human trafficking in the us

Un-Risky Business:Human Trafficking inthe United States

What Drives the Human Trafficking Trade in theUS?

Brenda Bi Hui OngSEST 710: Research Seminar

(Daniel Byman)

Abstract: Human trafficking is a growing international crime, and within the United States,

trafficking continues to flourish despite harsher measures passed in recent years to stem the trade. The

paper examines the economic motivations that prompt transnational criminal organizations(TCOs) to

engage in human trafficking in the US, by going beyond usual demand-supply reasons proposed in the

literature to include the elements of risks and profitability that animate the entire process of trafficking

in persons As long as factors motivating the TCOs are not addressed, even if the dismal conditions that

encourage victimization are improved upon significantly, the trade will still persist since standards of

living and issues of poverty of political instability are all relative (and therefore will always exist). The

central driver of human trafficking in the United States today are the comparatively low risks

associated, and future policy recommendations need to address this aspect of the trade.

Word Count: 10,622 words

(excluding images, footnotes and abstract)

Brenda Bi Hui OngWhat Drives The Human Trafficking Trade in the US Today?

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Contents

Introduction.........................................................1Methodology.......................................................2

Gaps in the literature and the research approach..................3Defining the problem................................................5

Drivers of Human Trafficking.........................................71. Constant, High Demand...........................................7

2. Ready supply of vulnerable individuals..........................83. High yield, profitable “good”..................................13

4. Relatively low risks of activity...............................15So what factors drive the Human Trafficking trade in the US today?.24

Rejected hypotheses.................................................26Lack of gender rights............................................26

Pimp culture and widespread commercialization of sex with the pimp business model...................................................28

The state of policy today...........................................30Prevention.......................................................31

Prosecution......................................................32Protection.......................................................34

What Should Be Done?................................................36Policy Recommendations.............................................38

Policy Implications................................................41


Introduction

Although data on the nature and severity of the global human

trafficking problem is limited, crime experts expect human trafficking

to surpass drug and arms trafficking and other illicit trades in terms

of incidence, cost to human well-being and profitability to criminals

by 2016.1 The trade also affects all countries, and the US reports a

particularly high incidence. The trafficking industry is a human

security and human rights concern, because the control of victims

entails the use of extreme violence and psychological and physical

abuse. Beyond this, it also poses a national security concern, with

law enforcement officials linking trafficking to document fraud, money

laundering, migrant smuggling, prostitution and other related crimes,

in the process of trafficking individuals.2 But to stem the human

trafficking trade, one first has to understand the dynamics of the

human trafficking business, and an understanding of the key driving

force(s) behind human trafficking. If we can identify the principal

factor(s) motivating human traffickers, it would enable policymakers

to both forecast the trends and avenues that Transnational Criminal

1 Edward J. Schauer and Elizabeth M. Wheaton (2006). ‘Sex Trafficking into theUnited States: A Literature Review’, Criminal Justice Review, Vol. 31, pp. 146-1692 U.S. Department of Justice. (2003). Assessment of U.S. activities to combat trafficking in persons.

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Organization (TCOs)3 might resort to in the future, as well as the

corollary policy responses that will be most effectual.

The thesis will focus on exploring human trafficking in the

United States, the dynamics of the trade and how traffickers operate

and coerce victims, in order to seek a broader understanding of the

economic factors driving the trade in the US. The paper asks the

question: What are the key drivers of the human trafficking industry in the US today? The

phenomenon of human trafficking will be looked upon as an ‘industry’

comprised of a global network of TCOs.4 The assumption is that

individual motivations for crime are supplanted by the rationality

3 The “transnational criminal organization” in this paper refers not just to the traditional big organized crime syndicates, which is defined in the UN Convention Against Transnational Crime as “structured group of three or more persons, existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offenses established in accordance with this Convention, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit”. So although there is no standard profile of the trafficker- who can range from the village “auntie” to labor brokers and even police officers, they conduct criminal activities commonly across borders (at least in one state, with effects in another state) and are driven by profit.[See: UNODC, UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Hereto (New York, NY, 2004), Article 2 (a), p.5. Text available at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNTOC/Publications/TOC%20Convention/TOCebook-e.pdf (accessed 9 Mar 2012)]4 The groups of “transnational criminal organizations” that are the concern ofthis paper encompass the recruiters, transporters, exploiters and others who enable, or participate in the trade and exploitation of other people, i.e. that human trafficking is part of the activities of these TCOs. These actors run the gamut, from amateur family-run organizations, to larger, more sophisticated TCOs. Most human trafficking activity in the US is likely to be dominated by these varied types of organizations, which differ in terms of their levels of complexity in organization and logistical support, but nevertheless all share a common feature of turning to trafficking for profit.

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http://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNTOC/Publications/TOC%20Convention/TOCebook-e.pdf

http://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNTOC/Publications/TOC%20Convention/TOCebook-e.pdf


necessary for the successful functioning of a large, bureaucratic

criminal organization.

The paper examines four factors that motivate TCOs: the broader

demand and supply factors, the profitable nature of the human good and

the risks associated with the trafficking.5 Of these, the risks

associated with the activity are the most salient today, and should be

the focus of future policies to address the human trafficking trade.

To increase the risks of engaging in trafficking, authorities should

look beyond harsh penalties, to delivering more certain and swift

punishment to traffickers, via stricter business licenses, community

awareness programs and human trafficking courts. This is especially

because policies targeting demand and supply are stop-gap measures at

best- human trafficking is also the result of differences in standards

of living, political instability and poverty, which are all relative

problems, i.e. there will always be a country better-off in relation

to another, and therefore will always exist. Human trafficking is also

driven by TCOs, and as long as the factors that affect their

motivations are not addressed, the solution will only be temporary at

best.

5 The latter two factors can be subsets of broader demand and supply factors, but are of interest here because they are frequently mentioned, but rarely explored in the literature.

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Methodology

Due to the complexity of the problem and the vast, interconnected

network of criminal activities associated with human trafficking

around the globe, it is impossible to conduct a detailed analysis of

the global trade here. Hence, the paper will be limited to the study

of the human trafficking enterprise within the United States. The US

is chosen as a case study because of the availability and

accessibility of data and trafficking statistics, as well as the well-

recorded metrics used to track progress (for comparison purposes). It

is also a major source and destination for trafficking activities in

the region, thus it experiences all of the forms of trafficking

imaginable.

Since the paper works on the premise that human trafficking

organizations are motivated by profit, the methodology employed

therefore adopts a neoclassical economics approach to understanding

industry dynamics. It will draw on official policy reports, anecdotal

evidence as well as statistics and economic models proposed by the

policy, non-profit and scholarly community. In particular, it will

convert interviews with victims and traffickers, and existing figures

on legislation and policy, into data for comparison, and build on

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existing statistical work done by authors who have quantified the

business costs of operations for a human trafficker.6

Gaps in the literature and the research approach

Most of the literature written in the early 2000s and before that

focused primarily on particular regions or aspects of the human

trafficking trade (i.e., sex trafficking, labor exploitation etc.),7

and public policy papers have taken a legal or development-centric

approach.8 In recent years, scholars and policymakers have begun to

understand the importance of understanding the phenomenon as a global

process, and are also starting to focus on understanding the

phenomenon as a business, to study it much like other illicit trades

perpetrated by transnational criminal organizations. Because of the

6 This will rely on the statistics in: Alexis Aronowitz, Human Trafficking, Human Misery: The Global Trade in Human Beings (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2009); Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter. The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in AmericaToday (Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2009); Siddharth Kara,Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2009)7 Examples include Peter Andreas (2000), Border Games: Policing the US-Mexico Divide (Ithaca: Cornell University Press) that focuses on Mexican immigration; Paul L. Smith (1997)(ed.), Human Smuggling: Chinese migrant trafficking and the challenge to America’simmigration tradition (Washington, D.C.: Centre for Strategic and International Studies), which touches on the inflows of illegal migrants from China into theUS; Victor Malarek (2004), The Natashas: Inside the new global sex trade (New York, NY:Arcade), which documents the stories of prostitutes in the Balkans.8 Some policy papers include Gerry Rodgers and Guy Standing (1981)(eds.), Child Work, Poverty and Underdevelopment (Geneva, International Labor Office), which suggests that child exploitation is largely caused by underdevelopment and vicious cycles of poverty; the first Trafficking in Persons Report published by the US Department of State in 2001 noted that trafficking was especially prevalentin places with high levels of civil war, political instability and natural disasters, and noted the importance of development.

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interdependency of global economies and trade, capital and labor

flows, the human trafficking problem in the US can no longer be

studied in isolation, but must be seen as part of the global illicit

economy.

As it stands, the literature on human trafficking focuses on the

demand and supply factors behind the trade- but these are inadequate

to explaining the process of human trafficking, because traffickers

also take into consideration the costs of transport, risks of being

caught and other intermediary elements that shape the way they decide

to conduct their business.

The current research done on human trafficking lacks a firm

scholarly grounding with most research conducted by activists involved

in anti-prostitution or anti-child labor campaigns imbued with a

strong moral undertone, although works like those of Aronowitz and

Shelley have helped provide some academic rigor. Very little has also

been written from the perspective of the TCO, who are the perpetrators

of the crime, and policies are targeted at addressing the crime after it

has happened, rather than focusing efforts on how to prevent it. There

is a need for a better qualitative analytical approach to why

trafficking is so prevalent, backed by a consistent and sound set of

quantitative data, which the paper attempts to address. More

importantly, it is important to go beyond the simplistic demand and

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supply model, and analyze the cost equations for TCOs in transporting

and exploiting victims in the supply chain operations in between.

The thesis also tries to incorporate existing criminological

knowledge and theories about the impact of legislation and counter-

crime policies, and look beyond the usual policy tools employed by the

US government. The analysis will also attempt to factor in the

permissive economic and political institutions in place, like the

legislation or tolerant communities, to provide a holistic analysis of

the dynamics driving the business operations of these organizations.

Last but not least, part of the research will also focus on explaining

the nature of the “product” and why human beings are such an

attractive “good” to be trafficked. The use of stark economic terms to

illustrate the motivations of traffickers is not meant to dismiss the

horrific nature of human trafficking, or to derogate victims, but to

convey the perspective and business considerations of the trafficker,

which are crucial to understanding the crime.

Defining the problem

The definition widely cited in the literature of “trafficking in

persons” derives from the United Nation’s Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and

Punish Trafficking in Persons, which states that “trafficking in persons shall

mean the recruitment, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by

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means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion,

abduction, fraud, deception, the abuse of power or of a position of

vulnerability; or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to

achieve the consent of a person having control over another person,

for the purposes of exploitation”.9 Exploitation by human traffickers,10

in this case, includes the prostitution of victims or other forms of

sexual exploitation, forces labor or servitude, slavery or similar

practices or the removal of organs.

How extensive is the problem?

The nature of human trafficking operations and the definitional

confusion regarding the classification of trafficking crimes11 makes it

difficult to estimate the actual extent or number of trafficking

victims in the US. Globally, an estimated 2-4 million people are

trafficked across and within borders annually.12 The Non-Governmental

Organization (NGO) Free The Slaves estimates the current global slave 9 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000), Article 3(a), p.2. Available at:http://www.osce.org/odihr/19223 (accessed 29 Feb 2012) 10 Although “human trafficker”, by its legal definition, refers more to individuals who are involved in the direct operations of procuring or coercingthe victim, here the term “human trafficker” shall refer to individuals also complicit in the activity, including conspirators, those involved in fraud forpurposes of human trafficking, peons and knowing beneficiaries of the crime.11 The definitional confusion arises because some sex trafficking cases also fall under prostitution-related crimes, and labor exploitation also falls under immigration crimes. Hence, cases can sometimes be double-counted or not recorded at all.12 US Department of State, Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2008 and 2010. The estimate is from 2003 though.

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population to be 27 million.13 The International Labor Organization

(ILO) values the global market in trafficked slaves at $32 billion.14

US governmental estimates that focus on domestic trafficking

statistics quote a figure of 14,500 to 17,500 foreign victims each

year (as of Mar 2012).15 However, Louise Shelley has argued that the

largest population of trafficked victims in the US are, in fact,

children of US citizens and she estimates this population to be

between 100,000 and 300,000.16

13 Kevin Bales, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004).14 International Labor Organization (ILO), “ILO Minimum Estimate of Forced Labor in the World,” (April 2005).15 Department of Justice, Attorney-General’s Annual Report to Congress on US Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons: Fiscal Year 2005 (June 2006)16 Conference, The Profits of Pimping: Abolishing Sex Trafficking in the United States, at the Hudson Institute, Washington, DC. (July 10, 2008), as cited by Alison Siskin and Liana Sun Wyler, Trafficking in Persons: US Policy and Issues for Congress, CRS Report forCongress RL 34317, p 22, Footnote 54. Available at: http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/139278.pdf (Accessed 19 Feb 2012)

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Drivers of Human Trafficking

The twin issues of demand and supply feature heavily as explanatory

causes for the continued prevalence of human trafficking in the United

States. Simply stated, human trafficking has become increasingly

widespread because the demand for cheap labor is high worldwide, and

the supply of individuals responds to that. The interaction of these

market forces fuels the market for trafficking, making it a lucrative

business.

1. Constant, High Demand

Trafficking is believed to be driven, at its root, by the high

demand for the cheap labor and human services. Today’s globalized

economy has shrunk the costs of transportation and increased

population mobility across borders, thereby enabling individuals to be

trafficked with greater ease. This also means that there are more

markets for exploitation, and markets become more responsive to the

demands of countries for cheap labor and services. TCOs thus operate

in response to the insatiable demand for human goods and services.

For Louise Shelley, “demand fuels the growth of human trafficking”.17

Within this demand-driven framework she proposes globalization, the

17 Louise Shelley. Human Trafficking: A Global Perspective (New York, NY: University of Cambridge Press, 2010), p.39.

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rise of the illicit global economy fuelling corruption, political

factors like statelessness and demographics and gender and ethnic

discrimination- all of which lead to a growth in the need for cheap,

willing labor. One of the most cited factors driving the high demand

are the global labor shortage primarily in the developed countries.

Sheldon Zhang notes the US economy has an uneven labor force

distribution, with chronic labor shortages in industries like the

meatpacking and agricultural sector, which have become “heavily

dependent on foreign-born (and many illegal) workers for processing

slaughterhouse products, harvesting fruits and vegetables in Florida

and California, milking cows on dairy farms in Wisconsin and Oregon,

and packing potatoes in Idaho.”18 An estimated 380,000 workers are

needed to staff the labor industry, of which 90% are foreigners.19

To this, Philip Martin notes that in California, labor costs

comprise only 6% of the price consumers and mechanization of the

harvesting process could offset the higher labor costs. After the

“Bracero” Mexican guest worker program ended in the mid-1960s,20 farms 18 Sheldon Zhang, Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings: All Roads Lead to America (Westport, CT: Praeger Press, 2007), p.11.19 Philip Martin, “Farm Labour Shortage: How Real, What Response?” Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, University of California (Nov 2007), p.8. Available at: http://giannini.ucop.edu/media/are-update/files/articles/v10n5_3.pdf (accessed19 Feb 2012)20 The Bracero program admitted over 4.5 million Mexican guest workers between1942 and 1964. In 1960 over 80% of the 45,000 peak-harvest workers employed topick the state’s 2.2 million ton processing tomato crop into 50 to 60 pound

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wages rose 40%, but overall consumer prices rose by insignificant

amounts because the mechanization of crop-picking dramatically

increased productivity.21 Because labor costs only affect the eventual

cost of production slightly, the issue of demand for low-skilled

workers might be overplayed, if it could be offset by mechanization.

Zhang also adds that although the final destination is California,

illegal immigrants are more likely to have entered the US through the

high deserts of Arizona. This suggests that the added factor of less

policing and lower risks in being caught entering from the vast

Arizona plains, drive the way the TCOs operate, more than the simple

issue of demand- otherwise one would see immigrants taking the much

shorter route from Mexico to California if they were purely responding

to demand.

2. Ready supply of vulnerable individuals

The issue of supply also features heavily in the literature as a

causal factor of the current human trafficking industry. A common

strain of poverty runs through the narratives of victim experiences,22

lugs were Mexican Braceros. 21 Philip Martin, “Farm Labor Shortage”, p.922 Bales and Soodalter outline a similarity out of the myriad of immigrant women and children trafficked into prostitution and other forms of sex slaveryin the US, writing that despite their disparate backgrounds, level of education and personal histories, “what they do share is the hope and promise they felt at the beginning of their journey. In story after story, a trafficker, often a known member of the community, a friend of the family, or

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and TCOs are able to perpetrate the trade as poverty generates large

populations of vulnerable and desperate individuals easily tricked

into slavery.23 The growing pace of globalization in recent epochs has

encouraged the flow of capital, but has also made disparities in

wealth between regions more stark.24

In the modern global capitalist economy, countries that were slow

to industrialize, like the former socialist economies of the Soviet

Union, found themselves at a competitive disadvantage- unable to adapt

to the new modes of production. This created a pool of surplus,

unemployed labor, and “the resulting social strife and economic

collapse, coupled with the same advances that promoted the freer

exchange of goods, services, capital, knowledge and people, catalyzed

sometimes a relative, offers a better life in America. He or she promises steady workwith enough pay to send some back to the family, a good home, maybe an American education” [Bales and Soodalter, The Slave Next Door, p. 78, italics are author’s own]23 Bales and Soodalter outline a similarity out of the myriad of immigrant women and children trafficked into prostitution and other forms of sex slaveryin the US, writing that despite their disparate backgrounds, level of education and personal histories, “what they do share is the hope and promise they felt at the beginning of their journey. In story after story, a trafficker, often a known member of the community, a friend of the family, or sometimes a relative, offers a better life in America. He or she promises steady workwith enough pay to send some back to the family, a good home, maybe an American education” [Bales and Soodalter, The Slave Next Door, p. 78, italics are author’s own]24 Globalization, as defined by Joseph Stiglitz, refers to “the closer integration of the countries and peoples of the world which has been brought about by the enormous reduction costs of transportation and communication, andthe breaking down of artificial barriers to the flows of goods, services, capital, knowledge, and (to a lesser extent) people across borders”. [Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents (New York, NY: Norton 2003), p. 142]

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the ascent of human trafficking and contemporary slavery”.25

Globalization also made the acquisition, transport and exploitation of

slaves easier. For instance, the North American Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA) made it easier for laborers to cross the US-Mexican border,

thereby fuelling illegal flows of people.26 Together with

discrimination against women and ethnic minorities in an era of rapid

economic globalization, the instability creates a population of highly

vulnerable individuals susceptible to being exploited by traffickers

(their “business opportunity”).27

Yet, the issue of supply is more than just the willingness on the

part of victims to venture elsewhere in search of better earning

potentials. The activity is also piloted by traffickers, who employ

psychological tactics and other tricks to control their victims and

maintain their level of supply even when victims encounter abuse. US

citizens also fall prey to traffickers, as evidenced in the case of

United States v. Corey Davis, a.k.a. “Magnificent,” and Shamere McKenzie, a.k.a. “Barbie”.

Shamere McKenzie was an all-American model student who attended a New

York college on an athletic scholarship. Corey Davis (or Magnificent),

a pimp, pulled up next to Shamere one day and “sweet-talked her”, and

25 Kara, Sex Trafficking, p. 24; Shelley, Human Trafficking, pp. 42-44.26 Pew Hispanic Center, Modes of Entry for the Unauthorized Migrant Population, (May 22, 2006), as cited by Shelley, Human Trafficking, p. 46.27 Ibid, p. 23-32.

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soon became her boyfriend. Magnificent gradually convinced Shamere to

start stripping, promising her a pay of at least $3,000 a weekend,

when she confided in him her money woes. This soon evolved into

regular beatings and Shamere’s foray into prostitution.28

The final step in the process of control involves the physical

and psychological manipulation of the victim to maintain the

relationship. Shamere formed such a strong emotional bond to

Magnificent that she went from an ordinary girl in his “stable” to

becoming his “bottom female”, his most trusted prostitute, who handled

his administrative and logistical affairs like recruitment, collection

of money from other prostitutes and posting bond for his girls when

arrested. Elevating a girl is perceived as a “divide-and-conquer”

strategy by Bales and Soodalter, to create competition among a pimp’s

“stable” to become his “bottom”. Other pimps also use drugs to create

dependency among his “stable”.29 Magnificent’s tactics also ensured

that Shamere (or “Barbie”) would now become part of his crime ring,

and no longer have an incentive to inform on him or escape.

Aside from playing upon the desire for love to control gullible

girls, other traffickers also recruit actively from rural villages

where they communicate in the native language to local families to

28 Ibid, p. 8429 Ibid, p.80-84.

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demonstrate their camaraderie and get victims to trust them. Such

tricks are thus also crucial in helping us understand why supply of

individuals is not diminished once they know of their fate, even if on

the surface, they appear capable of leaving their captors.

Although the constant supply of victims is important to

understanding the operations of traffickers in acquiring, trading and

controlling their victims, it is unlikely to drive the human

trafficking trade because supply responds to the demand for a

particular service. A trafficker’s supply of individuals is unlikely

to drive demand, because of the very covert nature of such activities.

Traffickers cannot create more demand for their product by flooding a

market with individuals because customers might not be aware of

changes in market supply levels and alter their demand quickly enough-

they will procure a good based on need.

Nevertheless, because of the relative nature of poverty, i.e.

that the standard of living gap will always exist between countries

and regions- in relation to the US as a country and between US states,

there will always be a ready pool of vulnerable individuals that can

be tricked into seeking greener pastures. This means that traffickers

can easily draw from the pool to expand their “production capacity”

and trick more individuals into becoming slaves. In addition, the

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psychological tricks that they employ allow them to exert absolute

control over their victims, and if the need arises, they can coerce

them into becoming more “productive” by engaging in more sex acts per

day, or working longer hours.30 The widespread availability of

resources and the ability for traffickers to respond speedily to

increases in demand mean that the price elasticity of the supply for

trafficking is likely to be elastic. What this means is that, in

theory, increases in the incidence of trafficking will be less

profitable for the supplier, and the rise is more likely to be demand-

driven.

Beyond Demand and Supply: The Process of Human Trafficking

The bevy of reports and scholarly work out there mostly recognize

that the human trafficking trade is driven largely by economic

considerations, but the models proposed tend only to analyze the

business model of human trafficking as the net result of ‘push and

pull’ factors factoring into the considerations of traffickers and

victims. However, as Alexis Aronowitz documents, human trafficking

should be analyzed as a process, which can be broken down into several

30 This is likely to apply to only victims sold into sex slavery, manual labor, domestic help and related trades. It will not apply for organ trafficking because an individual has a limited number of organs a trafficker can exploit. However, the previous point that traffickers will seek more victims still applies to making the case for the price elasticity of supply, even for organ harvesting purposes.

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stages ranging from procurement to exploitation to disposal.

Aronowitz’s proposed model of the process of trafficking a person can

be summarized as such:

Table 1. Trafficking in Human Beings as a Process and Other Related

Crimes 31

Recruitment/Entry

Transportation

Exploitation Victim Disposal

Criminal Proceeds

Fraudulent promises*Kidnapping*Document forgeryIllegal adoption for purposes of exploitingchildCorruptionof governmentofficials

Assault*Illegal deprivation of liberty*Rape*Forced Prostitution*Corruption of government officialsDocument forgeryAbuse of immigration laws

Unlawful coercion*Threat*Extortion*Sex or Labor exploitation*Illegal deprivation of liberty*Threat of documents*Sexual Assault*Aggravated assault*Forced participation incrimes (begging, as drug mules, organizedtheft)*Rape*Murder*Removal of organs*Corruption of government officials

Assault*Abandonment*Murder*Victim sold to another trafficker*

Money LaunderingTax EvasionCorruption ofgovernment officials

*Offences perpetrated against individual victim

What Aronowitz’s research suggests is that factors driving the human

trafficking trade into the US cannot simply be based on demand factors

in the destination country or supply factors in the country of origin-

31 Alexis Aronowitz, Coalitions Against Trafficking in Human Beings in the Philippines. (Vienna:UNODC and UNICJ Research Institutes, 2003)

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the supply chain links in between the procurement of victims and their

exploitation and disposal in the destination country needs to be

factored into the equation as well. It is thus necessary to look also

at the nature of the good, as well as the risks involved in engaging

in human trafficking for the TCO.

3. High yield, profitable “good”

One reason why the human trafficking industry is so profitable for

traffickers today as compared to the old world slave trade,32 is that

the price of an individual now is much lower as compared to an old

world slave. Several NGOs and writers have attempted to measure the

cost price of purchasing a trafficked individual today, and although

there are price differentials depending on the destination country and

the service they are trafficked into, the general consensus is that in

real terms, an average slave today costs much less than an old world

slave. The NGO Free the Slaves estimates that slaves in 1850 were

priced at a minimum of US$12,000 (in today’s dollars, weighted).

Today’s slaves, in comparison, cost $90 on average.33

32 I use the term “old world” quite generally, not just to refer to the periodwhen slavery was widely reported, but to the period before the widespread integration of the global transport, financial and communications systems. I acknowledge, however, that it is difficult to draw a distinct line between the“old world” and the “new world”, hence the terms are mainly used to help draw a conceptual distinction. 33 Free the Slaves and Human Rights Centre, Hidden Slaves: Forced Labour in the United States (Washington, D.C.: September 2004). Available at: http://hrc.berkeley.edu/hiddenslaves.html. (Accessed 12 Feb 2012)

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The profitability of the trade in human beings is augmented by the

nature of the business model and “good”. In case after case

documented, individuals who make a conscious decision to seek better

employment elsewhere often pay their coyotes or snakeheads an initial

fee for transportation and the necessary documentation. Once they

arrive at their destination, owners usually renegade promises to pay

their victims a good wage, and often keep these victims in perpetual

debt to continue extracting their services.34 The business model

therefore pays for itself, and aside from costs of transport and

perfunctory business costs for operating a brothel, farm, sweatshop or

other end-chain trafficking establishments, operational costs are kept

minimal. Moreover, profitability also derives from the nature of the

human “good”. Slaves are liable to be re-trafficked, and one can

continue to extract revenue from trafficked victim even if the

individual outlives their usefulness for a particular tasks. It is

possible for a slave that is initially sold into sex slavery to be re-

sold to another trafficker for manual labor past a certain age, and

likely again to have their organs harvested if they incur significant

34 Kara, Sex Trafficking; Shelley, Human Trafficking; Aronowitz, Human Trafficking, Human Misery; DeStefano, The War on Human Trafficking; Zhang, Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings

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enough debt to make them believe they need to sell their organs to

gain their freedom.35

For most businesses in the world, labor is typically the highest

cost component to overall operating expenses.36 Trafficked individuals

cost virtually nothing in terms of labor expenses, thereby

significantly lowering labor costs. And for each stage of Aronowitz’s

proposed process of trafficking (see Table 1), the trafficker stands

to gain additional revenue. Kara compares the traditional brothel

business model to the brothel staffed by trafficked sex slaves and

notes that while owners of traditional brothels have to pay their

“laborers” with a percentage of the purchase price a client pays,

owners of sex slaves are not obliged to share a cut of the slaves’

earnings. Labour costs- except for token payments to staff, the slaves

or their families- are kept minimal. Other industries “such as

construction, agriculture, begging and organ harvesting… subscribed to

the same logic”.37 The high-returns on investments provided by the

exploitation of the human “good” and the profitability of the 35 In the US, however, organ trafficking is less likely to occur because of the strict medical screening practices. Nevertheless, the possibility exists, like in the first US conviction in Oct 2011 for organ trafficking recently obtained against Levy Itzhak Rosenbaum, guilty of having brokered the sale of three illegal kidney transplants after payments of $120,000 for each kidney (from Israel). The case is U.S. v. Rosenbaum, 09-Mag-3620, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Trenton)36 One of these exceptions is listed earlier on pp. 8-9, on the Californian agricultural market.37 Kara, Sex Trafficking, p. 33-34.

21


trafficking business model thus encourages the growth of the industry.

Furthermore, although today’s slaves cost much less, slaves in the

past generated a greater profit- Free The Slaves also notes that

slaves in 1850 which cost $12,000 gave an annual returns on investment

of 15-20% ($1800 minimum profit) as compared to the 200-500% returns

on a $90 slave ($450 maximum), hence in absolute terms, profitability

of the good has decreased.

4. Relatively low risks of activity

Trafficking is attractive because of the relatively low risks

associated with the activity. In cost-benefit terms, traffickers

engage in the crime because the likely punishments and economic

damages they will suffer if convicted are much lower than the

potential gains they stand to reap from engaging in it. Targeting

risks is pertinent because this factor is more amenable to policy

interventions than other factors considered.

The relatively low risks of the activity can be quantified by the

legislation put in place to prosecute traffickers and the extent to

which they have been used. Prima facie, risks might appear irrelevant

because the laws pertaining to human trafficking crimes in the US

prescribe harsh sentences. Congress has historically condemned human

trafficking, with legislation to abolish the African slave trade in

22


accordance to international developments.38 The Padrone statute was

passed shortly thereafter, banning the transport of individuals,

particularly children, from other countries, for the purposes of

involuntary servitude in America.39 In the early 20th century, Congress

also ratified the Mann Act, which outlawed the importing of “foreign

women and girls” for unlawful sexual purposes.40

Responding to the growth in human trafficking in the 21st century,

Congress enacted more extensive legislation to address the problem.

38 This is evidenced by the US Constitutional Amendment XIII, §1, which statesthat: “Neither slaver nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within theUnited States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”. The Thirteenth Amendment also abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the US and was later implemented with an additional ban on peonage. The amendment states that: “Slavery implies involuntary servitude- a state of bondage the ownership of mankind as a chattel, or, at least, the control of the labor and services of one man for the benefit of another, and the absencesof a legal right to the disposal of his own person, property and services.” The Thirteenth Amendment was “intended primarily to abolish slavery, as it hadbeen previously known in this country, and that it equally forbade Mexican peonage or the Chinese coolie trade, when they amounted to slavery or involuntary servitude, and that the use of the word servitude was intended to prohibit the use of all forms of involuntary slavery, of whatever class or name”. [Act of March 2, 1867, 14 Stat. 546 (1867)]Peonage drives from the cases of Plessey v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 542 (1896); Bailey v. Alabama, 201 U.S. 219, 242 (1911). “Peonage is a term descriptive of a condition which has existed in Spanish America, and especially in Mexico. The essence of the thing is compulsory service in payment of a debt. A peon is onewho is compelled to work for his creditor until his debt is paid.” [as cited by Charles Doyle, The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-457): Criminal Law Provisions, CRS Report for Congress, R40190 (Jan 29, 2009). See footnote 8, pp.1-2).39 18 Stat. 251 (Part 3)(1874)(An Act to protect persons of foreign birth against forcible constraint or involuntary servitude) [Act of June 23, 1874] .Congress passed the Padrone statue to “prevent this practice of enslaving, buying, selling, or using Italian children.”40 P.L. 61-277, 36 Stat. 825, 826 (1910); 18. U.S.C. 2421-24 (Mann Act).

23


The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000

(henceforth TVPA 2000) criminalized complicity in human trafficking,

beyond prosecuting the active human trafficking leaders as well.41 The

most recent piece of anti-human trafficking legislation to pass in

Congress is the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection

Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Wilberforce Act 2008). The Combating of

Trafficking in Persons in United States statute is listed under Title

II of the Act, and it adds to the list of criminal provisions under

the TVPA 2000, casting a wider net to account for a greater variety of

crimes that may be used to perpetrate the eventual crime of human

trafficking, as well as to penalize individuals who attempt to

obstruct the enforcement of existing human trafficking laws, conspire

to engage in human trafficking, coerce victims into being trafficked

41 Under the TVPA 2000, it is a crime to:hold a person in peonage (18 U.S.C. 1581(a)); obstruct a §1581 investigation (18 U.S.C. 1581(b)); prepare a vessel to engage in the slave trade (18 U.S.C. 1582; entice or carry an individual into slavery (18 U.S.C. 1583); sell or hold a person in involuntary servitude (18 U.S.C. 1584; engage in the slave trade (18 U.S.C. 1585); serve on a vessel in the slave trade (18 U.S.C. 1586); command a vessel with slaves abroad (18 U.S.C. 1587); transport slaves from the United States (18 U.S.C. 1588); obtain labor by force or threat (18 U.S.C. 1589); traffic in the victims of peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude or forced labor (18 U.S.C. 1590); engage in sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud or coercion (18 U.S.C. 1591); engage in document abuse in aid of trafficking, peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor (18 U.S.C. 1592); coerce or entice another to travel for illicit sexual purposes (18 U.S.C. 2422); transport a child for illicit sexual purposes (18 U.S.C. 2423(a)); conspire to oppress another in the enjoyment of federally protected rights (18 U.S.C. 241).[See: Doyle, The William Wilberforce TVPRA 2008]

24


or as a means of control, benefit knowingly from trafficking ventures

and engage in fraud in foreign labor contracting.42

The penalties that are likely to factor into a trafficker’s risk

equation come under the TVPA 2000, which amended the Federal Criminal

Code (18 U.S.C.) to double the current maximum penalties for peonage,

enticement into slavery, and sale into involuntary servitude from 10

years to 20 years imprisonment, with the possibility of life

imprisonment for violations resulting in death or involving

kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to kill.43 This makes

the penalties pertaining to human traffickers comparable to

traffickers involved in other illicit industries- arms traffickers

face about 25 years in prison if convicted of trading in ten or more

42 For example, under the Wilberforce Act, it is now a federal crime to “use physical force, threats, intimidation, or corrupt persuasion to prevent another from providing federal law enforcement officials with information relating to the commission of a federal crime”, to “alter, destroy or conceal physical evidence to prevent its use in a federal judicial or administrative proceeding” and to “injure another in his person or property in retaliation for providing a law enforcement officer with information relating to a federalcrime”. It also prescribes penalties for obstructing the enforcement of the previous TVPA 2000 provisions. [Doyle, The William Wilberforce TVPRA 2008, p. 4; see also: US Congress. William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 2008. Text available at: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-7311 (accessed 1 Feb 2012)]43 P.L. 106-386. Act on Oct 28, 2000.

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firearms within one year;44 drug traffickers who bring in less than 5

kilograms of cocaine face 5-40 years in prison.45

Researchers believe that human trafficking is closely linked to

other forms of organized crime like drug and arms trafficking, as TCOs

make use of the same routes for smuggling illicit goods and utilize

the same operational and logistics networks.46 Thus the risks of human

trafficking are measured in relation to other “alternative goods” TCOs

tend to traffic.

The harsh penalties associated with the trade should

theoretically deter traffickers. As seen in the graph below which

compares data on the average prison term for a convicted arms, drugs

and human trafficker from FY2001-2011, human traffickers tend to

receive harsher punishments in recent years (in terms of prison

sentence):

44 18 U.S.C. Federal Criminal Code § 924 (Penalties); Â§ 265.13 Criminal sale of a firearm in the first degree. Available at: http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/44/92445 Title 21 U.S.C. Controlled Substance Act, Part D (Offenses and Penalties), Section 841-3. A table breakdown is available at: http://www.justice.gov/dea/agency/penalties.htm46 Judith Juhasz, “Migrant Trafficking and Human Smuggling in Hungary”, in Frank Laczko and David Thompson (eds.) Migrant Trafficking and Human Smuggling in Europe: A Review of Evidence with Case Studies from Hungary, Poland and Ukraine (Geneve, Organisation Internationale pour les Migrations, 2000), pp. 167-232, see esp. p. 195; Reginald Appleyard and John Salt (eds.), Perspectives on Trafficking of Migrants(Geneva: IOM and OIM, 2000), p.43.

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Figure 1. Average sentence meted out for trafficking offenses (in

months) for FY2001-2011

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Arms TraffickingDrug TraffickingHuman Trafficking

Source: US Sentencing Commission, Final Quarterly Data Report, Fiscal Years 2001-2011, Sentence Length in Each Primary Offense Category; DoS, TIP Report 2006-2011; Mark Motivans and Tracey Kycelhahn, “Federal Prosecution of Human Trafficking,2001-2005”, Bureau of Justice Statistics Data Brief, NCJ 215248 (Oct 2006).47

But the caveat to the data presented is that the sample size (number

of persons) prosecuted under Human Trafficking offenses are much

smaller than those for arms and drugs trafficking. In 2010, for

example, there were 23,503 defendants facing drug trafficking charges

47 This reference is used for the average sentence for 2001-2005, as the DoS had yet to start recording the average sentence of human trafficking offenses in its TIP Report for this period. The 70 month mean sentence is averaged out over the five years. Because the DoJ does not record arms trafficking as an offence in itself, but under the broader offence of “Firearms”, the sentences for the latter is taken to represent that of arms trafficking.

27


and 7,675 defendants accused of arms trafficking charges in court.48

Only 181 individuals (32 labor and 71 sex traffickers) were charged

under human trafficking offenses.49 Although there has been encouraging

progress made on the prosecution front, the longer prison terms and

greater number of individuals prosecuted cannot solely serve as a

metric for success.

Moreover, laws have little deterrent purposes if offenders do not

know they exist, or if they are not applied consistently. Even if the

laws were harsh, they would not factor into a human trafficker’s risk

equation if the trafficker:

(i) does not feel the impact of harsher laws because rates of

conviction remain low,

(ii) is not aware of the change in laws that have made it harsher,

or

These factors need to be detailed, to understand the limits of the

severity of laws in deterring trafficking. “Deterrence” is herein

defined as “the prevention of criminal acts through the threat of

legal punishment”.50 The severity of legislation (how stringently the

48 US Sentencing Commission, Final Quarterly Data Report, Fiscal Year 2010, Table 19: Sentence Length in Each Primary Offense Category, p.31. 49 TIP Report 2011, p. 37350 Anthony Bottoms and Andrew von Hirsch, “The Crime-Preventive Impact of Penal Sanctions”, in Peter Cane and Herbert M. Kritzer (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research (New York NY: Oxford University Press, 2010), p.8

28


offender is punished), will be contrasted with the related, but

different concept of the certainty (likelihood of being caught and

convicted by the criminal justice system) and celerity (speed of being

convicted) of the laws when applied. Empirical criminological research

on the effects of severity, celerity and certainty of laws on the

crime rate shows that severity has the weakest deterrent effect, and

it is the certainty of punishment that has the greatest impact on

lowering the rate of crime.51

(i) The low record of convictions means traffickers do not feel

the impact of the laws

Currently, the rate of conviction remains dismal despite the

severity of penalties. The estimated number of trafficking crimes and

arrests vastly outweighs the number of convictions obtained. In Fiscal

Year (FY) 2010, collective federal law enforcement charged 181

individuals and obtained 141 convictions in 103 human trafficking

prosecutions (including 31 labor trafficking and 71 sex trafficking

cases). And although the courts are advised to mete out penalties of

around 20 years, the average prison sentence for federal trafficking

crimes was 11.8 years, which still remains close to the penalty of 10

years in older legislation. The prison terms also ranged from three 51 Ibid, pp. 96-124; Andrew von Hirsch, Anthony Bottoms, Elizabeth Burney and P-O. Wikstrom (1999). Criminal Deterrence and Sentence Severity: an Analysis of Recent Research (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 1999).

29


months to 54 years, with more falling on the lower end of the

spectrum.52 The DoJ’s investigations into governmental efforts to

combat trafficking in persons tabulated the number of trafficking

investigations and prosecutions from 2001-2010, as shown:

Table 2. Number of Trafficking Prosecutions and Convictions, FY 2001-

2010

Trafficking Prosecutions

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 201053

Cases filedTotal 10 10 11 26 35 32 32 39 43 103Sex 4 7 8 23 26 22 20 27 22 71Labour 6 3 3 3 9 10 12 12 21 32Defendants ChargedTotal 38 41 27 47 96 111 89 81 114 181Sex 26 27 21 40 75 85 60 48 61 113Labour 12 14 6 7 21 26 29 33 53 68ConvictionsTotal 23 28 21 33 35 99 103 77 47 141Sex 15 23 16 30 25 61 86 50 27 85Labour 8 5 5 3 10 38 17 27 20 56

52 All the statistics are from the TIP Report 2011, Country Overview: USA, p. 372-3.53 Defendants convicted and sentenced in FY 2010 are not necessarily the same defendants charged in FY 2009. The figures for FY 2010 reflect both human trafficking cases prosecuted by the Civil Rights Division and USAOs and, separately, the total number of human trafficking cases prosecuted by DOJ. The2010 statistic includes CRT/USAO prosecutions and the Criminal Division’s child sex trafficking prosecutions. These numbers do not reflect prosecutions of cases involving the commercial sexual exploitation of children that were brought under statutes other than the sex trafficking provision codified at 18U.S.C. § 1591.

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Source: Department of Justice, Attorney General’s Annual Report to Congress and Assessment of US Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons: Fiscal Year 2010. Office of Legal Policy (December 2011), p. 61-62.

The human trafficker must be caught and convicted before the higher

sentence levels can apply, but even before this, the crime has to be

detected. According to official criminal statistics, general crime

detection rates are low for many offenses, and are lower if one takes

into account the many cases that go unreported. There are no federal

statistics on the number of reported human trafficking offenses due to

the differing data systems employed by the many enforcement agencies

partnering on human trafficking issues, nor are there integrated

information on state prosecutions and convictions. The TIP Report 2011

mentions that “less than 10% of state and local law enforcement

agencies surveyed had protocols or policies on human trafficking”.54

Despite the lack of data, the trend of low detection is obvious (or

that the lack of data is a sign of low detection itself), even if we

apply the lowest estimates by the DoJ of 14,500 (foreigners alone)

trafficked into the US per year, contrasted against the 141

convictions prosecuted in FY2010.

Some human trafficking crimes will be prosecuted under other laws,

with human trafficking statutes initiated in 18 states and enforced by

approximately 16,000 local, county and state agencies, each with their

54 Ibid

31


own system for recording reporting and conviction rates.55

Nevertheless, general criminological studies point to a consistently

low rate of detection across the board for all crimes. While the FBI

records the reporting of 10.3 million crimes across the US in 2010,56

the National Crime Victimization Survey which records the incidence of

crimes as experienced by victims of crimes estimates 18.7 million

crimes,57 a large disparity demonstrating underreporting. The covert

nature of human trafficking and invisibility of victims suggests that

this trend of poor detection will be even greater for the crimes.

Despite the harsher laws, they are not being utilized to punish

traffickers, and thus human trafficking persists because the risks of

getting caught still remain low because of a lack of enforcement and

conviction. In comparison to other forms of illicit trafficking, such

as drug or arms trafficking, human trafficking is still a much less

risky activity, in that there are, in absolute terms, less successful

human trafficking convictions as compared to other types of illicit

trade that TCOs engage in to earn revenue.

55 Ibid 56 Federal Bureau of Investigations, Crime in the United States 2010. The exact figure is 10,329,135 crimes (1,246,248 violent crimes and 9,082,887 property crimes). Database available at: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr (accessed 3 Mar 2012)57 Jennifer L. Truman, “National Crime Victimization Survey: Criminal Victimization, 2011,” US DoJ Bulletin, NCJ235508 (September 2011), p.1. Available at: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv10.pdf (accessed 2 Mar 2012).

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(ii) Traffickers are not aware of the changes in the laws that have

made trafficking riskier

For the change in laws to elicit a deterrent effect on trafficking

activity, the trafficker first needs to know that there has been a

change in the laws. Information about changes in certainty of

punishment also often seems easier for potential offenders to obtain

than information about changes in severity of punishment. If the

police step up their presence in the neighborhood or more closed-

circuit television monitors (CCTVs) are being installed in the region,

this sends a message to criminals that the risks of being caught have

increased. The certainty of punishment appears easier to convey than

the increased harshness of laws, and officials have arguably not

effectively conveyed the new 20 year sentence for trafficking crimes

across the US (i.e., there is no widespread awareness campaign). The

severity of punishment imposed by courts are also a less visible

occurrence, which means traffickers are thus likely to persist in the

activity because they perceive the risks to be unchanged as opposed to

other illicit trades.

The importance of risks in driving the industry

While the broad trends in prosecutions can help alter the risk

equations of the trafficker to some extent, the more immediate concern

33


of the TCO are their operation costs. The Polaris Project’s report on

trafficking in Ohio investigated three commercial sex business

models,58 and observed that a large amount of manpower, resources and

time is devoted to “security and surveillance” aspects of the business

to defray the risks of being discovered.59 Pimps tend to patrol their

territory repeatedly and keep a close eye on their women; the Korean

Massage Parlors “have a buzzer system and security surveillance

cameras at the main entrance”.60 For the Latino Residential Brothels,

“Security is extremely high. Two way radios are used to communicate

between security inside the brothel with outside surveillance”.61 Such

attention to keeping the business covert and to warn of law

enforcement presence denotes the significance of defraying risks in a

trafficker’s operational costs.

Furthermore, as we look at the following operational cost

estimates tabulated by Siddharth Kara, who transposed interviews with

victims and traffickers into pecuniary data into “logistic sheets”

that illustrate the monetary costs and profits of the brothel owner,

58 The three models the report details are the Street Prostitution Networks controlled by pimps, the Korean Massage Parlors and the Latino Residential Brothels. See: Kathleen YS Davis, Human Trafficking and Modern Say Slavery in Ohio. (Washington, DC: Polaris Project, Feb 2006). Available at: http://www.ccv.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Ohio-Report-on-Trafficking.pdf (accessed 3 Mar 2012)59 Ibid, pp. 15-21.60 Ibid, p.19; for detailed descriptions of the two models, see pp. 15-1961 Ibid, p. 21.

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we can see that the largest per unit component of the cost of running

a brothel (the destination for trafficked victims and site of

exploitation) are in ensuring security, through “bouncer-guards”

responsible for surveillance.62

Table 3. Example of the operational costs for the end-chain human trafficking organization (Brothel)

Apartment Brothel Economics: Queens, New York (2006, in US Dollars)

General Assumptions8 slaves per apartment brothelAverage 10 sex acts per day1 of 5 customers buys 1 condom50 percent “tip” per 20 sex acts

Unit Assumptions Monthly Loss and ProfitRevenues Unit Prices RevenuesSale of Sex 30.00 72,000Condoms 1.00 480

Total Monthly Revenues 72,480Variable Costs Operating ExpensesFood, Beverage, drugs for slave

18.00 per slaveper day

4,320

Rent 70.00 per day 2,100Clothing, makeup, grooming

8.00 per slave per day

1,920

Bouncer/guard (2) 120.00 per day 7,200Cost of condom 0.25 per unit 120Medical (includes abortions)

10.00 per slaveper day

2,400

“Tip” 15.00 per slaveper 20 sex acts

1,800

Marketing/advertising


720

62 If demand was the concern of human traffickers, then we would expect to seethe greatest per unit investment in “Marketing/Advertising”.

35


Utilities and miscellaneous


1,200

Total Operating Expenses

21,780

Fixed Costs Gross Profit 50,700Average Acquisition Cost of slave

3,000.00 Gross Profit Margin 70.0%

DepreciationAcquisition cost of slave

800

Total Depreciation 800

Net Profit 49,900Net Profit Margin 68.8%

Annual Revenues 869,760Annual Net Profit 598,800Per slave 74,850

Source: Siddarth Kara, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (Columbia University Press, 2009), Table B.19, Appendix A.

If demand was the concern of human traffickers, then we would expect

to see the greatest per unit investment in “Marketing/Advertising”.

This suggests that raising the risk component would have greatest

marginal effect on overall costs.

So what factors drive the Human Trafficking trade in the US

today?

The relatively low risks of human trafficking as compared to

other illicit trades that generate revenue are reinforced by the high

profitability of the product, and the concern is a chicken-and-egg

36


one: do the lax laws prompt traffickers to enter the trade (and

subsequently have their involvement reinforced by the high

profitability) or do they choose to engage in trafficking because they

are tempted by the profitable nature of the trade, and delve into it

further because of the low risks? The two factors might be mutually

reinforcing, but their effects can be decoupled from each other. It is

more likely that the low risks of the human trafficking trade prompted

TCOs to enter into the business rather than the profitability of the

good itself. This is because the nature of the human “good” has not

changed- human beings have always been susceptible to being re-

trafficked and sold into slavery- but the boom has only occurred in

recent years. Nevertheless, the business model of slavery today yields

a higher profit margin, because globalization has greatly reduced the

costs of transporting slaves across borders.

Risks are especially salient if we compare the nature of the

human “good” to other illicit goods TCOs trade. As compared to the

transport of human beings, the transporting of drugs or arms are much

easier as they are lighter, require less “maintenance” along the way

and take up less space. The latter means that more of the illicit arms

or drugs can be packed into a given container than humans- and arms

and drugs trafficking thus have higher profit margins per unit weight.

37


While re-trafficking can occur that increases the yield of the human

good, such incidences are only an occasional event in the literature.

The reason why TCOs might prefer human trafficking over arms or drug

trafficking is that the human “good” is easier to disguise and victims

illegally trafficked across borders are less likely to be detected as

compared to a large shipment of cocaine or AK-47s.63 This means that

the risks of losing a shipment of human “goods” are much lower for

other illicit materiel.

But the low risks alone cannot explain the boom in trafficking

today since the laws in the past were even less severe, less certain

and less swiftly implemented, given that the TVPA 2000 and Wilberforce

Act 2008 were recent legislative tools. The interaction of low risks

of being caught and punished for the crime, exacerbated by the

profitable nature of the trade and supply of desperate individuals

seeking better lives, occurring against a backdrop of a constant high

demand for human services to fuel the US economy offers the most

complete explanation for the phenomenon.

63 Manav Tanneeru, “The Challenges of Counting a ‘Hidden Population’,” CNN (9 March 2012). Available at: http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/09/slavery-numbers/ (accessed 24 April 2012). See also: ILO, A Global Alliance Against Forced Labor: Global Report under the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration on FundamentalPrinciples and Rights at Work (ILO, Geneva, 2005), pp. 10-15. Available at: http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/09/slavery-numbers/ (accessed 24 April 2012).

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Rejected hypotheses

Siskine and Wyler note in a CRS Report for Congress that “in

general, the trafficking business feeds on conditions of

vulnerability, including youth; gender; poverty or acute economic

crisis; ignorance; social and cultural exclusion; political

instability, social upheaval, war and conflicts; discriminatory

social, cultural and legal frameworks; and ongoing demand” which is in

turn, worsened by the “globalization of the world economy”.64 These

factors are likely to all feature as important reasons for the

prevalence of the trade, but to a large extent, they are catalysts

rather than the drivers of the trade. These factors examine the trade

more from the perspective of the victim and the dismal situation of

the victim, which are mainly supply factors- they however, fail to

acknowledge the importance of TCOs in driving the trade. “Conditions

of vulnerability” alone cannot explain why it has been prevalent,

because the agency in conducting the trade lies more with the TCOs

rather than the victims.

There is a need to differentiate clearly between a “permissive”

factor, which helps catalyze the extent of human trafficking, against

64 Alison Siskine and Liana Sun Wyler, Trafficking in Persons (TIP): US Policy and Issues for Congress, p.22

39


a “driving” factor, which is a direct contributor of the perpetrating

of trafficking. Driving factors thus usually lie on the side of the

TCO, because they are the ones carrying out these activities.

Nevertheless, it is worth examining several other factors which have

been attributed as main causes for the extent of the human trafficking

trade in the literature- although these are often not what is

“driving” the trade, but merely permissive factors that allow the

trade to flourish:

Lack of gender rights

Gender and ethnic discrimination is also a popular reason for

explaining the drivers of the industry. Siddharth Kara writes that

“The particular ascension of sex slavery resides at the intersection

of the socio-economic bedlam promoted by economic globalization and a

historic, deep rooted bias against females”.65 The fact that more than

80% of trafficking victims are female66 seems to add weight to the

argument that the lack of gender rights among women is the basis for

the perpetration of trafficking atrocities. Female traffickers also

play a more prominent role in the trafficking of persons especially in

65 Siddharth Kara, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2009), p. 19.66 US Department of State (2005), as cited by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “Factsheet: Human Trafficking Facts”.

40


the sex industry, with many female traffickers having been victims

previously.67

Shelley adds that in many African, Latin American and Asian

societies, fewer resources are allocated towards the education,

healthcare or overall welfare of female children. They are often the

first to be pulled out of school when finances are tight and tend to

be undereducated, thereby leaving them with fewer employment options.

Women then seek employment in sectors where they are “most vulnerable

to labor and sexual exploitation, including as domestic servants,

carpet weavers, and child care providers”.68 In some countries,

families traffic their daughters as a way to earn capital to raise

their standards of living.

While this is a salient point, it is unlikely to account for the

global nature of the phenomenon because women have historically been

discriminated against, and gender rights were more lacking in the

past. Yet, trafficking is more prevalent today than before, and while

gender discrimination could catalyze the extent of trafficking in

poorer, less empowered regions, as well as help explain the complicity

67 Siskine and Wyler, TIP: US Policy and Issues for Congress, p.568 International Labour Organization, Gender Promotion Program, Preventing Discrimination, Exploitation and Abuse of Women Migrant Workers, An Information Guide: Booklet 6, Trafficking of Women and Girls (Geneva: ILO), as cited by Shelley, Human Trafficking, p.54.

41


of families in the activity, it is unlikely to be a causal

explanation. Moreover, the lack of gender rights also cannot explain

the breakdown in other sectors where women are not the major victims-

like the trafficking market for manual labor, which is predominantly

male.

Pimp culture and widespread commercialization of sex with the pimp

business model

The argument pertaining to pimp culture is as such: The

increasing control of the prostitution industry by pimps is an

essential element in the commercialization and spread of the business,

and “the power of free enterprise and competition had even reached the

vice industry as cheaper sources of supplying women became

widespread”.69 The NGO Polaris Project points out that the media has

helped glamorize the “pimp culture” in America. As their report on the

Ohio trafficking industry states, “With popular culture’s

glamorization of the pimp lifestyle, many young and awe-struck girls

have readily been recruited into prostitution in which they believed

they would have luxurious lifestyles. Instead, they find themselves

trapped in a world of extreme violence and fear”.70 The widespread

69 Frederick K. Grittner, White Slavery: Myth, Ideology and American Law (New York, NY: Garland, 1990), p.6770 Kathleen YS Davis, Human Trafficking and Modern Say Slavery in Ohio. (Washington, DC:Polaris Project, Feb 2006), p.9.

42


tolerance of the pimp system promotes trafficking and coercion of

persons by making prostitution mainstream and the violence (as a means

of control) associated acceptable.

This trend is linked to the trafficking of women and children

especially. According to Donna Hughes, the “crucial factor in

determining where trafficking will occur is the presence and activity

of traffickers, pimps and collaborating officials running criminal

operations”.71 Her study draws a correlation between trafficking

activity, the presence of pimps and a vibrant sexualized culture to

argue for the significance of a pimp culture in promoting trafficking.

The assertion of these sociological explanations is that the pimp

culture in the US drives the sex trade and sex trafficking, and

accounts for the prevalence of the pimp model in America. However, it

is likely that the relationship between trafficking and a pimp culture

is either reversed, or mutually reinforcing, rather than

unidirectional, with pimp culture driving sex trafficking. Pimp

culture only started to gain prominence when it begun to be featured

heavily in the media, and the development of the pimp culture is

71 Donna M. Hughes, “The Demand: Where Sex Trafficking Begins”, A Call to Action: Joining the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons Conference (US Embassy and the Holy See, June 17, 2004). Available at: http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/demand_rome_june04.pdf (Accessed 12 Feb 2012)

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likely to have occurred after sex trafficking became widespread, since

the latter has always been extant in American society. The Players

Ball was first held in Chicago in 1979 to celebrate the birthday of a

famous pimp, Bishop Don Magic Juan,72 and if these events are to have

the alleged impact on recruitment they have, they would need to be

broadcast to a wide audience. The limited viewership of these events

limits the influence such a culture has on the broader public. The

explanatory power of this factor is only confined to sex trafficking

even if it were true, and it still does not account for the general

trend in human trafficking, which includes exploitation of labor,

domestic servitude and organs, to name a few industries where pimps

are not present.

Furthermore, the broader category under which such explanations

fall, where culture is believed to drive trafficking, appears weak,

because the trafficking operation is global and not tied to the

particular culture of any destination country. Sex trafficking is

equally prevalent in Bangkok as in New York, yet Thailand’s culture is

believed to be more conservative and Buddhist-oriented. As such,

72 Bishop Don Magic Juan is famous partly through his connections with many ofHollywood’s top rappers, most notably Snoop Dogg. For more details, See: Davis, Human Trafficking and Modern Say Slavery in Ohio. (Washington, DC: Polaris Project, Feb 2006), p. 15-18.

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culture might be a permissive factor, but it is not a “driving”

factor.

Cultural and gender-based arguments can account for why victims

are so susceptible to being trafficked, but do not explain the

motivations of the trafficker, who is ultimately the instigator of the

trade, and policy recommendations that are targeted towards tackling

the incentives of traffickers will have a greater impact on curbing

the activity than the reactive policies targeting the victim. These

factors are salient, but have always been present, and therefore are

unlikely to be the break in continuity between the trafficking trade

in the past and today that can explain why trafficking has become more

prevalent in today’s economy.

The state of policy today

US anti-trafficking policies have centered around 3 Ps:

Prevention, Prosecution and Protection. Preventive measures combine

public awareness campaigns with education and employment opportunities

for those at risk of trafficking, especially for women and girls.

Programs to improve the prosecution of traffickers focus on drafting or

amending legislation to enforce anti-trafficking measures, as well as

45


the training of law enforcement of judiciaries to enforce those laws.

Protection includes supporting the broad range of groups that offer

assistance to victims, like the funding of shelters training of local

service providers, public officials or religious groups.73 In recent

years, greater emphasis has been placed on more “victim-centered”

projects that focus on rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration (the

three Rs), targeting forced labor among foreign workers in the US and

confronting the public health consequences of human trafficking.

The US is a Tier 1 country under the TIP Report’s Tier ranking

system, which classifies countries into three tiers based on the

“extent of government action to combat trafficking than on the size of

the problem, although the latter is also an important factor”.74

Efforts by non-governmental actors, general awareness events and

broad-based development or law enforcement without a specific human

trafficking purpose are also not recorded as having “made efforts to

address the problem”.75 However, some governments have criticized the

obvious political bias in the ranking system, given that the measures

used to demonstrate efforts to tackle human trafficking are exactly

73 US Department of State, “Factsheet: The 3Ps: Prevention, Protection Prosecution” (June 2011). Available at: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/167334.pdf (accessed 2 Mar 2012)74 US Department of State (2011). Trafficking in Persons Report 2011, p.11. Tier 1 countries demonstrate the greatest efforts to curb human trafficking, and Tier3 countries demonstrate little or no effort at all.75 Ibidem

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the type of initiatives that the US adopts to stem human trafficking.

If the extent of the problem were weighed more as an indicator

(arguably a better means to assess progress), then the US would not be

performing well given the sizeable extent of its human trafficking

problem. Moreover, as the TIP Report 2011 concedes, Tier rankings are not

affected by efforts undertaken by NGOs, general public awareness

events or “broad-based development or law enforcement initiatives

without a specific human trafficking purpose”.76

Prevention

The prevention of trafficking is conducted through programs that

target the supply-side “push” factors that cause immigrants to leave

their countries to the US, and are concerned mainly with addressing

underdevelopment and weak legal frameworks in the countries of origin.

The US provides aid to countries globally to implement anti-TIP

measure and countries that perform poorly on the Tier rankings are

subject to possible sanctions. While such polices are a recognition of

the international nature of the human trafficking process, and an

attempt to attend to supply side factors that make individuals seek

better prospects on US shores, these global initiatives are

exceedingly difficult to implement and monitor. The bulk of the US

anti-trafficking programs abroad is administered by the State 76 TIP Report 2011, p.13.

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Department, USAID and the DOL, with funding targeted at resolving

specific challenges countries face in addressing human trafficking.

Table 3 shows the foreign disbursements from 2009:

Table 4. Anti-TIP Assistance through the Foreign Operations Budget (inUS$, thousands)

Region FY2009 Actual

FY 2010 Estimate

FY2011 Request

Africa 900.0 435.0 200.0East Asia and Pacific 4,505.0 2,618.0 4,000.0Europe and Eurasia 5,893.6 5,939.0 4,201.0Near East 300.0 - -South and Central Asia 3,834.0 4,930.0 4,681.0Western Hemisphere 1,565.0 1,150.0 1,300.0USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, agriculture and Trade

1,567.1 - 1000.0

State Department’s Office toMonitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

19,380.0 21,262.0 20,400.0

TOTAL 38,444.7 36,334.0 35,782.0Source: US Department of State response to CRS requests for FY 2009-2010 data;US Department of State, Congressional Budget Justification, FY2011, as cited by Siskine and Wyler, Trafficking in Persons: US Policy and Issues for Congress, p.8, Table 1.

The problems associated with such policies are similar to criticisms

frequently levied against the provision of foreign aid- that it

creates dependency, it fuels corruption and does not resolve the

underlying causes of poverty.

Moreover, the sanctions regime proposed for countries ranked

under Tier 3 have to be based on the credibility of the TIP rankings-

despite the improvements with the ranking system over the years, there

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is still an “inconsistent application of the minimum standards and

superficial country assessments [which] have compromised their

credibility”.77 For sanctions to be effective, they need to be clearly

defined and evenly applied as well- current trafficking sanctions are

not. Threatening essential trade partners with sanctions might cause

them to become less open with working with the US on trafficking

matters, and the extent to which the US is willing to impose sanctions

on key trading partners (like China, which is a Tier 2 Watch List

country) is debatable, given how interlinked the two nation’s

economies are. Sanctions under the TVPA lack teeth because “all or

part of the TVPA’s sanctions can be waived if the President determines

that the provision of such assistance to the government would promote

the purposes of the statute of is otherwise in the United States’

national interest”.78

Prosecution

The prosecution aspect of the US’ 3P policy occurs mainly via the

application of legislation and training programs for enforcement

purposes. Siddharth Kara argues that since the per-kilogram profit of

cocaine is greater than a sex slave, to have a real impact on the

trafficker’s cost equations, the penalties for human trafficking 77 Janie Chuang, “Beyond a Snapshot: Preventing Human Trafficking in the Global Economy,” Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Winter 2006).78 TIP Report 2011, p.14.

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should be equally as expensive as that of drug trafficking. His

calculations on the real economic costs of penalties show that the US

is one of the best performers, with the highest real penalty relative

to the Exploitation Value of a sex slave, at 1.78 “as a direct result

of aggressive fines combined with reasonable prosecution and

conviction rates”.79 Kara believes that “to increase the penalty... to

a profit-compromising level, the real costs must be maximized through

a mixture of higher paper penalties and higher prosecution and

conviction rates”.80

A further issue with anti-trafficking efforts in prosecution

relates to the alleged bias in prosecution of sex trafficking over

other types of cases. Critics argue that too high a percentage of US

anti-trafficking budget has been directed to NGOs focused on rescuing

women and children from the commercial sex industry, at the expense of

79 Siddharth Kara suggests that the first step in stemming the demand driving the trade is the development of a metric to measure the effectiveness of US legislation. To the TCO, the costs of being caught can be calculated as such:

Cost of being caught= Probability of being prosecuted X probability of being convicted X maximum financial penalty in the law.

Probability of being prosecuted= No. of prosecuted criminal acts in a year/ No. of criminal acts per year

Probability of being convicted= No. of convictions per year/ No. of prosecutions per year.

This is compared against the net Exploitation Value (EV) of a sex slave, with the EV in America being one of the highest globally. The US is one of the few countries in the world with a real penalty higher than the potential gains to be made from exploitation.[See: Kara, Sex Trafficking, p.206-210. Quote is from p.207]80 Kara, Sex Trafficking, p. 207

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other equally egregious forms of trafficking. Yet, recent research

points out trafficking for forced labor accounts for a significant

proportion of unreported and growing share of the global trafficking

market. The UNODC reports that sexual exploitation is the most

commonly identified form of human trafficking at 79% globally, but the

International Labour Organization (ILO) report that 43% of trafficked

persons are forced into sexual exploitation, 32% into labor

exploitation and 25% a combination of both.81 The State Department has

recognized this trend, and devotes more space to the issue of

trafficking for labor in the TIP Report 2011, and Tier rankings since

2005 have focused more on evaluating country efforts to combat

trafficking for forced labor.82

Protection

The protection of victims of trafficking is effected through

visas and aid grants. Visa provisions cater to the large population of

foreigners brought and subsequently abused on American soil. They aim

to relieve deportation concerns of victims in seeking help and

providing testimony during criminal trials. These visas also factor

into the risk equations of TCOs, because their testimony raises the

81 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (UNODC, Feb 2009). Available at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/Global_Report_on_TIP.pdf (Accessed 1 Feb 2012).82 Siskine and Wyler, TIP: US Policy and Issues for Congress, p. 37-38.

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possibility of conviction for accused traffickers. The limitation of

these visas are that many victims often only know the traffickers that

directly exploit them, and are not aware of the other individuals

involved in the entire process of trafficking.

There are two types of visas accorded to victims of human

trafficking, the nonimmigrant T and U visas. The T-visa was created

under the TVPA 2000 for aliens who are victims of severe forms of

trafficking in persons, and they can remain in the US for four years,

after which they are eligible for lawful permanent resident status

(LPR) after being physically present in the US for three years.83 Up to

5,000 T-visas may be issued per year, and individuals are also granted

work authorization.84 From 2002-2010, there were 2,968 applications for

T-1 status from trafficked victims and 1,862 applications were

approved (68%). Many federal law enforcement officers prefer giving

the alien continued presence rather than the T status to sidestep

accusations that the alien’s testimony was “bought”.85

Some trafficking victims are also eligible for U nonimmigrant

status, which was created within the Violence Against Women Act of 200

83 Chad Haddal and Ruth Wasem, US Immigration Policy in Temporary Admissions, CRS Reportfor Congress, RL31381. For the legal statute, see: Immigration Naturalization Act (INA) §212(a)-(d); Section 107 of Division A of P.L. 106-386.84 Work authorization is given as advocates believe it is an important tool inhelping victims become self-sufficient and retake control of their lives. 85 Siskine and Wyler, TIP: US Policy and Issues for Congress, p. 28.

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under the TVPA. It applies to victims of mental or physical abuse, and

up to 10,000 U-visas may be given out per year,86 with victims eligible

for programs to help crime victims recover under the DoJ’s Office for

Victims of Crime.87 After three years, U status aliens can apply for

LPR. From Oct 2008 to Jun 2010, there were 18,126 applications for U-1

status and 10,712 were approved (83%).

Legal assistance is also available for victims to help in

prosecuting traffickers. In 2009, approximately 700 foreign victims

received services from NGOs supported by the federal government.88

Additionally, aid grants help provide restitution for victims of

trafficking. The Departments of Justice (DoJ), Health and Human

Services (HHS) and Labor (DoL) provide grants either to groups that

offer services to trafficking victims, or provide restitution to

victims directly. Under the TVPA 2000, HHS expanded benefits and

services to all victims of severe forms of trafficking regardless of

immigration status.89 There are programs to help refugees achieve 86 INA §214(o)(2).87 Department of Homeland Security, “Adjustment of Status to Lawful Permanent Resident for Aliens in T or U Nonimmigrant Status,” Federal Register, Issue73, 75540-75564 (December 12, 2008)88 The main organization in charge is the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), established by Congress, which is a private, nonprofit, federally funded corporation. See also: U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2010, p. 341. that helps provide legal assistance to low-income people in civil (i.e., non-criminal) matters89 TVPA §107(b)(1)(B); 22 U.S.C. §7105(b)(1)(B). The act also created a grant program in DOJ for state, local, tribal governments, and nonprofit victims’

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“economic and social self-sufficiency in their new homes in the United

States”, including cash and medical assistance and targeted monetary

assistance.90 HHS also conducts public awareness programs and outreach

to inform victims of services available.91

How effective are the policies?

Governmental efforts today are concentrated mainly in providing

assistance to trafficking victims and law enforcement efforts to

arrest and prosecute traffickers.92 It is going down the right track,

and these both help alter the risk equations of TCOs. The issue

though, is that, going forward, how should the US government continue

to beef up its efforts in their approach to make human trafficking a

less attractive endeavor for TCOs.

It would be more effective to direct policies to curb trafficking

at the TCOs rather than supply side factors alone, such that TCOs

service organizations to develop, strengthen, or expand service programs for trafficking victims. (22 U.S.C. §7105(b)(2)).90 P.L. 106-386, §107(b)(1)(A). The eligibility of noncitizens for public assistance programs is based on a complex set of rules that are determined largely by the type of noncitizen in question and the nature of services beingoffered. For example, refugees are eligible for Medicaid for five years after entry/grant of status, then made ineligible (unless they became citizens or qualified under another status). For a discussion of the eligibility of trafficking victims for state and federal means tested benefits see CRS ReportRL33809, Noncitizen Eligibility for Federal Public Assistance: Policy Overviewand Trends, by Ruth Ellen Wasem.91 Department of Justice, Attorney General’s Annual Report to Congress on U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons: Fiscal Year 2007 (May 2008), p. 10.92 Siskine and Wyler, p.24-36.

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would be automatically deterred from engaging in the activity. As long

as the factors that motivate the TCOs are not addressed, even if the

dismal conditions that encourage victimization are improved upon

significantly, the trade will still persist, especially since

standards of living and issues of poverty of political instability are

all relative (and therefore will always exist).

What Should Be Done?

In theory, reducing the profitability and yield of the human

“good” can help alleviate trafficking, but this is difficult in

practice, because one cannot change the “nature” of the product. This

aspect of the industry can, at best, be indirectly tackled by

addressing other aspects of the trade, like curbing supply, increasing

risks or lowering demand, to raise the price of the average trafficked

individual.

Demand for the services trafficked victims offer is currently

being explored by law enforcement officials, and many domestic

criminal policies already indirectly target this aspect. Operations

that target prostitution dens, workhouses and other businesses that

hire trafficked individuals, are already being carried out by domestic

law enforcement agencies. The relevant concern for targeting human

trafficking is how to separate out the human trafficking crimes from

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those that fall under other related categories, and which laws to use,

when and how. For this, better training on the laws and detection of

related crimes is required. Suffice to say, it would be difficult to

tackle this aspect without a holistic approach to policing the broad

range of crimes that fall under the banner of human trafficking as

well.

In terms of addressing supply, several aspects remain

problematic. Firstly, since the issue is global and rests on the

socio-economic conditions in the country of origin, the US government

has little ability to influence the situation in another sovereign

nation. Efforts to provide aid to address human trafficking are likely

to be curtailed due to the faltering domestic economy, not to mention

the host of dependency and corruption issues related to foreign aid.

Interdiction attempts can feasibly curb supply (as well as make the

activity more risky and expensive), but the well-documented

difficulties in policing the US borders mean that the policy is one

that sounds better on paper than in practice.

Targeting risks is thus likely to reap the most effective

results- both because it is a main driver of the industry, and because

policies can both deter and compel TCOs to cease trafficking. Within all

the policies recommended, an important consideration is the cost

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aspect of implementation. For instance, while interdiction attempts

may be rational and sound theoretically, the vastness of the US border

and the consequent scramble for resources among the agencies likely to

be roped into the implementation of the policy makes it extremely

unwieldy to put into practice. It is therefore also likely to cost

more than original estimates predict. The money spent on interdiction

is therefore better spent on targeting risks through enforcement or in

victim reparation programs. In general, the least-worst policy is one

that can be implemented quickly, with relatively low costs, and is

able to draw from existing resources.

Policy Recommendations93

Where the criminal justice system fails in tackling human

trafficking is in delivering swift and definite justice for those

responsible. As mentioned, the severity of laws has a lesser impact on

crime reduction than celerity or certainty in application of the laws,

93 The recommendations will be based on three criteria: (i) Effectiveness, (ii) Feasibility of successful implementation, and (iii) Cost of implementation. The first criteria is based on how well policies will target the main driver of the industry today, risks. The feasibility of implementation and costs of implementation feed into each other. Costs are an important consideration because of the budgetary constraints in a austere fiscal climate, and if a policy is too expensive, the likelihood of it being implemented is low. Feasibility of implementation also includes considerationsof the competing agencies and organizations that will struggle for funding, and the ease (and time taken) to implement the policies, all of which could cause costs to spiral.

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and the concern is to ensure that laws passed be used to deter TCOs to

the maximum effect. To affect traffickers’ risk equations,

policymakers can target the transportation costs in delivering

victims, the costs of keeping the business “underground” via stricter

business licensing or neighborhood watch programs. To improve the

conviction rates and speed at which justice is delivered, policymakers

could designate Human Trafficking courts to expedite the processing of

human trafficking crimes. The following suggestions are applicable to

both targeting the sex and labor trafficking industry, but due to the

paucity of cases dealing with labor trafficking, most of the examples

used will be drawn from experiences with combating sex trafficking.

The list is not exhaustive, but merely to illustrate some of the ways

authorities can think of altering risks.

Business licensing standards and enforcement

Some human traffickers run legitimate businesses, but many others

staff “front” companies. Mandating stricter licensing standards and

more detailed records can help officials keep tabs on the operations

currently running in their region. This should be compulsory (with

financial penalties for non-compliance) in sectors like construction,

agriculture, textile and garments, restaurants and catering services,

and domestic work, the high risk sectors for labor exploitation.94

94 Sheldon Zhang, Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings

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Authorities also need to ensure that aside from personal

licenses, extensive records on businesses operating within the region

need to be kept. The licensing has to occur on two fronts as well-

businesses have to first obtain a legitimate license to operate, as

well as prove that all their employees are licensed practitioners or

eligible to work in the US, submitting their personal records like

passport and relevant immigration information (if any). The most

important step is enforcement, and authorities should set up a team of

roving inspectors to check on any infringements of licensing laws or

discovery of unlicensed workers. The enforcement of such licenses

might also require cooperation from other agencies or officials. The

prosecution of suspected traffickers also needs to be flexible, and

officials can choose to convict them under either relevant state or

federal laws- though the important thing is to record it as a human

trafficking case as well to help in crime mapping.

Community Awareness and Informant Programs

Since a large proportion of the costs of operations of an end-

chain trafficker comes from maintaining their business’ cloak of

secrecy,95 a better monitoring of illicit activities can raise

operation costs and risks sufficiently for profit margins to be

reduced and traffickers to lose incentives to persist in coercing 95 See Table 3, pp. 24-25.

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trafficked victims. Because of the limited resources local enforcement

agencies have, the community needs to be roped in to be the “eyes and

ears” of authorities. Neighborhood Watch Programs are one means of

extending the net to monitor illicit activities. One-third of all

reported trafficking cases in the US are discovered by individual

citizens,96 and roping in the community can increase the risks of

engaging in the crime, as well as relieve some of the pressures on

local enforcement in policing against trafficking. Neighborhood Watch

Program volunteers can also form a team to patrol their neighborhoods

for suspicious activity.

It is imperative to have a national hotline or readily accessible

website where individuals can submit suspicions of trafficking- albeit

with evidence of some sort to check against competitive business

owners reporting on each other. Awareness programs can be carried out

among the general public and relevant business owners to warn of the

dangers and penalties associated with trafficking activities.

Traffickers are increasingly turning to the internet to advertise

their services,97 and officials need to engage the online community to

monitor such illicit transactions as well. Social media is also a

cheap tool to reach out to a wide audience. Avenues like Facebook and

96 Kara, Sex Trafficking, p.195.97 Aronowitz, Human Trafficking, Human Misery, pp. 127-136.

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Twitter can spread messages and allow user to post suspicious

activities (with evidence), and online blacklists and websites can

disseminate relevant updates to neighborhood watch volunteers, and

general public awareness information. The upside of all these is that

maintaining an online presence is free.

Human Trafficking Courts

Once the trafficker is apprehended, the case goes to prosecution,

where the record is not stellar. Human Trafficking Courts could help

in expediting the prosecution of human trafficking crimes, helping

deliver swifter and more certain justice. Given the huge backlog of

cases entering into US courts, trafficking cases can be delayed for

years, by the time which a victim would have gone back to their

country of origin, or forgotten some of the crucial details of their

testimony. Specialized human trafficking courts, with a standardized

evidence-gathering procedure, judges trained in the relevant laws (who

will gain experience on detecting a genuine trafficking case over

time), can help clear the backlog of cases and potentially obtain a

higher rate of conviction.

Designating special human trafficking courts does not need to be

an expensive endeavor- it could just require the allocation of a

certain (existing) courtroom, on a certain day, for a certain period

61


of time. The important thing is to ensure that the usual group of

judges get assigned to those courts, to allow them to gain experience

on sentencing traffickers over time. In evidence-gathering procedures,

prosecutors can also consider closer partnerships with NGOs, who have

amassed much experience in interviewing and obtaining information from

victims. The effect of such courts will accumulate over the long-run,

and the hope is that as conviction rates rise and cases get prosecuted

more quickly- and the news media picks up on several sensational

cases- TCOs will be made aware of the greater risks involved in

engaging in human trafficking.

Policy Implications

Once policymakers establish a metric for success, a more

difficult question to ask pertains to negative externalities that may

arise in cracking down on human trafficking. This is because the

policies are meant to alter the risk equations of TCOs, which are

defined in relation to their opportunity cost of not engaging in other

illicit activities like arms or drug trafficking. Some would argue

that such trafficking activities are far more violent, with more

pervasive harm to the community that human trafficking, but success in

the latter could push TCOs to pursue more outwardly violent criminal

trades, and there is a fine balance to be struck.

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The question is not meant to put a value judgment on the harms

associated with various trafficking crimes, but to urge policymakers

to think of the need to set an “ideal threshold” of crime. It is

idealistic to think that crime will ever be eradicated, hence

policymakers need to base their judgments on what is a tolerable level

of human trafficking they can live with and can keep under control

with relative ease, beyond which the effects of further reduction

would have negative spillover effects into other types of criminal

activity. Thus, the first step in implementation of the policies

requires policymakers to think hard about what “success” in reducing

human trafficking looks like.

Moreover, researchers have argued that human trafficking responds

to the appetite for cheap low-skilled labor in industrialized

economies. This might suggest that addressing human trafficking might

depress economic growth. Labor exploitation is especially prevalent in

low-skilled industries where vacancies are plenty, but wages are local

and locals are unwilling to do menial labor. Yet, these industries-

like construction, agriculture, food and beverage- also contribute to

growth. However, this does not justify the lax attitude towards labor

trafficking, because in the long-run, continued exploitation of

workers in labor-intensive industries will continue to depress wages

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and push out more locals who are still willing to fill those jobs.

Agriculture contributes only 1.2% to total GDP, while farming,

forestry and fishing employ 0.7% of the total workforce, and

addressing labor trafficking in these sectors will not significantly

affect total GDP as the US economy relies more on high-end

manufacturing and services and Research and Development for growth.98

Furthermore, allowing human rights abuses to persist will also have

negative repercussions on US reputation and its “soft power” abroad,

diminishing its leverage in negotiating for human rights reforms

elsewhere.

In the immediate term, the recommended policies are designed to

curb the risk equations of traffickers, and they mainly advocate

greater monitoring, policing and activism on the part of the

community. The effects of the human trafficking courts are likely to

set in only in the medium to long term, because there is a time lag in

the conveyance of greater swiftness and certainty of justice to

traffickers. In an ideal world, to permanently address the incentives

for human trafficking, we should target the demand for human services

and the standard of living gap, as many academics propose. But these

factors will always exist- the economy is run on the sweat and blood 98 CIA World Factbook, Country Profile: United States. Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html (accessed 14 April 2012).

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of workers, and there will always be the rich in relation to the poor.

The best use of resources is thus to direct them at the TCOs since

they initiate the crime. Targeting their risks in getting involved

will have the greatest impact because their effects span the entire

process of human trafficking, not just the factors at the origin and

destination, and have both deterrent and compellence effects on human

traffickers for a lasting solution.

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human trafficking in the us

Documents