tactic of finding the pathway of sex traffickers. The initiative of following up the lifestyle of the survivors is also conceptualized as a strategy of attempting to find out the intent behind the popularization of the phenomenon and the culture of sex trafficking (Middleton et al., 2018). In this regard, the survivors of sex trafficking stand a better chance to get their lives back through the acquisition of mental health services provided by the government. Consequently, the phenomenon of sex trafficking does affect not only the immigrants but also the young American girls who are lost in the practice of overindulgence and drug abuse, and this is used as an advantage to lure and entice them to take part in prostitution without their knowledge.

Conclusion

The phenomenon of sex trafficking has caused civil unrest issues in the United States since the emergence of modernity and the attainment of human civilization not only in the United States but also in every country across the globe. The critiques of America’s system of governance and the political framework of leadership justifies the rising cases of sex trafficking issues in the United States as a culture that is founded on the concept of systematic racism. The immigrants are the most affected group since they are being lured and enticed by the sex traffickers to get access to economic opportunities in the United States (Lorenz, 2017). However, given the nature of sex trafficking as a criminal justice issue in America’s society, the law enforcement agencies need to consider reasoning that every under aged girl living in the United States is a potential victim of sex trafficking. Hence, the government needs to focus on guaranteeing safety and protection to the victims of sex trafficking by creating awareness of its practice and existence in the United States.

References

Austin, R., & Farrell, A. (2017). Human trafficking and the media in the United States. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Bromfield, N. F. (2016). Sex slavery and sex trafficking of women in the United States: Historical and contemporary parallels, policies, and perspectives in social work. Affilia, 31(1), 129-139.

Le, P. D., Ryan, N., Rosenstock, Y., & Goldmann, E. (2018). Health issues associated with commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of children in the United States: A systematic review. Behavioral medicine, 44(3), 219-233.

Lorenz, K. (2017). Sex trafficking in the United States: theory, research, policy, and practice.

Middleton, J. S., Gattis, M. N., Frey, L. M., & Roe-Sepowitz, D. (2018). Youth experiences survey (YES): Exploring the scope and complexity of sex trafficking in a sample of youth experiencing homelessness. Journal of Social Service Research, 44(2), 141-157.

Miller-Perrin, C., & Wurtele, S. K. (2017). Sex trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Women & Therapy, 40(1-2), 123-151.

Puerto, K. F. (2020). Understanding Sex Trafficking in the United States.

Rahi, S. (2017). Research design and methods: A systematic review of research paradigms, sampling issues and instruments development. International Journal of Economics & Management Sciences, 6(2), 1-5.

Sobel, M. (2016). Sex trafficking in Thai media: A content analysis of issue framing. International Journal of Communication, 10, 22.