Online Human Trafficking - Essay Example

HUMAN TRAFFIC ONLINE al Affiliation HUMAN TRAFFIC ONLINE Introduction Human trafficking online can be defined as the hiring, coercing, transportation and movement of persons without their consent conducted through websites. Many women and men have fallen to be the victim of the crime right from their country or abroad. The offense is even possible due to the emergence of technology that has enabled the crime to be conducted via the internet leading to human trafficking online (Dixon, 2013). Through online, it provides for social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, email and Google that enables the crime to prolong with ease. The paper therefore, tries to examine the relevant laws that exist in the United States to curb the menace, various innovations that encourage the growth of human trafficking online, the role of social networking sites and development of technology such as computers that has motivated the felony. Relevant trafficking laws Due to the rise of the online trafficking, the United States has developed anti-trafficking laws under the trafficking victims protection act (TVPA). The laws have since been reviewed for almost four times in the last decade. They are known as the 3P and using this approach, the TVPA provides that; the perpetrators of the human trafficking online be prosecuted in persons through establishments of crimes and listing them in person (Marcus, & Snajdr, 2013). The legislation tends to make it hard for those individuals who carry the act and are meant to be aware that each person bears his/her burden. Second, the legislation has created a bill of right that provides protection to the victims of online trafficking that includes but not limited to access to information, medical care, and resistance. (Reichert, 2013).Finally, the law provides for programs and grants that increase the general public awareness regarding online trafficking. Knowledge contains information that includes preventive measures and possibility of the act occurring. The citizens are hence taught how to develop protective means that reduce human online trafficking. For instance the government encourages the young adults to share information with whom they know rather than strangers they meet in different websites. Innovation monitoring and analysis of human trafficking online The emergence of technology has provided a new and common platform where the crime of human trafficking online is carried out. Previous crimes were easily detected as it involved physical interaction between the population and the offenders (Snajdr, 2013). But since the development of technology, human trafficking has developed new ways to the management and control as it is majorly done online. Dixon (2013), observes that due to internet, the crime has flourished and its control been made more complex. Devices According to (Ahn,Alpert, Purcell, Konstantopoulos, McGahan, Cafferty,& Burke,2013), many countries population will acquire technological tools such as computers and Smartphone by 2030. This means that by receiving the devices, majority of the population can and will be able to access the information at their fingertips. Thakor (2013) believe that the similar devices are used by the online trafficking perpetrators that create a platform that enable easier interaction. The traffickers are hence able to gauge and influence the young people for their crimes. Internet trends It is no doubt that majority of the population like spending most of their time online. As they try to be in touch with their colleagues around the globe, exchange materials such as photos and videos while maintaining their game playing with their friends on social sites (Dixon,2013). These social sites are also used by the traffickers (Thakor, 2013). It is due to the development of technological apps, such as Facebook and Twitter that the online trafficking has thrived. The two apps have made it possible for sharing information like pornography to the teens making it easier for the traffickers to recruit online (Snajdr, 2013). The young generation has therefore become a target since the videos and photos they share among themselves remains online which are used to influence them to the crime. The teens should reduce henceforth the amount of time they spend online with their apps if they would want to be safe (Thakor, 2013). Nature of online trafficking The online trafficking behaviors seem to be perpetrated on three fronts that includes domestic workers, sexual exploitation and labor (Ahn, Alpert,Purcell, Konstantopoulos, McGahan, Cafferty,& Burke,2013.) Of the online human trafficking, girls are attracted in form of job vacancies in foreign nations with a good salary pay pack. However, these do not be the case and only realizes that they were misled online. Girls and women are also trafficked for sexual purposes. Through the online emergent in the crime, videos and photos that portray pornographically materials are easily transmitted from one site to the other. The photos once uploaded remains in the internet for forever whether it was uploaded by Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and Twitter. The male generation online trafficking comprises the labor requirement with a few experiencing the female hardships. A research by the international Labor department showed that of the human trafficking online cases around the globe that was conducted, 98% were due to sexual related matters and involved the women. The same study showed that 42% of the online trafficking was regarding labor was due to men while domestic workers comprised of 60% that involved the female generation. In this regard, sexual exploitation, labor and domestic workers were the major form of human traffic around the world and within the United States (Cho, Dreher, & Neumayer, 2014). The Justice Department report of the United States shows that 41% of the human traffic is sex related cases, 20% are labor while 32% was due to domestic workers. These statistics can be represented in the table below; Difference between the female and male targets in online trafficking The female generation is however more targeted than the male species. All studies indicate a bigger proportion of that human online trafficking to be either women or girls. Maybe it is due to the nature of society or they are just a victim of circumstances. Due to this , I intend to analyze the feminism theory to enable understand what constitute the vulnerability of the female generation in the modern era of gender disparity in online trafficking. Feminism theory The theory believes that history favors the male generation and does not see any value or roles that women would impact in the society. Due to this, there is prejudice in gender view and potentials in the society and maybe it is why crimes as those of online trafficking targets majority of the female generation (Morris, 2013). The society set up as to those actions are male dominated hence they are they are the norms. In contrast, females are just but deviations. Hence, the theory disputes these ideas that tend to favor men. It shows that the biological set up may be different, but both the genders are the same in psychology, morals and traits (Morris, 2013). The thinkers therefore urge for the abandonment of the traditional thinking and embrace the modern of viewing females to promote gender equality. Impacts of the theory in online trafficking Feminist theory has since formed the legal basis of the United States policies on online trafficking. It promotes gender equality, and has promoted many discussions pertaining to domestic and sexual violence perpetrated via the internet (Reichert, 2013). The neutrality of law has been ensured between women and men as to those who commit the cyber crimes to aid in human trafficking online. The legislations have been formulated that protects all persons regarding the human online trafficking. Statistics of human trafficking regarding different attributes in the United States Race According to the Bureau of the justice statistics report, at least of reported cases, showed that seventy-seven percent of the human trafficking online is of color. This is an indication that racism is entrenched in human trafficking. (Snajdr, 2013) shows that the majority of these online trafficking are due to labor and sexual exploitation. They happen through migration, racial discrimination, poverty and the traffickers must find the correlation of these if they are to come up with viable solutions (Cho, Dreher,& Neumayer, 2014). Below is a graph that represents the above data from the justice department. States Human trafficking online is common to the states within United States. A leading organization that is against slavery released a report in 2013 that ranks states on the level of trafficking online. South Dakota is the lowest level with 2 points; New Hampshire was ranked second with 3 points while Delaware and Colorado were both having 4 points. The fifth worst state was Utah but received a ranking of 5 points above the other four. The data can be represented as shown in the graph below; Human trafficking by age A report from the minor trafficking from the justice department shows that 33% of the human trafficking online are children. The children are 18 years and below making them underage. It implies that the mature age group only comprise of 67% of the human trafficking online. The statistical data can be represented in a form of a graph as shown below; Gender; Female or male From the report spotlight that showed trafficking online trends in United States, most of the reported cases showed that 41% of the trafficking online was women while men comprised of the 20%. The report further indicates that a substantial amount of 85% of women traffic conducted online was due to sex exploitation while 40% of men were due to labor. This showed that women and men are trafficking online for different reasons. The above statistics is represented in the graph below; Conclusion Human trafficking online seems to have affected majority of the citizens especially the children and women. The development of technology that has enabled the crime to be done online has made situations worse as the young persons have become more vulnerable. It is because they transact most of their activities online making them an easier target. The online traffickers must therefore come up with the rules and regulations to control this online activity if they are to manage the crime. References Ahn, R., Alpert, E. J., Purcell, G., Konstantopoulos, W. M., McGahan, A., Cafferty, E., ... & Burke, T. F. (2013). Human trafficking: Review of educational resources for health professionals. American journal of preventive medicine, 44(3), 283-289. Cho, S. Y., Dreher, A., & Neumayer, E. (2014). Determinants of Anti‐Trafficking Policies: Evidence from a New Index. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 116(2), 429-454. Dixon Jr, J. H. B. (2013). Human Trafficking and the Internet*(* and other technologies, too). Judges’ Journal, 52(1). Marcus, A., & Snajdr, E. (2013). Anti-anti-trafficking? Toward critical ethnographies of human trafficking. Dialectical Anthropology, 37(2), 191-194. Morris, J. (2013). Personal and political: A feminist perspective on researching physical disability. Equality and Diversity in Education 2: National and International Contexts for Practice and Research, 208. Reichert, J. (2013). Anti-trafficking laws and arrest trends in Illinois. Snajdr, E. (2013). Beneath the master narrative: human trafficking, myths of sexual slavery and ethnographic realities. Dialectical Anthropology, 37(2), 229-256. Thakor, M. (2013). Networked trafficking: reflections on technology and the anti-trafficking movement. Dialectical Anthropology, 37(2), 277-290. Beaurau of Justice Statistics. (2013) www.bjs.gov Read More