Title: Sex Trafficking in the United States - The Atlantic
Headings: When Sex Trafficking Goes Unnoticed in America
Politics
When Sex Trafficking Goes Unnoticed in America
Many cases go unreported, making it a difficult crime for law enforcement personnel to spot.
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Content: Sex Trafficking in the United States - The Atlantic
Politics
When Sex Trafficking Goes Unnoticed in America
Many cases go unreported, making it a difficult crime for law enforcement personnel to spot. Priscilla Alvarez
February 23, 2016
A survivor of sex-trafficking is pictured outside of a faith-based Samaritan Women home where she now lives. Patrick Semansky / AP
How do you identify sex-trafficking victims when such cases go largely undetected or unreported? * It’s an issue with which law-enforcement agencies in the U.S. continually struggle. Detective Bill Woolf with the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force has experienced this first hand. Over the course of his tenure, he’s interviewed over 300 victims. In many cases, those who have been exploited believe that they are offenders, Woolf told me. “ They fear law enforcement…because they’re technically committing a crime and that is prostitution,” he said. Read Follow-Up Notes
Is legalizing prostitution the best way to tackle sex trafficking? The Department of Homeland Security defines human trafficking as a “modern-day form of slavery involving the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain.”