There are 2 types of Trafficking
A commercial sex act includes prostitution, pornography, and sexual performance done in exchange for any items of value, such as money, shelter, food, clothes or drugs.
Globally, the International Labor Organization estimates that there are 4.8 million people, including 1 million children, trapped in forced sexual exploitation globally.
Globally, the International Labor Organization estimates that there are 4.8 million people, including 1 million children, trapped in forced sexual exploitation globally.
Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of others. Although slavery is commonly thought to be a thing of the past, human trafficking still exists today throughout the United States and globally when traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to control other people for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex or forcing them to provide labor services against their will.
There does not have to be any actual travelling involved from for someone to be considered trafficked. In fact, someone can be trafficked right out of their own homes. Trafficking refers to the force, fraud, or coercion that is done to control the person for the service(s).
If someone is under the age of 18 and commits a commercial sex act they are considered sex trafficked under federal law.
There does not have to be any actual travelling involved from for someone to be considered trafficked. In fact, someone can be trafficked right out of their own homes. Trafficking refers to the force, fraud, or coercion that is done to control the person for the service(s).
If someone is under the age of 18 and commits a commercial sex act they are considered sex trafficked under federal law.
In the United States, sex trafficking commonly occurs in online escort services, residential brothels, brothels disguised as massage businesses or spas, and in street prostitution. Labor trafficking has been found in domestic servitude situations, as well as sales crews, large farms, restaurants, carnivals, and more.
The International Labor Organization estimates that there are 40.3 million (24.9 million in forced labor, including sex trafficking, and 15.4 million in forced marriages) victims of human trafficking globally, with hundreds of thousands in the United States. Human trafficking victims have been identified in cities, suburbs, and rural areas in all 50 states, and in Washington, D.C.
Forced labor in the private economy generates US$ 150 billion in illegal profits per year, about three times more than previously estimated, according to a new report from the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The International Labor Organization estimates that there are 40.3 million (24.9 million in forced labor, including sex trafficking, and 15.4 million in forced marriages) victims of human trafficking globally, with hundreds of thousands in the United States. Human trafficking victims have been identified in cities, suburbs, and rural areas in all 50 states, and in Washington, D.C.
Forced labor in the private economy generates US$ 150 billion in illegal profits per year, about three times more than previously estimated, according to a new report from the International Labor Organization (ILO).
There are 2 primary factors driving the spread of human trafficking
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HIGH PROFIT$
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LOW RISK
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Like drug and arms trafficking, human trafficking is a market-driven criminal industry that is based on the principles of supply and demand. Every year traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits by victimizing millions of people around the world, including here in the United States.
The marketplace of victimization operates according to the economic laws of supply and demand, much like any legitimate market. As in any market, supply and demand for commercial sexual services are correlated; supply, while it can and will affect the market structure, increases to meet a growing demand for sexual services throughout the world. Evidence suggests that supply is becoming younger in response to buyers' demands for youth due to the perceptions of healthiness and vulnerability. (DEMAND.: A Comparative Examination of Sex Tourism and Trafficking in Jamaica, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States, Shared Hope International: July 2007, pg 15 National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking)
The marketplace of victimization operates according to the economic laws of supply and demand, much like any legitimate market. As in any market, supply and demand for commercial sexual services are correlated; supply, while it can and will affect the market structure, increases to meet a growing demand for sexual services throughout the world. Evidence suggests that supply is becoming younger in response to buyers' demands for youth due to the perceptions of healthiness and vulnerability. (DEMAND.: A Comparative Examination of Sex Tourism and Trafficking in Jamaica, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States, Shared Hope International: July 2007, pg 15 National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking)
What does this have to do with
Montgomery County?
According to the Joint State Government Commission of the Pennsylvania General Assembly,
"the crime of human trafficking is growing in Pennsylvania,” and "Pennsylvania is a source, destination and pass-through state for trafficking in persons.”
Montgomery County
-is the 3rd largest County in PA
-is the 2nd wealthiest County in PA
-Has the most hotels in a single County in PA
-is the 51st wealthiest County in the United States
The Delaware Valley, also known as the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area is the 8th largest metropolitan area in the United States, as of 2017. Montgomery County is part of the Delaware Valley and as such it mirrors what is happening across America. The United Nations has estimated that 150,000 children under the age of 18 are involved in child prostitution. However, a “study of 5 U.S. cities concluded that 300,000 ‘domestic minors’ were involved in prostitution.”
This issue is no stranger in the news. It's all over our area.
Look at The Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law's 2018 report on Commercial Sexual Exploitation in PA here.
Why do you think traffickers are in, or come to MontCo?
Answer: Because there is a market here.
One pimp could have 2-10+ "workers" who "service" anywhere between 10-40+ people a night. That is a possible 400 people/night for only one pimp. That is a lot of people looking for sex and a lot of money being given to the pimps who give no money or very little money to the victims and instead control them with it along with threats, physical, mental and emotional abuse and empty promises.
People in our county are affected by this issue whether they are the victims, the "johns", or the exploiters.
We need to do something about it.
