Preface
Although the term human trafficking is relatively modern, the encom-
passed crimes have been occurring in the United States for centuries.
Human trafficking generally refers to the use of force, fraud, coercion, or
deception for the purpose of exploitation or the exploitation of anyone
under the age of 18. This definition generally includes two forms of
human trafficking: labor trafficking and sex trafficking.
In the United States, labor trafficking is defined as 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.1
Although the chattel form of slavery that once existed is no longer legally
permitted, labor exploitation is still pervasive.
Sex trafficking, on the other hand, is defined as when a commercial sex
act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced
to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.2 Prior to the popular-
ization of the term “sex trafficking,” these victims were called “white slaves”
throughout the early to mid 1900s, but often considered prostitutes, even
if they were children.3
The modern concept of human trafficking didn’t start becoming inter-
nationally popularized until the year 2000.
On October 28, 2000, the U.S. Congress enacted the Trafficking Vic-
tims Protection Act (TVPA), which set up formidable actions to combat
trafficking in persons. Specifically:
1. Coordinate and monitor anti-trafficking activities through an interagency
task force;
2. Prevent human trafficking through vocational training, education, and
human trafficking public awareness campaigns;
