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Annotated Bibliography

How is Sex Trafficking Being Prevented in the United States?

Heidi Shope

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

October 18, 2018

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Annotated Bibliography

Alvarez, Priscilla. “When Sex Trafficking Goes Unnoticed in America” Politics. The Atlantic. 23

February 2016. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/how-sex-

trafficking-goes-unnoticed-in-america/470166/ . Accessed 23 Oct 2018.

This article exemplifies how sex trafficking is a difficult crime to stop because of how

many cases go unreported. Many victims are afraid of coming forward because they fear

the law enforcement, thinking they have committed a crime, prostitution. Not only are

they afraid to come forward themselves, but the traffickers often threaten to report them

to the police for prostitution when they aren’t cooperating. Sex trafficking is difficult for

law enforcement as well because they are trying to locate victims who are afraid of

identifying themselves. It is a vicious cycle that can only be stopped when sex trafficking

isn’t mistaken for prostitution so that the victims can confidently come forward. The

victim’s rights are ripped from them, and they become frightened and don’t report the

problem or ask for help. According to the article “local police may not believe there is a

problem in their community according to a 2012 study by the Urban Institute.” Therefore,

in order to prevent it, you have to see it/realize it is happening around you. This article

helped me realized that one step to preventing sex trafficking in the US is the victims

need to be able to come forward and admit that they are a victim of sex trafficking and

get help, without get accused of prostitution. It also introduced me to new organizations

such as “NGO” and “FAIR Girls” that work to fight human trafficking. Lastly, the article

informed me that not only do the victims sometimes get prosecuted for a crime they

didn’t commit, the trafficker will be convicted of a crime of lesser charge such as rape or
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kidnapping. This shows me that the author also thinks that in order to prevent sex

trafficking, the prosecutors need to be more aware of the new trafficking laws and utilize

them. This article is a credible source because The Atlantic is a magazine that has a high

quality review and has won many National Magazine Awards. This specific article was

written to help raise awareness of the set-backs that victims of sex trafficking victims are

facing. This article will be strongly cited in my research because it directly relates to my

topic.

Gonzalez, Sarah. “The Economic Drivers and Consequences of Sex Trafficking in the United

States” economic security for survivors. Institute for Women’s Policy Research. 27

September 2017. https://iwpr.org/publications/economic-drivers-consequences-sex-

trafficking-united-states/ Accessed 23 Oct 2018

This article discusses the economic effect of sex trafficking in the United States, the

factors that can increase the risk of being a victim, and the challenges the people

attempting to reduce it face. According to this article, traffickers target the weak through

force, fraud, offering a job and shelter. Illicit substances are used to lure in the victims.

That means that some victims are addicted to drugs or alcohol, so when they are free they

need treatment programs to help them recover, says the author. They need to be able to

rebuild their lives and escape the abuse. The author exclaims “these supports often

include housing assistance, legal assistance, physical and mental health services,

counseling for psychological trauma, substance abuse treatment, education, job training,

and more”. After reading this article it will be helpful to know those things to further

research ways to encourage victims that there is a way to build stable lives again. This
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article has many credible sources that are stated at the end, which are helpful to check if

you are questioning the reliability. It was written by the Sarah Gonzalez, the director of

Economic Security for Survivors Project at the institute for Women’s Policy Research,

who also has a B.A. degree. I will use this source in my research because it is lengthy,

with an abundance of credible information about my topic on preventing sex trafficking

in the US.

Weitzer, Ronald “The Social Construction of Sex Trafficking: Ideology and Institutionalization

of a Moral Crusade” sagejournals, Politics and Society. 1 September 2007

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0032329207304319 Accessed 23 October

2018

This well-developed journal examines the social construction of sex trafficking, by

stating central claims and looking into where they began. He argues that sex trafficking is

a widespread public concern and often portrayed as highly dramatic due to the media, and

how anti-sex trafficking activists are working towards their goals of getting rid of sex

trafficking. This article does a great job addressing all the issues on sex trafficking, as

well as how society is affected by it. He mentions many specific organizations that are

fighting against sex trafficking such as the CATW, an organization attempting to end

human trafficking in our lifetime, who claim that the legalization of prostitution

industries is one of the root causes of sex trafficking. I agree with the idea that the author

claims about how legalization of prostitution serves as a magnet for sex trafficking

because people will easily see sex trafficking as prostitution. This journal helped me

realize that people have to be aware that prostitution is illegal and not related to sex
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trafficking in order to find a solution to end it. I plan on continuing to look into this

source because it is full of trustworthy information, given the author is a professor at

George Washington University and known for his publications on the sex industry and

also that his claims are always followed by sources. This article provided me with a

significant amount of information on how anti-sex trafficking activists are working to

find a solution to stop sex trafficking, supplying me with the idea that sex trafficking is

preventable. Given this journals length, credibility, and relation to my topic, it will be

cited frequently in my research as well.