Human Trafficking People Are Taken Every Day

Human Trafficking

People are taken every day from their homes and off of the streets and sold either into prostitution or slavery. It would seem that something so egregious could not happen in a law abiding, civilized country such as the United States, but more people are taken every year, and the exact numbers of people who are taken through human trafficking is not known. In this small paper, an analysis of the available research will be done using four representative articles.

The first article chosen has to do with how well the act of trafficking in humans is being reported. Mattar (2008) says that current methods of tracking how much human trafficking is occurring are lacking. The United States and United Kingdom currently use all available tracking software and other methods, but neither country understands what the exact breadth of the problem is. The author of the investigation is an expert in the field and teaches at Johns Hopkins University.

The next article by Potocky (2010) discusses the failure of the United States government to stop the exploitation and trafficking of its citizens. The author makes the argument that although landmark legislation was enacted to curb both international traffickers who send their product back to the U.S. And domestic trafficking because of political in-fighting the legislation has lost its teeth. Also, there seems to have been very little done in the last five years to strengthen the original law. The author gives several examples of how the U.S. has "dropped the ball" in its efforts to stop human trafficking in the United States and abroad.

Grozdziak and MacDonnell (2007) make the further point that while the U.S. has taken the lead in tracking down and prosecuting traffickers, the government has done little to help the victims reintegrate into society once they are liberated. The duty of a government to its people is to protect them. However, despite their best efforts, governments have not done this.