Sex Trafficking:Explaining the oft-forgotten crime and its effect on Society (Research Paper Sample)

Sex Trafficking: Exploring the oft-forgotten Crime and its Effects on Society Name Institution Research Outline 1. Title Page: Includes the Title of the research paper, the name of the student and the name of the institution the student partakes his or her study in as per the APA guidelines. 2. Abstract: This section briefly but holistically captures the contents of the research paper. It gives the reader the general view of what to expect in the paper 3. Introduction: This section is very crucial to an understanding of the subject matter of the research since it introduces the reader to the chosen police system topic. In this case, it introduces issue of sex trafficking and its attendant effects on society. The section in a nutshell, gives the background to the topic and further moves to justify why the topic review is important to both policy and research. 4. Literature Review: This is the section that evaluates works by researchers that have a demonstrable relevance to this study and how their findings influence an understanding of the topic. The section identifies gaps in other researchers’ works on the topic and does so by covering sex trafficking research from the year 2005 to the present. 5. Analysis and Significance: This section encompasses a general discussion of the importance of the exploration of the topic to policy and academia. In other words, it explains how the findings of the study will improve policy making in the issue area and how the research will influence current and future research in the area. 6. Conclusion: This is the section that summarizes the findings of this study. It also gives recommendations on how future research in the area should be approached 8. References: The section includes all sources cited within the text of the research. It, however, does so in line with the APA guidelines regarding referencing and citation. Abstract Human trafficking, in general, is not often a topic of discussion when speaking about major crime issues in the United States. It is, in fact, a growing issue that often goes unreported for various reasons. The purpose of this research is to discuss in-depth about the organized crime of Human Trafficking in the United States; with a focus on sex trafficking. Human trafficking involves the kidnapping or abduction of a person or persons for the purposes of using them in several different ways such as forced labor, or sex trafficking. The research will not only discuss the activity of sex trafficking but will also explore its victims, the perpetrators, the contributing factors of human sex trafficking and the efforts of authorities to stop this growing crime. Introduction Human trafficking is the Trojan horse for the disturbing sex trafficking issue, which is a conundrum in the 21st century. The commercialization of humans for purposes of meeting individual economic gains keeps shifting to the increasing side even as efforts to tame the challenge heighten. Hoodge (2008) best recaps the phenomenon in his observation that the trafficking of children and women for prostitution and other sexual exploitation forms is a fundamental human rights challenge of our time. The phenomenon has a global reach and both the developed and developing world experience its intense effects. Acharya, Suarez and Ontiveros (2016) pinpoint Mexico as being not only a source and transit hub for human trafficking but also a destination for human trafficking where most of the victims become stalked in sexual exploitation nets. The phenomenon is, therefore, transnational and its effects are far reaching as well as overarching. The fact that it is experienced in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as the United States confirms its international nature. Human trafficking especially for sexual exploitation purposes is thus presented as a social injustice and equally as an issue that constitutes gross human rights violations. The transnational nature of the phenomenon is, however responsible for the influx of victims of sexual abuse in the contemporary US. Attesting to this argument, Hoodge (2008), contends that the transnational scope of the challenge has seen the recruitment and transport of victims and their subsequent baptism for exploitation in the US sex industry. From that observation, it becomes lucid that the commercial aspect underpinning the phenomenon is deeply-rooted and well-orchestrated hence constituting transnational organized crime. The phenomenon’s tap-rooted nature is evinced in an argument by Hickle (2017) that commercialized sex trafficking is a multi-billion enterprise aided by instances of police conspiracy. As such, it becomes lucid that the challenge’s multifaceted nature can only be ameliorated or averted via nothing more than a multi-pronged war. The multifaceted nature of organized human trafficking especially for sexual exploitation purposes is rooted in myriad causes. Such causes are not only economic. They are also socio-cultural and are deeply-rooted especially in the developing world where legislation on sex trafficking is wanting. Oketch et al (2018) highlight such causes by arguing that trafficking is compounded by socio-economic factors such as natural disasters, which necessitate people to migrate for survival purposes elsewhere. It follows that people ejected from their original habitations opt to seek for work far away from home thus falling prey to organized trafficking networks. Other possible causes include the rapidly skyrocketing issue of sex tourism whose growth is arguably exponential and among others, war and the disintegration of family structures. However, several other causes will be comprehensively discussed in the later sections of this paper. Human trafficking’s multifaceted nature is vivid from the fact that it is not only closeted on sex trafficking but also includes forced labor. Current available data shows that the number of people forcibly trafficked to other locations to offer involuntary labor exceeds twenty million. Just as is the case with the incidence of sex traffic cases, the majority of victims of forced labor constitute women and children. In that regard, it becomes essential to precisely construe what sex trafficking is. As such, defining it enables best recap the issue. According to Oketch et al (2018), sex trafficking refers to forcibly-induced commercial sex acts or such acts that take advantage of minors. However, it is also pertinent to underscore that sex trafficking also includes fraudulent or coercive induction of victims by perpetrators of such forms of organized crime. The phenomenon is, nonetheless a component of the wider human trafficking issue, whose focus goes beyond sexual manipulation or prostitution-directed purposes. A substantial amount of literature reveals concerted efforts at taming sex trafficking and other aspects of the human trafficking malaise. Such measures range from legal to social work-oriented strategies. Legal strategies have, however, for long been deemed the highly-regarded approach in this regard despite their lag in effectively redressing the issue. In highlighting the lacuna in effectively implementing available legal instruments, Anasti (2018) argues that cultural attitudinal behaviorisms of disrespecting women and girls compound the problem. However, Edwards and Mika (2016) argue that sex trafficking effects most of which are of a psychosocial nature call for a social work perspective to effectively rectitude the challenge whose magnitude is real-time. It follows, therefore, that closer attention needs to be directed at social-work-oriented strategies. The strength of such interventions lies in their emphasis on therapeutic interventions, which are appropriate and effective in addressing psychological impacts of the phenomenon among victims. Literature Review An Assessment of Sex Trafficking In the literature on sex trafficking, a prominent strand of focus is placed upon women and girls. Such focus has birthed narrower concepts within the ambit of human trafficking. An epitome of such concepts is the subject of child trafficking, which is increasingly curving a niche for itself in the literature on human trafficking. Just like the wider human trafficking issue is, Warria, Nel and Triegaardt (2015) concur that child trafficking is an act of broch human rights violation that disturbs the peace of our time. The authors further reveal that the phenomenon is daunting to tackle given its deep-seated economic, socio-legal and cultural issues underpinning it. In that regard, thereof, several factors aid orchestration of the malaise beyond national territorial borders giving the phenomenon a transnational face. There is growing international apprehension concerning the issue of commercial sex trafficking. Central to that furor is the voices of notable human rights crusaders such as Amnesty International. Hickle (2017) contends that the deliberate manipulation of young children (especially girls) for purposes of meeting the commercial ends of the perpetrators is a gross human rights abuse pitting this century. Edwards and Mika (2016) help to construe the outcry of human crusaders by highlighting the resultant psychosocial impacts victims are forced to contend with. They point to the trauma, the stigma, and a string of other psychosocial impacts attached to being sexually exploited. Such effects are known to have a significant preponderance that is systemic on the victims’ attitude to report or seeking redress from relevant authorities. An examination of the phenomenon manifests that the situation is rife in the developing world, which mostly serves as the source of sex trafficking victims. Bespangling the phenomenon as being of an international caliber, Hickle (2015) even goes further to explain that traffickers recruit, transport as well as initiate victims from all over the world into the American sex industry. Mexico is, for instance, known to b...