Current Event on Gender and Criminal Justice System - Essay Example

The phrase human trafficking is used to characterize the unlawful transportation of persons from one region or nation to the other CITATION Tri12 \l 1033 (Triandafyllidou & Maroukis, 2012). In most cases, victims of this trafficking are transported to other regions to function as forced laborers or for sexual exploitation. In the U.S., the act of human trafficking is a current issue affecting the criminal justice system. This is because despite strict measures being put in place by the government to protect persons from the crime, thousands of persons, especially women and young girls, fall prey to human traffickers annually. This essay is a discussion of human and sex trafficking in the U.S. through a focus on the HSI case study on human trafficking and a discussion of the impact of the crime on the U.S. government.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Human Trafficking and Women

In the U.S., the act of trafficking of persons to engage in sexual activities is termed as sex trafficking if the act is induced by force, coercion as well as fraud. The act is also referred as sex trafficking if the persons involved have not reached the age of eighteen. In most cases, human trafficking is a transitional process. This means that persons are recruited abroad and later transported across borders to different nations where there are sexually exploited. The act of human trafficking can also be a domestic phenomenon, in which case fewer transportations costs are involved.

Although this form of crime affects both men and women, the latter are the most affected by the crime of sexual trafficking. This has been highly attributed to factors such as lack of education, poverty, domestic violence and drug use among others. Past research has also portrayed that most female victims of sex trafficking are cheated that they would be offered a better life, jobs, and opportunities if they consent to be trafficked. As a result, most of them end up being victims of sexual abuse at the hands of their handlers in the foreign nations.

In some cases, young girls below the 18 years age are trafficked to work in the brothels situated in the U.S. and other parts of the world. It is hard for social workers to detect all cases of underage sex trafficking because the population of the victimized underage girls is very high. As a result, the majority of the affected girls may be victimized for years without being detected. Consequently, some of the victims die while others indulge in drugs abuse to escape their harsh realities. Also, an increase in unwanted pregnancies takes place, and unwanted children are left behind to fend for themselves.

U.S. HSI Case Study

According to a case report published by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) in conjunction with the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in 2016, a total of 1,952 persons were apprehended in 2016 CITATION ICE17 \l 1033 (ICE, 2017). They were charged with crimes relating to human trafficking in the U.S.A. Their charges ranged from the exploitation of persons sexuality for commercial gains, and trafficking of persons to perpetrate forced labor. According to the case study, 400 individuals who were victims of commercial sexual exploitation were identified and admitted for critical counseling services CITATION ICE17 \l 1033 (ICE, 2017).

According to the case report, the issue of human and sex trafficking has become a major challenge in the U.S. The report also stated that over the last five years, the HSI has apprehended approximately 7,000 persons and charged them with human trafficking offenses CITATION ICE17 \l 1033 (ICE, 2017). The case study also illustrated that the act of human trafficking in the nation normally occurs in a variety of situations and industries. As such, the HSI pointed the need for the public to be educated on signs to look for so as to recognize and report instances of human and sex trafficking in the nation.

Impact and Recommendation

The U.S. government faces a substantial challenge in developing policies aimed at controlling the increased rates of human and sex trafficking in the nation. Such acts also create an economic burden on the government through substantial funds set aside to apprehend human and sex traffickers in the nation. Also, in most cases, the majority of the victims abused through human trafficking are young women. Most of them are physically assaulted and contracted with dangerous diseases such as the HIV/Aids. Consequently, this raises the economic burden of the government in provisioning funds for health care provision to the affected persons.

Conclusion

In conclusion, human and sex trafficking is a major and current issue of the criminal justice system. Despite measures by the U.S. government through the HSI and other criminal system bodies being implemented, the problem remains a major challenge in the nation. Over the last half a decade, thousands of persons have been apprehended by the authorities due to crimes related to human and sexual trafficking. Such trafficking of persons could be transitional, where victims prepare abroad before being transported for sexual and forced labor gains in the foreign nations. Nevertheless, human trafficking could also be domestic where victims are moved from one part of the nation to another.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY ICE. (2017, January 23). Human Smuggling and Trafficking. Retrieved from U.S. Migration and Customs Enforcement: https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-arrests-nearly-2000-human-traffickers-2016-identifies-over-400-victims-across-us

Triandafyllidou, A., & Maroukis, T. (2012). Migrant Smuggling: Irregular Migration from Asia and Africa to Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan.