Thank you for visiting the Camden Civil Rights Project page on Human Trafficking. Our archives section contains a variety of informative print, audio and video materials on the growing problem of Human Trafficking within the United States. The section attempts to create awareness of what many human rights organizations have referred to as the “Invisible Crime” by providing tips on how identify the red flags of human trafficking and a list of organizations to contact if you suspect someone is being trafficked. If you are a victim seeking assistance or rescue, please contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. Archived articles can be accessed by clicking on the links below. Please feel free to use the comment section to recommend materials and resources you believe will aid in creating a better understanding of how to address the problem of human trafficking within the United States.

Articles

The Invisible Crime

Multiple contributors, edited by L. Christopher Skufca (Camden Civil Rights Project)

Sex Trafficking in the U.S.

Polaris Project

Estimating The Size And Structure Of The Underground Commercial Sex Economy In Eight Major US Cities

Meredith Dank, Bilal Khan, P. Mitchell Downey, Cybele Kotonias, Debbie Mayer, Colleen Owens, Laura Pacifici, Lilly Yu  (Urban Institute)

The U.S. Military’s Long, Uncomfortable History with Prostitution Gets New Attention

By Dan Lamothe (Washington Post)

The Invisible Army

by Sarah Stillman (The New Yorker)

Dottie Laster: Human Trafficking on Your Campus

by Elizabeth Meinke (Town Hall Magazine)

College Students Using “Sugar Daddies” to Pay Off Student Loan Debt

by Amanda M. Fairbanks (Huffington Post)

It Happened To Me: I Almost Became a Victim of Human Trafficking at the Sochi Olympics

by Britney Cason (ESPN)

100,000 U.S. Children Sold into Sex Trafficking Annually

by Eleanor Goldberg (Huffington Post)

Human Trafficking of Children in the United States

U.S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

Child Trafficking Statistics U.S. & International

Ark of Hope for Children

Child Trafficking in the U.S.

UNICEF USA

Regulating Modeling Agencies to Help Prevent Child Sex Trafficking

by Conchita Sernoff (Huffington Post)

Former Adult Actress Lisa Ann Says Abuse Porn Tends to ‘Break You Down as a Woman’

by Heather Saul (The Independent)

Rashida Jones Warns Young Women About ‘Physical Cost’ of the Porn Industry

by Helen Nianias (The Independent)

Videos

Exposing the Economics of Sex Trafficking in the U.S.

“Sex sells” does little to explain the multimillion-dollar profits generated by the underground commercial sex economy. From high-end escort services to high school “sneaker pimps,” the sex trade leaves no demographic unrepresented and circuits almost every major US city. A landmark study funded by the Justice Department estimates that the underground sex industry in each of seven U.S. cities generates between $40 million to nearly $300 million a year. Hari Sreenivasan of PBS Newshour speaks with the lead author of the report, Meredith Dank of the Urban Institute.

View the video HERE

CNN Presents: Selling the Girl Next Door (2012)

Synopsis: According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there are at least 100,000 underage females being sex trafficked in America today. That’s a conservative estimate based on what little hard data currently exists; NCMEC believes the real number could be as high as 300,000. According to studies, pimps can make up to half a million dollars a year, and they frequently prey on the young and the vulnerable over the internet — the new marketplace for underage sex trafficking. In 2011, victims’ advocates referred to the internet classified site Craigslist’s Adult Service Section the “Walmart of child sex trafficking.” In a yearlong investigation, CNN’s Amber Lyon reveals the devastating realities of the U.S. commercial trade in underage sex.

View the video HERE

Inside Secret America: American Sex Slave (2013)

Synopsis:

Many Americans believe that human trafficking only exists in underdeveloped foreign nations. But here in America, the sex trade is thriving.

The average age for entrance into the sex industry is 12-14 years old and the vast majority of females who are coerced into sex trafficking have limited options for escaping the lifestyle. In this episode of National Geographic’s Inside: Secret America, investigative journalists Mariana van Zeller and Darren Foster go undercover and explore the world of sex trafficking in the United States. They gain an insider’s perspective from victims, outreach workers and law enforcement officials who are on the front lines fighting to stop this American tragedy.

View the video HERE

Taina Bien-Aimé: The Dangers of Legalizing Prostitution (2015)

Synopsis:

Taina Bien-Aimé is the Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW). CATW is the first and oldest international non-profit organization dedicated to ending trafficking in females and related forms of commercial sexual exploitation. In this half hour interview, Bien-Aimé discusses the sex industry and current movements to decriminalize sex work, with special attention paid to the negative impact legalized prostitution would have on females and underage trafficking victims.

 View the video HERE

America’s Daughters

Synopsis:

America’s Daughters is a powerful piece of spoken word written and performed by a female survivor of sex trafficking. Through her words, we gain a brief glimpse into the unbelievable exploitation so many people have endured while yearning for what we all need: LOVE. This woman’s brave decision to speak out also demonstrates the remarkable resilience of the survivors Polaris Project serves every day.

View the video HERE

Kathryn Bolkovac: The Whistleblower  (2014)

Synopsis:

When former Nebraska police officer Kathryn Bolkovac was recruited by DynCorp International to support the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, she thought she was signing up to help rebuild a war-torn country. But once she arrived in Sarajevo she discovered military officers involved in human trafficking and forced prostitution, with links to private mercenary contractors, the UN and the U.S. State Department.

After bringing this evidence to light, Bolkovac was successively demoted, threatened with bodily harm, terminated and ultimately forced to flee the country under cover of darkness—bringing the incriminating documents with her. Thanks to the evidence she collected, she won a lawsuit against DynCorp, publicly exposing their human rights violations.

Her story, recounted in the book The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman’s Fight for Justice, later become the Hollywood feature film The Whistleblower.  Bolkovac discusses her story, human trafficking, and other topics with Tanya Domi, whose reporting broke this story.

 View the video HERE

Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking (2015)

Synopsis: In a CNN Special Report, actress and long-time child trafficking advocate, Jada Pinkett Smith, travels to Atlanta – a trafficking hotspot – to try and unravel the complicated web of human trafficking that’s happening right here in the United States. The forty-two minute documentary is a gritty, raw look at the human trafficking industry in the United States, the lives of children caught in its web, and those fighting back against this form of modern-day slavery. In this powerful report, Pinkett Smith and CNN delve deep into the heart of this heinous crime, following undercover officers on raids and rescues of underage victims, accompanying aid workers on outreach missions, and spending time with the survivors in shelters as they share their harrowing stories.

 View the video HERE

Ran Gavrieli: Why I Stopped Watching Porn (2015)

Ran Gavrieli is a gender studies scholar at Tel Aviv University. He works with youth and adults in building positive self image in a world inundated by exploitative sexual imagery. In this TedX talk, Gavrieli lectures on the physical and psychological abuse which occurs in the porn industry, its relationship to human trafficking and the negative psychological effects watching pornography has on sexual intimacy and gender power relationships.

 View the video HERE