From the desk of St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz
There are different types of trafficking.
Sex trafficking is also driven by buyer demand. Whether a pimp is involved or not, anyone under the age of 18 is deemed a victim of sex trafficking when they engage in commercial sex with an adult. The buyer is viewed as the perpetrator any time the victim is a minor.
Sex trafficking can be pimp-controlled or gang-controlled.
Pimp-controlled. Victims are controlled by individual pimps who often force victims to use drugs.
Gang-controlled. Victims are controlled by a collection of individuals, gangs, organized crime, or syndicates.
Violence and intimidation are typically used to force cooperation. Sex trafficking involves commercial sexual exploitation, such as prostitution, pornography, bride trafficking, military prostitution, and sex tourism.
According to studies, prostitution accounts for the largest amount of forced labor that occurs in the United States. The commercial sexual exploitation of women and children has ties to prostitution, pornography and exotic dancing.
Forms of labor-driven trafficking are bonded labor or debt peonage. Victims become bonded laborers when their labor is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan or service. Bonded labor or debt peonage began in plantation economies where employers forced workers to buy from employer-run stores at inflated prices so they could never pay off the debt. Today, we see this when employers force victims to live on-site, charge them inflated rent, pay low or no wages, and don’t allow them to leave.
Forced labor. Victims are forced to work against their will under threat of violence or other form of punishment. Freedom is restricted and a degree of ownership is exerted.
Child labor. The International Labor Organization estimates 215 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 are involved in child labor. The commercial sex trade, forced military service, drug trade, domestic servitude, construction, manufacturing, and illegal arms trade are all areas in which children are forced into labor trafficking.
The agricultural sector also experiences a high occurrence of forced labor, particularly seasonal farm workers, such as citrus pickers. Farm workers are particularly vulnerable because agricultural working conditions are generally poor, wages are low, legal protections for agricultural workers are weak, and there is little monitoring of working conditions. Common employers of victims are agricultural and landscape work, factory work, food service, construction, carnivals, hotel housekeeping, day labor, nail salons, and domestic servitude or childcare.
The human traffickers use multiple methods to control their victims. Without control the victims would simply just walk away. The goal of the traffickers is to use all means necessary to control and keep the victims in their “stable”. Common tactics include, beatings, rapes, starvation, isolation, and psychological abuse.
Traffickers also use drug/alcohol dependency, document withholding, debt bondage, threats of deportation, family threats and confinement.