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

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