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Sex Trafficking Defined
Sex trafficking encompasses the range of activities involved when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion to compel another person to engage in a commercial sex act or causes a child to engage in a commercial sex act.
The crime of sex trafficking can also be understood through the “acts,” “means,” and “purpose” framework. All three elements are required to establish a sex trafficking crime (except in the case of child sex trafficking where the means are irrelevant).
The “acts” element of sex trafficking is met when a trafficker recruits, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, patronizes, or solicits another person to engage in commercial sex.
The “means” element of sex trafficking occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion. Coercion in the case of sex trafficking includes the broad array of nonviolent means included in the forced labor definition. These can include serious harm, psychosocial harm, reputational harm, threats to others, and debt manipulation.
The “purpose” element in every sex trafficking case is the same: to engage in a commercial sex act. Sex trafficking can take place in private homes, massage parlors, hotels, or brothels, among other locations, as well as on the internet.
State Government
Under federal law, the Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) includes sex trafficking under the category of “Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons,” and it defines sex trafficking to occur when “a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.”
Under South Carolina law, the definition of sex trafficking is similar, rendering unlawful “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for [a sex act] when it is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or the person forced to perform the act is under the age of eighteen years and anything of value is given, promised to, or received, directly or indirectly, by another person.”
Under both federal and state law, it is enough simply that a victim under the age of eighteen is trafficked. If the individual is over the age of eighteen, then force, fraud, or coercion must be proved in order to establish sex trafficking.
South Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force
So who’s more at risk for this kind of human trafficking? 40% of sex trafficking victims are of African descent. This can be due to the environment of many minorities in white-dominant countries or due to the trafficking levels on the African continent. Caucasians are the second largest group targeted for sexual exploitation.
No matter how much melanin you have in your skin, your age, or your gender, everyone, and anyone is at risk of human trafficking. Below are five statistics to demonstrate what I mean.
“3.8 million people ended up trafficked for forced sexual exploitation.”
Safe Horizon
“1.0 million children ended up trafficked for commercial sexual.” exploitation. Safe Horizon
“4.8 million human trafficking victims (19%) were sexually exploited.”
Human Rights First
“3.5 million (74%) of victims of sexual exploitation were living outside their country of residence.”
Human Rights First
“Sex trafficking victims are more likely to be white (26%) or black(40%).”
World Population Review
Young women 18 -24 experiences sex trafficking. Due to their ages and social/cognitive development, young women are vulnerable to being targeted and recruited by a trafficker/pimp because they do not recognize or understand the manipulation tactics employed against them, lack of community/family, or have several other traumatic barriers.
Speak On the Numbers
Sex Trafficking occurs worldwide, see SC statistics here:
https://humantraffickinghotline.org/state/south-carolinaSex trafficking is the third largest organized crime in the United States.
The largest group of at-risk children are runaway, abandoned, or homeless American children who use survival sex to acquire food, shelter, and clothing. According to the National Runaway Switchboard, 1.3 million runaway and homeless youth live on America’s streets every day. Approximately 5,000 die each year.
The average lifespan of a victim of sex trafficking is reported to be 7 years, often found dead from attack, abuse, HIV and other STD’s, malnutrition, overdose, or suicide.
According to the 2019 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, the United States ranks third in the world for human trafficking.
There are an estimated 300,000 enslaved in the United States.