NC Human Trafficking

General Definitions

Commonly referred to as “Modern Slavery”

Obtaining or maintaining the labor or services of another through the use of Force, Fraud, or Coercion in violation of an individual’s human rights.

Forms of Human Trafficking

•Defined by 18 U.S.C. Sections 1589-1594 “Trafficking Victims Protection Act”

Forms of Exploitation

Labor Trafficking

Recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Sex Trafficking

Sex trafficking, meaning the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act is under 18 years of age.

NC Human Trafficking

A 2001 government Report listed 3 North Carolina cities with human trafficking concerns-- Fayetteville, Greensboro, and Jacksonville

SOURCE: Raymond, Hughes & Gonzalez, 2001.

In 2004, NC was identified as a destination state of international trafficking victims in a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, along with California, Florida, New York, Hawaii, Georgia, Alaska, and Texas.

North Carolina's vulnerability to trafficking is enhanced by several factors, including its military bases, its location on the I-95 corridor, and its large undocumented immigrant population.

AlamanceSiler City

WayneCharlotte

Greensboro Durham

Monroe

Asheville

Raleigh

Winston-Salem

Fayetteville Jacksonville

PittCo.

FBI 2006

In 2006, the FBI identified North Carolina as an area with human trafficking concerns.

2006 FBI press release: “recognized the importance of providing information to the public regarding the nature and scope of this crime problem within state of North Carolina” (Charlotte FBI Internet Site, 2006).

In North Carolina (NC), legislative attention has also turned to sex trafficking over the last few years. Two trafficking laws have been passed by the NC General Assembly. Session Law 2006-247, amending the previous sex offender law, was passed in August, 2006 and became effective on December 1 of the same year, making human trafficking a class F felony and the trafficking of a minor a Class C felony.

NCGS 14-43.11

When a person knowingly recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides or obtains by any means another person with the intent that the other person be held in involuntary servitude or sexual servitude.

Class F felony if victim is an adult.Class C felony if victim is a minor.

Session Law 2007-547 was signed into law and became effective on August 31, 2007. The law allows victims of trafficking legal access to services and protects them from being treated as criminals, regardless of their legal status.

It also calls for the NC Justice Academy to establish an appropriate protocol for training law enforcement officers.Additionally, Basic Law Enforcement Training will address human trafficking, focusing specifically on ensuring that victims of human trafficking are treated as victims and provided appropriate services, regardless of their legal status.

The NC Governors Crime Commission concedes that there are no good statistics available in NC, adding that accurate statistics are difficult to find anywhere.

Human Trafficking in the TriadGreensboro 2004:More than a

dozen people were arrested when a sex trafficking ring that operated all over the east coast was uncovered.

The trafficked females were from Mexico and entered the United States illegally. (Weigl, 2005).

Winston-Salem

Media reports and court documents show that the trafficking operation delivered females to work in brothels in Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Monroe AND Winston-Salem

N.C. General Assembly 2009

• Considering funding of NC Human Trafficking Commission.

• Goals: inform and educate law enforcement personnel, social service providers, and public about trafficking so traffickers can be prosecuted and victim-survivors can get appropriate services.

Identifying Victims

Due to the covert nature of the crime, human trafficking will likely come to your attention indirectly through the investigation of other crimes.

Warning Signs

Why victims remain silent

Methods of Control

Business as a front?Security to keep out or

in?Language barriers?Sexually oriented

business staffed strictly by immigrant women?

Censored Communications?

Working Conditions?Live and work in the

same location?

Local Human Trafficking Response Teams

You must develop contacts prior to the need for services in order to ensure a smooth integration when the need arises.