ICAST started because the world is not a peaceful, loving place as God our Heavenly Parent intended. ICAST is a calling from God, we will be misunderstood and occasionally overwhelmed by the magnitude of this evil we will encounter, but we remain committed and involved in this just and noble cause because this is what God has called us to do.
President Barack Obama Committed to Fight Human/Sex Trafficking
For Immediate Release March 15, 2012
Statement by the President on the Meeting of the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
Nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to the enduring cause of freedom. Then as now, we remain steadfast in our resolve to see that all men, women, and children have the opportunity to realize this greatest of gifts. Yet millions around the world—including here in the United States—toil under the boot of modern slavery. Mothers and fathers are forced to work in fields and factories against their will or in service to debts that can never be repaid. Sons and daughters are sold for sex, abducted as child soldiers, or coerced into involuntary labor. In dark corners of our world, and hidden in plain sight in our own communities, human beings are exploited for financial gain and subjected to unspeakable cruelty.
Slavery remains the affront to human dignity and stain on our collective conscience that it has always been. That is why members of my cabinet and senior advisors gathered at the White House today, at a meeting chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to lay out their plans for meeting this challenge. The United States is committed to eradicating trafficking in persons, and we will draw on tools ranging from law enforcement and victim service provision, to public awareness building and diplomatic pressure. Because we know that government efforts are not enough, we are also increasing our partnerships with a broad coalition of local communities, faith-based and non-governmental organizations, schools, and businesses.
To bring all these elements together, and to be sure we are maximizing our efforts, today I am directing my cabinet to find ways to strengthen our current work, and to expand on partnerships with civil society and the private sector, so that we can bring more resources to bear in fighting this horrific injustice. In the coming weeks the White House will build on this gathering on behalf of human dignity. I am confident that we will one day end the scourge of modern slavery, because I believe in those committed to this issue: young people, people of faith and station, Americans who refuse to accept this injustice and will not rest until it is vanquished. Today, I reaffirm that the United States stands with them, and that together we will realize the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation and our country’s ideal of freedom.
Behind the Law Change before the Superbowl
Super Bowl prompts Indiana to rewrite human trafficking law
By Maggie Clark, Stateline Staff Writer
In the early morning hours of Super Bowl Sunday last year, Dallas police arrested Anthony Ladell Winn. They suspected Winn of forcing two sisters, ages 14 and 20, to travel from Austin to Dallas to work as prostitutes while thousands of football fans gathered for the big game. “There was big money to be made during the Super Bowl,” Winn said according to police documents obtained by the Dallas Morning News.
Winn was charged with “attempting to compel prostitution” and “trafficking of persons.” While Winn has yet to stand trial, law enforcement officials, prosecutors and human rights advocates see his case as an example of an ugly byproduct of hosting the Super Bowl and all of the pre-game parties that go along with it. In the past few years, host cities have reported an influx of sex trafficking activity, and have launched task forces to rescue both children and adults from coerced prostitution.
For Super Bowl XLVI, to be played this Sunday (February 5) in Indianapolis, state officials are going out of their way to show that human trafficking won’t be tolerated. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels specifically called on lawmakers in his state of the state address to tighten the state’s law on human trafficking before the Super Bowl.
“We should — no, we must — strengthen our laws against the horrid practice of human trafficking,” Daniels said. “And we must do it in time for the Super Bowl, the kind of event at which the exploitation of young women is rampant in the absence of such a tough law.” Daniels got what he wanted. An anti-trafficking bill unanimously passed both the Senate and the House last week and the governor quickly signed it.
A year-round problem
Human trafficking is a problem for more than just Super Bowl host cities, of course. Attention to the issue of forced prostitution has been growing in statehouses since 2003, when Washington became the first state to pass a law specifically criminalizing the practice. Every state except West Virginia and Wyoming has some legislation against human trafficking, although the states vary in how tough their laws are, according to the Polaris Project, a national advocacy group working to combat all forms of human trafficking. At the federal level, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act has been in place since 2000 and is designed to both prosecute traffickers and protect their victims from criminal charges.
Human trafficking refers to buying, selling, and smuggling people, both adults and children, and forcing them into sexual slavery or other types of indentured servitude. Victims come both from the United States and from around the world, and are often lured away from their homes by the promise of a better life. According to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, about 100,000 American children are victims of commercial sex trafficking and prostitution each year.
Lawmakers in 20 states are currently debating bills related to stopping human trafficking. West Virginia is working on creating its first anti-trafficking statute, while the other states are refining existing laws surrounding prostitution, in many cases moving the criminal burden away from those forced into the commercial sex trade and placing it with the traffickers. Legislators are also working to provide resources to fight trafficking by appropriating additional funding for victim’s services, increasing criminal penalties for traffickers, and giving police authority to use wiretaps or to subpoena internet service providers to investigate potential child sexual exploitation.
In Indiana’s case, there was an existing law on the books before preparations for the Super Bowl began. Under the previous law, traffickers who forced adults into sex work or forced labor could be prosecuted, but when it came to child victims, the law only allowed prosecution when the trafficker was the parent, guardian, or custodian of the child forced into prostitution or labor. Indiana’s human trafficking provisions earned a ranking of “6” on a scale of 0 to 10 in a 50-state analysis conducted by the Polaris Project.
The state’s new law broadens prosecution authority to include anyone over 18 who knowingly or intentionally sells or transfers custody of a child under 16 for prostitution or forced labor. It also raises the penalty for trafficking from a class-B to class-A felony, punishable by 20 to 50 years in prison. “Though it is an honor for Indiana to host the Super Bowl, many sincere voices have brought to light the fact that human trafficking is a shameful practice we can’t ignore,” Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a statement. “With the Governor’s signature, law enforcement and prosecutors will have a new legal tool to combat this problem.”
This week, both local and national nonprofits and religious groups have been working to see that the new law gets enforced. They have been training Indianapolis cab drivers, hotel employees and other service personnel to recognize signs of trafficking, such as a provocatively dressed girl who avoids eye contact and might be traveling with an older man, or a girl who checks into a hotel but has no suitcase. Volunteers have also handed out thousands of bars of soap to area hotels and nightclubs with a trafficking hotline number on the wrapper and instructions on how to either report a trafficking incident or call to get help. Press conferences and public service announcements will continue airing locally though Sunday’s game.
Overstating the numbers?
Despite the reports from public officials and police, not everybody is convinced that human trafficking at the Super Bowl is as large a problem as advertised. Research from the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, an international advocacy group made up of non-governmental organizations from around the world, noted that in the run up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the 2010 Olympics in Canada, the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and the previous three Super Bowls, claims that tens of thousands of prostitutes would pour into these areas never materialized. While trafficking may have occurred at these events, the Alliance says, the incidence wasn’t any greater than usual.
Others say there is evidence that trafficking does pick up around the Super Bowl, if not at the extreme levels some have predicted. During the 2010 Super Bowl in Miami, police and volunteers recovered six children from circumstances of potential sexual exploitation. Fred Quinton Collins, a resident of Hawaii, was arrested and subsequently found guilty of trafficking adults and children to the Miami area for prostitution during the Super Bowl. He was sentenced to 260 months in prison. Trudy Novicki, the executive director of Kristi House, a Miami agency that works with victims of child sexual abuse, says that over the Super Bowl weekend in 2010, the number of local ads for escorts on the internet tripled.
Determined to make sure that Texas didn’t see the same “horrors of what happened at the 2010 Super Bowl,” Texas state Senator Leticia Van de Putte filed a bill to toughen state law around human trafficking before the 2011 game. While the bill didn’t pass until last April, the state beefed up the undercover operations of a trafficking task force made up of 16 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Some 133 arrests were made in the 12 days before the game, according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Irving, Texas. One case involved an international Chinese trafficking ring, and three cases involved sex trafficking of minors. “It’s kind of sad,” Van de Putte says, “to think that something as uplifting as sports has a seedier side.”
Still, the outcome didn’t prove out some of the more sweeping claims made before the Super Bowl. Ahead of last year’s game, Dallas Police Sgt. Louis Fellini warned that between 50,000 to 100,000 prostitutes would come to Dallas for the Super Bowl. At the high end of that estimate, there would be about one prostitute for every fan who attended the game: Total attendance was about 103,000.
Whether or not human trafficking increases as a problem in Indianapolis this weekend, many people who study the issue think Indiana took a step in the right direction with its new law. Bridgette Carr, the director of the University of Michigan human trafficking law clinic, which recently created a database of trafficking cases, says that before any policies or legislation can make a difference, communities have to have a fundamental understanding that trafficking is happening.
“We’ve found that it really doesn’t matter if you’re talking about a large urban center or a small rural community, you see the same types of cases,” says Carr. “I hope that having the Super Bowl is going to make people talk about human trafficking and that it happens every day, not just during the Super Bowl.”
—Contact Maggie Clark at maclark@pewtrusts.org
By Maggie Clark, Stateline Staff Writer
In the early morning hours of Super Bowl Sunday last year, Dallas police arrested Anthony Ladell Winn. They suspected Winn of forcing two sisters, ages 14 and 20, to travel from Austin to Dallas to work as prostitutes while thousands of football fans gathered for the big game. “There was big money to be made during the Super Bowl,” Winn said according to police documents obtained by the Dallas Morning News.
Winn was charged with “attempting to compel prostitution” and “trafficking of persons.” While Winn has yet to stand trial, law enforcement officials, prosecutors and human rights advocates see his case as an example of an ugly byproduct of hosting the Super Bowl and all of the pre-game parties that go along with it. In the past few years, host cities have reported an influx of sex trafficking activity, and have launched task forces to rescue both children and adults from coerced prostitution.
For Super Bowl XLVI, to be played this Sunday (February 5) in Indianapolis, state officials are going out of their way to show that human trafficking won’t be tolerated. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels specifically called on lawmakers in his state of the state address to tighten the state’s law on human trafficking before the Super Bowl.
“We should — no, we must — strengthen our laws against the horrid practice of human trafficking,” Daniels said. “And we must do it in time for the Super Bowl, the kind of event at which the exploitation of young women is rampant in the absence of such a tough law.” Daniels got what he wanted. An anti-trafficking bill unanimously passed both the Senate and the House last week and the governor quickly signed it.
A year-round problem
Human trafficking is a problem for more than just Super Bowl host cities, of course. Attention to the issue of forced prostitution has been growing in statehouses since 2003, when Washington became the first state to pass a law specifically criminalizing the practice. Every state except West Virginia and Wyoming has some legislation against human trafficking, although the states vary in how tough their laws are, according to the Polaris Project, a national advocacy group working to combat all forms of human trafficking. At the federal level, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act has been in place since 2000 and is designed to both prosecute traffickers and protect their victims from criminal charges.
Human trafficking refers to buying, selling, and smuggling people, both adults and children, and forcing them into sexual slavery or other types of indentured servitude. Victims come both from the United States and from around the world, and are often lured away from their homes by the promise of a better life. According to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, about 100,000 American children are victims of commercial sex trafficking and prostitution each year.
Lawmakers in 20 states are currently debating bills related to stopping human trafficking. West Virginia is working on creating its first anti-trafficking statute, while the other states are refining existing laws surrounding prostitution, in many cases moving the criminal burden away from those forced into the commercial sex trade and placing it with the traffickers. Legislators are also working to provide resources to fight trafficking by appropriating additional funding for victim’s services, increasing criminal penalties for traffickers, and giving police authority to use wiretaps or to subpoena internet service providers to investigate potential child sexual exploitation.
In Indiana’s case, there was an existing law on the books before preparations for the Super Bowl began. Under the previous law, traffickers who forced adults into sex work or forced labor could be prosecuted, but when it came to child victims, the law only allowed prosecution when the trafficker was the parent, guardian, or custodian of the child forced into prostitution or labor. Indiana’s human trafficking provisions earned a ranking of “6” on a scale of 0 to 10 in a 50-state analysis conducted by the Polaris Project.
The state’s new law broadens prosecution authority to include anyone over 18 who knowingly or intentionally sells or transfers custody of a child under 16 for prostitution or forced labor. It also raises the penalty for trafficking from a class-B to class-A felony, punishable by 20 to 50 years in prison. “Though it is an honor for Indiana to host the Super Bowl, many sincere voices have brought to light the fact that human trafficking is a shameful practice we can’t ignore,” Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a statement. “With the Governor’s signature, law enforcement and prosecutors will have a new legal tool to combat this problem.”
This week, both local and national nonprofits and religious groups have been working to see that the new law gets enforced. They have been training Indianapolis cab drivers, hotel employees and other service personnel to recognize signs of trafficking, such as a provocatively dressed girl who avoids eye contact and might be traveling with an older man, or a girl who checks into a hotel but has no suitcase. Volunteers have also handed out thousands of bars of soap to area hotels and nightclubs with a trafficking hotline number on the wrapper and instructions on how to either report a trafficking incident or call to get help. Press conferences and public service announcements will continue airing locally though Sunday’s game.
Overstating the numbers?
Despite the reports from public officials and police, not everybody is convinced that human trafficking at the Super Bowl is as large a problem as advertised. Research from the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, an international advocacy group made up of non-governmental organizations from around the world, noted that in the run up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the 2010 Olympics in Canada, the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and the previous three Super Bowls, claims that tens of thousands of prostitutes would pour into these areas never materialized. While trafficking may have occurred at these events, the Alliance says, the incidence wasn’t any greater than usual.
Others say there is evidence that trafficking does pick up around the Super Bowl, if not at the extreme levels some have predicted. During the 2010 Super Bowl in Miami, police and volunteers recovered six children from circumstances of potential sexual exploitation. Fred Quinton Collins, a resident of Hawaii, was arrested and subsequently found guilty of trafficking adults and children to the Miami area for prostitution during the Super Bowl. He was sentenced to 260 months in prison. Trudy Novicki, the executive director of Kristi House, a Miami agency that works with victims of child sexual abuse, says that over the Super Bowl weekend in 2010, the number of local ads for escorts on the internet tripled.
Determined to make sure that Texas didn’t see the same “horrors of what happened at the 2010 Super Bowl,” Texas state Senator Leticia Van de Putte filed a bill to toughen state law around human trafficking before the 2011 game. While the bill didn’t pass until last April, the state beefed up the undercover operations of a trafficking task force made up of 16 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Some 133 arrests were made in the 12 days before the game, according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Irving, Texas. One case involved an international Chinese trafficking ring, and three cases involved sex trafficking of minors. “It’s kind of sad,” Van de Putte says, “to think that something as uplifting as sports has a seedier side.”
Still, the outcome didn’t prove out some of the more sweeping claims made before the Super Bowl. Ahead of last year’s game, Dallas Police Sgt. Louis Fellini warned that between 50,000 to 100,000 prostitutes would come to Dallas for the Super Bowl. At the high end of that estimate, there would be about one prostitute for every fan who attended the game: Total attendance was about 103,000.
Whether or not human trafficking increases as a problem in Indianapolis this weekend, many people who study the issue think Indiana took a step in the right direction with its new law. Bridgette Carr, the director of the University of Michigan human trafficking law clinic, which recently created a database of trafficking cases, says that before any policies or legislation can make a difference, communities have to have a fundamental understanding that trafficking is happening.
“We’ve found that it really doesn’t matter if you’re talking about a large urban center or a small rural community, you see the same types of cases,” says Carr. “I hope that having the Super Bowl is going to make people talk about human trafficking and that it happens every day, not just during the Super Bowl.”
—Contact Maggie Clark at maclark@pewtrusts.org
Human / Sex Trafficking Bill Signed
Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the measure into law Monday, saying he hopes it will “put up the ‘Don’t Try It Here’ sign in Indiana” just in time for a game that Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller says has a history of attracting increased activity in the commercial sex trade.
“Let’s home that the law has a deterrent effect,” Daniels said, “and that these criminals will take their horrible business somewhere else.”
The law, which took effect immediately upon the governor affixing his signature, closes loopholes that have made it tougher for Indiana to prosecute those who have helped sell children into sexual slavery.
It also strikes a provision of state law that required prosecutors to prove that those who are accused of coercing children into sexual slavery used or threatened to use physical force to do so.
Advocates said it was the one step Indiana absolutely had to take before the game.
As a result, Zoeller said, “our police and prosecutors have the legal tools they need to crack down on those who traffic young victims in a growing area of criminal enterprise that is considered a modern form of human slavery.”
Law enforcement officials on hand at Daniels’ bill signing ceremony Monday said there have been no arrests in Indianapolis yet associated with the Super Bowl, but that extra police are on hand specifically watching for human trafficking.
The Last Two Super Bowls are a Predictor for Sex Trafficking
Dallas Super Bowl -- What about Indianapolis
The above article illustrates what can happen and I predict, will happen here in Indianapolis.
With next month's big game coming to Indianapolis, we need to have people become aware of the potential danger to our youth and community.
The above article illustrates what can happen and I predict, will happen here in Indianapolis.
With next month's big game coming to Indianapolis, we need to have people become aware of the potential danger to our youth and community.
Understanding the Layers
Understanding the Layers
After our Senior Pastor
spoke about the Human Trafficking of young girls and the sex industry making
money through the tourism trading in child sex, I wanted to find out more about
it.
When Abigail Kuzma from
the Indiana Attorney Generals Office, who is the Director and Chief Council of
Consumer Proctection and Co-Chair of IPATH which stands for Indiana Protection
of Abused and Trafficked Humans, spoke at our Stopping the Porn Culture – A
Pastor’s Forum, I had no idea of the scope of the problem.
IPATH goals are PREVENTION,
PROTECTION, AND PROSECUTION
IPATH uses a collaborative
strategy to implement it’s goals by working with the U. S. Attorney’s Office,
FBI, Homeland Security, Department of Labor, and locally with the Indianapolis
Metropolitan Police Department, Department of Child Services, the Julian Center Exodus Refugee Center
IPATH’s five (5) areas are
Law Enforcement, Victim Services, Protocol, Awareness, and Training. IPATH is also a part of PILLARS OF HOPE- a
national initiative- Attorney’s General United Against Human Trafficking. What
we learned was an overview of IPATH, who is involved, and what we can do to
stop Human Trafficking.
What
is Human Trafficking? What is Sex Trafficking?
Sex Trafficking and Labor Trafficking
Sex Trafficking: in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud,
or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such acts has not
attained 18 years of age or
Labor Trafficking: The recruitment, harboring,
transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor, services,
through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to
involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. (Federal Law-Victims of Trafficking and
Violence Prevention Act of 2000)
The Pillars of Hope National 2011 Initiative is headed by Indiana
Human trafficking is a $32
billion global industry driven by trafficking profit. It’s the fastest growing
and second largest criminal activity in the world, just behind arms and ahead
of drug dealing.
Eleven years ago, the
United Nations created the international standards against trafficking in
persons, and the US US US
It is estimated that 76
percent of transactions for sex with underage girls start on the Internet [1],
which triggered a rash of activity by Attorneys General and public outcry
against organizations such as craigslist and backpage.com. Coalitions of technology,
anti‐trafficking
NGOs, and government authorities have been developed to take action across the
public and private sector. Media attention is fueling awareness and stepping up
actions to stop sexual and labor exploitation in our communities. Human
trafficking awareness is at a tipping point in our society. With this in mind,
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, the 2011‐12 President of the National
Association of Attorneys General, has selected this problem as the focus of his
presidential initiative.
Pillars of Hope: Attorneys
General Unite against Human Trafficking is built upon the following four
pillars:
Pillar 1): Making the Case
Gather stat-specific data on human trafficking and create a
database that assists local authorities with identifying human trafficking
cases.
Pillar 2): Holding Traffickers
Accountable
Establish and implement comprehensive anti-human trafficking
laws in all 50 States.
Pillar 3): Mobilizing Communities to Care
for Victims
Coordination among service providers, law enforcement, and
state agencies to assist in indentifying and protecting victims.
Pillar 4): Raising Public Awareness &
Reducing the Demand
Increase public awareness campaign regarding human
trafficking that will assist the victims and work to reduce demand for
trafficking
Our Pastor’s Forum learned that studies have shown there is
an increase in the demand for commercial sex services surrounding large
sporting events or conventions such as the Super Bowl, World Series, etc. Any increase in the commercial sex industry
also increase the potential risk for exploitation and human trafficking.
A study conducted by
Traffick 911 out of Fort Worth , Texas
- Saturday, January
15th 135
- Saturday, January
22nd 179
- Saturday, January
29th 232
- Saturday, February
5th 367
Also, 59
Prostitution arrests were made before and on the 2011 Super Bowl
11 of the arrests
were suspected of being Human Trafficking (Jessica Huseman Dallasnews.com 2/14/11 )
A Growing Problem World Wide……
According to the US Dept of State’s 2010 Trafficking in
Person’s Report-
-12.3 Million Adults and Children are forced into labor,
bonded labor and forced prostitution. (this is a subject for my next article)
……and At Home
With 2,515 trafficking investigations were opened by the
Dept of Justice Anti-Trafficking Task force between 2008 and 2010 you have the
following breakdown:
-239 cases in the Midwest
-46 opened by Indiana
651 Trafficking investigations were opened by the US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2010 which resulted in
* 300
arrests
* 151
indictments
* 144 convictions
90 ICE Cases were in the Midwest
*43 arrest
*25 indictments
*22
convictions
*69 of
those cases involved sex trafficking and 21 involved labor trafficking.
925 trafficking cases were opened by the FBI since 2004
*61 FBI
cases were in the Midwest
*37 of
those cases involved sex trafficking and 27 involved labor trafficking.
Sex Trafficking and Pornography- Supply and Demand…
(to be Continued)
The Facts
The Facts
The average age of entry into pornography and prostitution int he US is 13 years old.
There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world
today… or about 1 in every 250 people.
Sex trafficking causes have been reported in all 50 states
and in more than 90 cities across the country.
In the United States alone, it is estimated that there are
- More than 1 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade each year.
- Today, the average price of an individual slave is $90.
- Approximately 800,000 – 900,000 victims are trafficked annually across the international borders worldwide.
- The US is the second highest destination area in the world for trafficked women.
- Last year, the slave industry made more money than Google, Nike, and Starbucks combined.
- There are more people in slavery today than at any other point in history… Including the 300 years of trans-Atlantic slaves trading from Africa.
Human Trafficking Bill Moves Forward and Indiana's AG speaks at Conference
Senate Committee moves human trafficking bill forward
Attorney General: New legal tools needed to thwart exploitation by traffickers
INDIANAPOLIS - A bill that would strengthen Indiana's laws against human trafficking won the approval of a Senate committee this morning. Because large sporting events are associated with human trafficking, law enforcement and victim-advocacy groups have urged the Legislature to pass Senate Bill 4 prior to Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis one month from today.
The Senate Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters Committee today passed Senate Bill 4 unanimously. Authored by State Senator Randy Head, R-Logansport, the bill now moves to the full Indiana Senate for consideration.
"There are enormous economic benefits of hosting large sporting events such as the Super Bowl, but the disturbing reality is that such gatherings in other states have drawn criminal rings that traffick young women and children into the commercial sex trade. Our existing statute is inadequate to deter and prosecute these criminals, and so we urge the Legislature to pass the bill to update the law before the big game February 5. Senator Randy Head took the initiative on this legislation, and it has received bipartisan support of all those committee members who heard the bill on an expedited basis in the Corrections committee, and so we commend them for the progress made," Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said.
Human trafficking can include the recruiting, harboring or selling of a person, especially a child, for purposes of prostitution, commercial sex acts, forced labor or involuntary servitude. Senate Bill 4 makes several updates to existing law prohibiting human trafficking:
. Since trafficking is often committed by criminals who are unrelated to their victims, the bill closes a loophole in statute so that any non-relative who victimizes a child in this way can be prosecuted, rather than a parent or guardian only.
. The bill would more effectively define the crime of "promotion of human trafficking of a minor" so that prosecutors could bring charges against traffickers even if no force was used, and for situations involving prostitution and involuntary servitude by minors.
At today's Senate committee hearing that Zoeller attended, Deputy Attorney General Abigail Kuzma - who is chief counsel of the AG's Consumer Protection Division - and Deputy Attorney General David Miller testified about the bill. An influx of trafficking activity has been reported in cities that hosted previous Super Bowls and other large sporting events.
Leading up to the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas, a task force led by the Texas Attorney General's Office reported 133 prostitution-related arrests, through which one trafficking victim led authorities to her trafficker, who was later arrested and charged, according to the Texas AG's Office.
Trafficking arrests also were reported as coinciding with the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa and 2010 Super Bowl in Miami. In the Tampa case, the U.S. Department of Justice obtained convictions of two adult men for using a website to subject a 14-year-old girl to prostitution. In the Miami case investigated by Miami-Dade police, an adult man was convicted of transporting a 17-year-old girl from Hawaii to a Miami hotel for prostitution, according to published reports.
According to the U.S. State Department's 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report, approximately 12.3 million adults and children are trafficked across international borders into forced labor and sexual exploitation worldwide.
In 2011, stopping the problem of human trafficking was designated a presidential initiative by the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), and Washington state's attorney general, Rob McKenna, asked Zoeller to participate in the nationwide effort to crack down on trafficking through legislation, public awareness and deterring demand.
"This bill creates new legal tools; and if by passing a new law Indiana can act to stop the exploitation of even one person by a trafficker, then it will be a success," Zoeller said.
Hear Indiana's at AG Pillars of Hope
The Senate Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters Committee today passed Senate Bill 4 unanimously. Authored by State Senator Randy Head, R-Logansport, the bill now moves to the full Indiana Senate for consideration.
"There are enormous economic benefits of hosting large sporting events such as the Super Bowl, but the disturbing reality is that such gatherings in other states have drawn criminal rings that traffick young women and children into the commercial sex trade. Our existing statute is inadequate to deter and prosecute these criminals, and so we urge the Legislature to pass the bill to update the law before the big game February 5. Senator Randy Head took the initiative on this legislation, and it has received bipartisan support of all those committee members who heard the bill on an expedited basis in the Corrections committee, and so we commend them for the progress made," Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said.
Human trafficking can include the recruiting, harboring or selling of a person, especially a child, for purposes of prostitution, commercial sex acts, forced labor or involuntary servitude. Senate Bill 4 makes several updates to existing law prohibiting human trafficking:
. Since trafficking is often committed by criminals who are unrelated to their victims, the bill closes a loophole in statute so that any non-relative who victimizes a child in this way can be prosecuted, rather than a parent or guardian only.
. The bill would more effectively define the crime of "promotion of human trafficking of a minor" so that prosecutors could bring charges against traffickers even if no force was used, and for situations involving prostitution and involuntary servitude by minors.
At today's Senate committee hearing that Zoeller attended, Deputy Attorney General Abigail Kuzma - who is chief counsel of the AG's Consumer Protection Division - and Deputy Attorney General David Miller testified about the bill. An influx of trafficking activity has been reported in cities that hosted previous Super Bowls and other large sporting events.
Leading up to the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas, a task force led by the Texas Attorney General's Office reported 133 prostitution-related arrests, through which one trafficking victim led authorities to her trafficker, who was later arrested and charged, according to the Texas AG's Office.
Trafficking arrests also were reported as coinciding with the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa and 2010 Super Bowl in Miami. In the Tampa case, the U.S. Department of Justice obtained convictions of two adult men for using a website to subject a 14-year-old girl to prostitution. In the Miami case investigated by Miami-Dade police, an adult man was convicted of transporting a 17-year-old girl from Hawaii to a Miami hotel for prostitution, according to published reports.
According to the U.S. State Department's 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report, approximately 12.3 million adults and children are trafficked across international borders into forced labor and sexual exploitation worldwide.
In 2011, stopping the problem of human trafficking was designated a presidential initiative by the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), and Washington state's attorney general, Rob McKenna, asked Zoeller to participate in the nationwide effort to crack down on trafficking through legislation, public awareness and deterring demand.
"This bill creates new legal tools; and if by passing a new law Indiana can act to stop the exploitation of even one person by a trafficker, then it will be a success," Zoeller said.
Hear Indiana's at AG Pillars of Hope
Supply and Demand
Sex Trafficking and Pornography- Supply and Demand…
According to US Dept. of State Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2010 there were between 14,500 and 17,500 men, women, and children trafficked into the United States US National Center
-100,000 to 293,000 are in danger of becoming sexual commodities
-the age of 12 is the average age of entry into pornography and prostitution.
Worldwide every year according the US Dept. of State 1 million children are exploited by the commercial sex trade.
Our Stopping the Porn Culture Pastor’s Forum looked at how society has been manipulated by “pimps” and our children have been “groomed” to except a culture that has become “pornified” in the last 50 years.
“Groomed”?
To groom:
•“to prepare, as for a specific position or purpose”
•“to prepare for a future role or function”
The likes of Hugh Hefner, Larry Flynn, Bob Guccione, and Joe Francis have made millions off of American’s and shape the sexual background in which we raise our children. Many social religious and political leaders have ignored the sexualized images, and allowed the culture to be dominated by the likes of Playboy, Penthouse, Husler and Girls Gone Wild. This feeds the appetite of the sex offenders and poises a threat to us all. With this environment it is easy for sexual predators to operate and the sex trafficking of humans supplies the need.
“Sex offenders may not only groom children but also their families and local communities . . . . the grooming of the child’s family or community has a dual purpose: securing the confidence and trust and thus the cooperation of their careers in gaining access to the child; and reducing the likelihood of discovery or disclosure by creating an atmosphere of normality or acceptance.”
Our pornified, commercialized, and sexually toxic media culture is grooming kids and teens for sexual exploitation and abuse, while grooming adults to accept this process as “normal.” (From It’s easy out here for a pimp slide presentation.)
HUMAN / SEX TRAFFICKING
HUMAN TRAFFICKING
"Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons" as:
 |
| Photo from freeslaves.net presentation |
Labor Trafficking: The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.
It is not always what you think!
HUMAN / SEX TRAFFICKING
“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.” – Psalm 82:3
Sex trafficking is more then a physical crime, it’s spiritual warfare.
Every minute women and children around the world are being victimized and abused for profits.
Additionally, more men are being trapped in the snare of sexual addiction and perversion with no hope in sight.
This “act,” this “market” is ruining a generation of lives worldwide.
The Church needs to stand up for the voiceless and hopeless.
This is a battlefield where there is no time to be idle. As the body of Christ we are called to action.
Your church can radically change lives.
Join interfailth Coalition Against Sex Trafficking (ICAST)
and stand with churches around the world in leading the fight against human /sex trafficking and exploitation.
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