THIS ELECTION SEASON WILL HAVE NEO-LIBERALS DRESSING CANDIDATES AS WOMEN AND PEOPLE OF COLOR AS NE-LIBERALS WORK TO KILL WAR ON POVERTY AND NEW DEAL PROGRAMS. DO NOT VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE BECAUSE THEY ARE OF COLOR OR A WOMAN FOR GOODNESS SAKE!
We are seeing Elizabeth Warren marketed like nothing else yet she has openly stated she is a neo-liberal....she supports global markets. Now, you will not tame global corporations and be rid of corporate rule with global markets so Warren looks to be an Obama in woman's clothing.
The worst thing that Bill and Hillary did was to end Welfare just as they planned to build global corporations taking jobs from the US and leaving high unemployment and low wages! THEY ARE THE TWO MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAS BEEN THE DISMANTLING OF ALL GAINS FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN POVERTY!
As Marketplace/NPR stated loudly and strongly....this recovery for mainstreet has over 70% of jobs coming back as part time and almost all in hotel, restaurant, low-end health care.....all poverty jobs. They also acknowledged that it is women who are taking most of these jobs and people of color still largely unemployed. The War on Poverty and New Deal were responsible for bringing just these demographics into the middle-class as well as working class white men. When neo-liberals starting with Bill and Hillary Clinton ended Welfare and broke Glass Steagall they did it knowing we would have global corporations and corporate rule that would seek to end New Deal and War on Poverty----which is what is happening. Obama is a neo-liberal moving that goal forward.
STOP ALLOWING A NEO-LIBERAL DNC CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATES! IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THE CANDIDATE IS BLACK, BROWN, OR A WOMAN....THEY NEED TO BE LABOR AND JUSTICE!
Why are all the job growth industries low-wage? The NEW ECONOMY means global corporations sending workers as immigrant labor all over the world. We will all be traveling somewhere to work and staying in hotels and eating at restaurants while doing it. THIS IS WHAT DISCONNECTS FAMILIES, WORKPLACE, AND POWER FOR CITIZENS AND THESE 1% KNOW THAT. This is why labor and justice must FIGHT THE TPP and entrenchment of global policy. They should not be trying to 'get along' because we will lose!
5 Industries with the Fastest Job Growth
by Lexie Forman-Ortiz
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 195,000 jobs were added to the workforce in June 2013. Jobseekers can increase their chances of getting a job by looking in the industries with the most job growth. These 5 industries have created the most over the past month:
5. The financial services industry added 17,000 jobs last month.
Insurance agencies are looking for remarkable talent while banks and financial istitutions are adding more and more jobs everyday in a variety of positions like relationship management or loan officers.
4. Health care added 20,000 jobs to workforce in June.
This field is not limited to doctors and nurses but also ambulatory care, pharmacists, anyone promoting good health among the people.
3. The retail trade industry added 37,000 jobs last month. The wholesale trade industry continued with upward growth adding over 11,000 jobs, while most other new positions fell in the auto and building-goods sectors.
This is an indication people are shopping and someone needs to be providing the goods. Join the auto industry or look into exciting retail opportunities.
2. Employment in professional and business services rose by 53,000 in June. Over the past year this field has added over 600,000 jobs!
This industry has jobs that range far and wide from management positions, ranging from technical services to computer systems and everything in between.
1. The leisure and hospitality industry added 75,000 jobs in June and monthly job growth in this industry has averaged 55,000 so far in 2013 doubling last year’s growth.
If you’re a people person maybe you have a future in this line of work? Think jobs like front-desk supervisor at great hotel or maybe you’ve always had a passion for food and becoming a chef has always been something on your radar.
The American labor market performed strongly in June 2013. While ADP reports numbers slightly different numbers than the BLS (188,000 jobs added in the month of June and a 39% increase since May) both sources show positive workforce trends. In addition to which industries are creating the most jobs, also check out the cities with the most job growth. Knowing what is in demand is half the battle.
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When you hear neo-liberals pretending to be all about families and the middle-class baby boomers know they are ignoring the fact that we have been there and done that. New Deal and War on Poverty programs did just that,.,..lifted women, children, and people of color out of poverty and into the middle-class. Neo-liberals starting with Bill and Hillary Clinton declared war on the War on Poverty and New Deal and ended all the progress made. The Clintons ended Welfare at the same time they broke Glass Steagall and deregulated banks and entered free trade agreements to make global corporations and wealth inequity. THIS IS WHAT KILLED ALL OF NEW DEAL AND WAR ON POVERTY GAINS! So, when Obama or Hillary ....O'Malley or Rawlings-Blake use the mantra of families and jobs....
THEY ARE PEDDLING POVERTY AND EXPLOITATION AS WORKER AND JUSTICE PROTECTIONS ARE DISMANTLED!
The Straight Facts on Women in Poverty
SOURCE: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast
Michelle Ramirez picks her children up from day care; the single mother of two is struggling to make ends meet on her receptionists salary as day care and medical costs rise.
By Alexandra Cawthorne | October 8, 2008
Download the brief (pdf)
Women in America are more likely to be poor than men. Over half of the 37 million Americans living in poverty today are women. And women in America are further behind than women in other countries—the gap in poverty rates between men and women is wider in America than anywhere else in the Western world. Consider the following facts:
Poverty rates are higher for women than men. In 2007,13.8 percent of females were poor compared to 11.1 percent of men.
Women are poorer than men in all racial and ethnic groups. Recent data shows that 26.5 percent of African American women are poor compared to 22.3 percent of African American men; 23.6 percent of Hispanic women are poor compared to 19.6 percent of Hispanic men; 10.7 percent of Asian women are poor compared to 9.7 percent of Asian men; and 11.6 percent of white women are poor compared to 9.4 percent of white men.
Black and Latina women face particularly high rates of poverty. Over a quarter of black women and nearly a quarter of Latina women are poor. Black and Latina women are at least twice as likely as white women to be living in poverty.
Only a quarter of all adult women (age 18 and older) with incomes below the poverty line are single mothers. Over half of all poor adult women--54 percent—are single with no dependent children.
Elderly women are far more likely to be poor than elderly men. Thirteen percent of women over 75 years old are poor compared to 6 percent of men.
Poverty rates for males and females are the same throughout childhood, but increase for women during their childbearing years and again in old age. The poverty gap between women and men widens significantly between ages 18 and 24--20.6 percent of women are poor at that age, compared to 14.0 percent of men. The gap narrows, but never closes, throughout adult life, and it more than doubles during the elderly years.
Why Are More Women Living in Poverty? Women face a much greater risk of poverty for a number of inter-related reasons, including:
Women are paid less than men, even when they have the same qualifications and work the same hours. Women who work full time earn only 77 percent of what men make—a 22 percent gap in average annual wages. Discrimination, not lack of training or education, is largely the cause of the wage gap. Even with the same qualifications, women earn less than men. In 2007, full time, year round female workers aged 25 to 32 with a bachelor’s degree were paid 14 percent less than men.
A woman works as a waitress at a diner. Women are often tracked into “pink-collar” jobs that typically pay less than jobs in industries that are male-dominated.
Women are segregated into low paying occupations, and occupations dominated by women are low paid. Women are tracked into “pink-collar” jobs such as teaching, child care, nursing, cleaning, and waitressing, which typically pay less than jobs in industries that are male-dominated. In 2007, nearly half—43 percent—of the 29.6 million employed women in the United States were clustered in just 20 occupational categories, of which the average annual median earnings were $27,383.[1]
Women spend more time providing unpaid caregiving than men. Women are more likely than men to care for children and elderly or disabled family members. One study found that 69 percent of unpaid caregivers to older adults in the home are women. Because combining unpaid caregiving with paid work can be challenging, women are more likely to work part time or take time out of the workforce to care for family. Twenty-three percent of mothers are out of the workforce compared to just 1 percent of fathers.
Women are more likely to bear the costs of raising children. When parents are not living together, women are more likely to take on the economic costs of raising children. Eight in ten custodial parents are women, and custodial mothers are twice as likely to be poor as custodial fathers.
Pregnancy affects women’s work and educational opportunities more than men’s. The economic costs associated with pregnancy are more significant for women than for men. Unplanned and mistimed pregnancies in particular can result in the termination of education and keep women from getting and sustaining solid employment.
Domestic and sexual violence can push women into a cycle of poverty. Experiencing domestic or sexual violence can lead to job loss, poor health, and homelessness. It is estimated that victims of intimate partner violence collectively lose almost 8 million days of paid work each year because of the violence perpetrated against them by current or former husbands, boyfriends, or dates. Half of the cities surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors identified domestic violence as a primary cause of homelessness.
What can we do? The poverty gap between men and women is not inevitable. The gender wage gap has narrowed over the past 30 years as women have gained greater access to education, the labor market, and better paid jobs. Ending women’s poverty and providing better economic opportunities for all women will require specific policy actions to ensure that:
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As people know one of the brutal facts about poverty is the abuse that comes with desperation. We know that across the US it was found that police departments ignored DNA testing for rape for decades and we know that women today are facing ever increasing violence and abuse as social safety nets are being dismantled. This is happening because neo-liberals have control of the democratic party and are working as hard as republicans to end War on Poverty and New Deal programs. When you ignore massive corporate fraud and cut spending that primarily hits these programs....those pols are knowingly placing women and children at the greatest risk.
STOP ALLOWING A NEO-LIBERAL DNC CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATES...RUN AND VOTE FOR LABOR AND JUSTICE!
DISMANTLING SOCIAL SAFETY NETS TO PROTECT MASSIVE CORPORATE FRAUD IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE!
Rape of WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN America
F A C T S * A B O U T * V I O L E N C E
U.S. Statistics / Global / Links to Statistics
U.S. STATISTICS
Fact #1: 17.6 % of women in the United States have survived a completed or attempted rape. Of these, 21.6% were younger than age 12 when they were first raped, and 32.4% were between the ages of 12 and 17. (Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)
Fact #2: 64% of women who reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked since age 18 were victimized by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, boyfriend, or date. (Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)
Fact #3: Only about half of domestic violence incidents are reported to police. African-American women are more likely than others to report their victimization to police Lawrence A. Greenfeld et al. (1998). (Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends. Bureau of Justice Statistics Factbook. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Justice. NCJ #167237. Available from National Criminal Justice Reference Service.)
Fact #4: The FBI estimates that only 37% of all rapes are reported to the police. U.S. Justice Department statistics are even lower, with only 26% of all rapes or attempted rapes being reported to law enforcement officials.
Fact #5: In the National Violence Against Women Survey, approximately 25% of women and 8% of men said they were raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or date in their lifetimes. The survey estimates that more than 300,000 intimate partner rapes occur each year against women 18 and older. (Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)
Fact #6: The National College Women Sexual Victimization Study estimated that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 college women experience completed or attempted rape during their college years (Fisher 2000).
Fact #7: Men perpetrate the majority of violent acts against women (DeLahunta 1997).
Fact #8: Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted. (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) calculation based on 2000 National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice)
Fact #9: One out of every six American women have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. (Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women Survey, National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998)
Fact #10: Factoring in unreported rapes, about 5% - one out of twenty - of rapists will ever spend a day in jail. 19 out of 20 will walk free. (Probability statistics based on US Department of Justice Statistics)
Fact #11: Fewer than half (48%) of all rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police (DOJ 2001).
Fact #12: Sexual violence is associated with a host of short- and long-term problems, including physical injury and illness, psychological symptoms, economic costs, and death (National Research Council 1996).
Fact #13: Rape victims often experience anxiety, guilt, nervousness, phobias, substance abuse, sleep disturbances, depression, alienation, sexual dysfunction, and aggression. They often distrust others and replay the assault in their minds, and they are at increased risk of future victimization (DeLahunta 1997).
Fact #14: According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, more than 260,000 rapes or sexual assaults occurred in 2000; 246,180 of them occurred among females and 14,770, among males (Department of Justice 2001).
Fact #15: Sexual violence victims exhibit a variety of psychological symptoms that are similar to those of victims of other types of trauma, such as war and natural disaster (National Research Council 1996). A number of long-lasting symptoms and illnesses have been associated with sexual victimization including chronic pelvic pain; premenstrual syndrome; gastrointestinal disorders; and a variety of chronic pain disorders, including headache, back pain, and facial pain (Koss 1992).Between 4% and 30% of rape victims contract sexually transmitted diseases as a result of the victimization (Resnick 1997).
Fact #16: More than half of all rapes of women occur before age 18; 22% occur before age 12. (Full Report of the Prevalance, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)
Fact #17: In 2000, nearly 88,000 children in the United States experienced sexual abuse (ACF 2002).
Fact #18: About 81% of rape victims are white; 18% are black; 1% are of other races. (Violence Against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994.)
Fact #19: About half of all rape victims are in the lowest third of income distribution; half are in the upper two-thirds. (Violence against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994.)
Fact #20: According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS), a national survey of high school students, 7.7% of students had been forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to. Female students (10%) were significantly more likely than male students (5%) to have been forced to have sexual intercourse. Overall, black students (10%) were significantly more likely than white students (7%) to have been forced to have sexual intercourse (CDC 2002).
Fact #21: Females ages 12 to 24 are at the greatest risk for experiencing a rape or sexual assault (DOJ 2001).
Fact #22: Almost two-thirds of all rapes are committed by someone who is known to the victim. 73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger (— 38% of perpetrators were a friend or acquaintance of the victim, 28% were an intimate and 7% were another relative.) (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2005)
Fact #23: The costs of intimate partner violence against women exceed an estimated $5.8 billion. These costs include nearly $4.1 billion in the direct costs of medical care and mental health care and nearly $1.8 billion in the indirect costs of lost productivity and present value of lifetime earnings. (Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2003).
Fact #24: Domestic violence occurs in approximately 25-33% of same-sex relationships. (NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, October 1996.)
Fact #25: Boys who witness their fathers' violence are 10 times more likely to engage in spouse abuse in later adulthood than boys from non-violent homes. (Family Violence Interventions for the Justice System, 1993)
Fact #26: An estimated 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States annually for sexual exploitation or forced labor. (U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 2000)
Fact #27: Somewhere in America a woman is battered, usually by her intimate partner, every 15 seconds. (UN Study On The Status of Women, Year 2000)
Fact #28: A University of Pennsylvania research study found that domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to low-income, inner-city Philadelphia women between the ages of 15 to 44 - more common than automobile accidents, mugging and rapes combined. In this study domestic violence included injuries caused by street crime.
Fact #29: Following the Supreme Court's decision in 2000 to strike down the civil-rights provision of the Federal Violence Against Women Act (ruling that only states could enact such legislation), only two states in the country (Illinois and California) have defined gender-based violence, such as rape and domestic violence, as sex discrimination, and created specific laws that survivors can use to sue their perpetrators in civil court. (Kaethe Morris Hoffer, 2004).
Fact #30: A study reported in the New York Times suggests that one in five adolescent girls become the victims of physical or sexual violence, or both, in a dating relationship.
(New York Times, 8/01/01)
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Child and Women Sex Trafficking Fastest Growing Crime - In America
By Derek Armstrong
In any month several news stories appear announcing yet another sentence in sex trafficking of a child. Not so often reported are the thousands of "unsolved" cases involving the fastest growing crime in America--human trafficking. Tasks forces such as Operation Guardian Angel, a unique undercover law enforcement investigation targeting the demand for child prostitutes, helps bring many to justice.
Too Many Cases
Some all-too common examples of recent stories:
Staggering Numbers of VictimsThe numbers are staggering, even if they are hard to come by, given the "underground" nature of the crime. UNESCO's Trafficking Statistics Project described the issue: "When it comes to statistics, trafficking of girls and women is one of several highly emotive issues which seem to overwhelm critical faculties. Numbers take on a life of their own, gaining acceptance through repetition, often with little inquiry into their derivations."
UNICEF estimated the worldwide victims in women and children at 1.75 million, while the FBI is more modest in a 2001 estimate of 700,000 victims. Most widely quoted in various media reports is 1.2 million women and children, which is somewhere between these two extremes.
14,500 to 17,500 Trafficked Into USA Each Year
While the most often quoted number of "human trafficking victims" is 300,000 total in the USA, what is known more certainly is that the number of victims trafficked into the United States each year is 14,500 to 17,500 according to US State Department statistics (2005).
The average age of human trafficking exploitation in America is pegged at 12 to 14 for girls and 11 to 13 for boys. Internationally, the crime trends younger, with 12 year old child prostitutes considered "too old" in countries like Cambodia.
Abroad the issue might be appear to be worse-in Thailand, for example, at least 60% of child prostitutes were found to have HIV-yet of the 1.2 million estimated victims around the world, a disproportionate percentage are assumed to be American-based crimes.
Revenues generated from this horrifying crime is estimated at $9.5 billion dollars. The costs of doing "business" is ruined lives, children abused, and long-term damage done to the millions of victims. According to the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), "A study of 207 women trafficked into prostitution in Europe found that the vast majority (95 percent) suffered physical and sexual abuse..." (Zimmerman et al 2006).
Human Trafficking in the USA
US Department of Justice estimated 200,000 American children were "at risk for trafficking into the sex industry" according to Attorney General John Ashcroftt in 2003. Most of these victims come from East Asia, estimated at about 7,000 victims by the Department of Justice, with up to 5,500 victims coming from by Europe and Latin America. Unlike many countries, the USA is proactive in combating the second fastest growing crime, hampered by the difficulty of prosecution.
Difficult to Prosecute
Human trafficking is often difficult to prosecute. According to Dorchen Leidholdt, Director for Families Center for Bettered Women's Legal Services, "Sex trafficking victims are often put into situations in which their very survival is contingent on their outward compliance with their traffickers' demands. Victims not infrequently have to pose smilingly for pornographic pictures, dance with customers, sign prostitution contracts, and even marry their traffickers, all of which is later used by defense counsel to prove that the victims were "willing prostitutes," not trafficking victims. If all that was required was to show proof of sex trafficking itself, not force, fraud, or coercion, such evidence would either be stricken as irrelevant or deemed probative of sex trafficking." Prosecutors are forced to prove coercion or force, often difficult with unwilling victims who are frightened they might themselves be charged.
Definition
The most common "definition" of human trafficking is less sensational than the crimes they actually attempt to depict. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) of 2000 describes the crime: "is the recruitment, smuggling,transporting, harboring, buying or selling of a human through force, threats, fraud, deception, or coercion for the purposes of exploitation i.e., prostitution, pornography, migrant work, sweat shops, domestic servitude, forced labor, bondage, peonage, or involuntary servitude."
Derek Armstrong is a journalist contributor to several TV news shows, magazines and newspapers. He has appeared as a reporter on HNN's Nancy Grace, the Larry King Show, MSNBC News, FOX News, Inside Edition, NBC's Dateline and the Dr. Phil Show. Armstrong is currently chief crime correspondent for Crime Report USA, and contributes to Films & Books Magazine, Advance Magazine, Canadian Money Magazine, Secure Net News, LINK World News Magazine, and EDI Weekly. Derek Armstrong is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).
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We are seeing an explosion in sex trafficing of women in America. First and foremost it is cause by the suspension of Rule of Law and dismantling of public justice systems....the same thing that has allowed tens of trillions of dollars to be sucked from our economy by corporate fraud. THAT MONEY WOULD BE SUPPORTING ALL PUBLIC JUSTICE/SOCIAL JUSTICE AGENCIES AND PROGRAMS! Neo-liberals like Obama and O'Malley are doing this! The next factor is the ever increasing immigrant population that creates a sub-culture with no rights. When your neo-liberal welcomes immigrants to the state and then offers them no protection from exploitation....they are working for wealth and profit. What has happened is natural...men brought to America for work need female companionship. This is what created the massive movement by gangs and cartels of women to America through these sex trafficing networks. As that was happening, the poor in America looking for a way to survive now see drugs sales expanding to prostitution, and then of course sex trafficing. When Bill and Hillary Clinton ended Welfare at the same time they created the 'moving jobs overseas' policies....free trade agreements with no protections for people...America now looks like Eastern Europe with depravity brought from extreme poverty.
Child and Women Sex Trafficking Fastest Growing Crime - In America
By Derek Armstrong
In any month several news stories appear announcing yet another sentence in sex trafficking of a child. Not so often reported are the thousands of "unsolved" cases involving the fastest growing crime in America--human trafficking. Tasks forces such as Operation Guardian Angel, a unique undercover law enforcement investigation targeting the demand for child prostitutes, helps bring many to justice.
Too Many Cases
Some all-too common examples of recent stories:
Staggering Numbers of VictimsThe numbers are staggering, even if they are hard to come by, given the "underground" nature of the crime. UNESCO's Trafficking Statistics Project described the issue: "When it comes to statistics, trafficking of girls and women is one of several highly emotive issues which seem to overwhelm critical faculties. Numbers take on a life of their own, gaining acceptance through repetition, often with little inquiry into their derivations."
UNICEF estimated the worldwide victims in women and children at 1.75 million, while the FBI is more modest in a 2001 estimate of 700,000 victims. Most widely quoted in various media reports is 1.2 million women and children, which is somewhere between these two extremes.
14,500 to 17,500 Trafficked Into USA Each Year
While the most often quoted number of "human trafficking victims" is 300,000 total in the USA, what is known more certainly is that the number of victims trafficked into the United States each year is 14,500 to 17,500 according to US State Department statistics (2005).
The average age of human trafficking exploitation in America is pegged at 12 to 14 for girls and 11 to 13 for boys. Internationally, the crime trends younger, with 12 year old child prostitutes considered "too old" in countries like Cambodia.
Abroad the issue might be appear to be worse-in Thailand, for example, at least 60% of child prostitutes were found to have HIV-yet of the 1.2 million estimated victims around the world, a disproportionate percentage are assumed to be American-based crimes.
Revenues generated from this horrifying crime is estimated at $9.5 billion dollars. The costs of doing "business" is ruined lives, children abused, and long-term damage done to the millions of victims. According to the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), "A study of 207 women trafficked into prostitution in Europe found that the vast majority (95 percent) suffered physical and sexual abuse..." (Zimmerman et al 2006).
Human Trafficking in the USA
US Department of Justice estimated 200,000 American children were "at risk for trafficking into the sex industry" according to Attorney General John Ashcroftt in 2003. Most of these victims come from East Asia, estimated at about 7,000 victims by the Department of Justice, with up to 5,500 victims coming from by Europe and Latin America. Unlike many countries, the USA is proactive in combating the second fastest growing crime, hampered by the difficulty of prosecution.
Difficult to Prosecute
Human trafficking is often difficult to prosecute. According to Dorchen Leidholdt, Director for Families Center for Bettered Women's Legal Services, "Sex trafficking victims are often put into situations in which their very survival is contingent on their outward compliance with their traffickers' demands. Victims not infrequently have to pose smilingly for pornographic pictures, dance with customers, sign prostitution contracts, and even marry their traffickers, all of which is later used by defense counsel to prove that the victims were "willing prostitutes," not trafficking victims. If all that was required was to show proof of sex trafficking itself, not force, fraud, or coercion, such evidence would either be stricken as irrelevant or deemed probative of sex trafficking." Prosecutors are forced to prove coercion or force, often difficult with unwilling victims who are frightened they might themselves be charged.
Definition
The most common "definition" of human trafficking is less sensational than the crimes they actually attempt to depict. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) of 2000 describes the crime: "is the recruitment, smuggling,transporting, harboring, buying or selling of a human through force, threats, fraud, deception, or coercion for the purposes of exploitation i.e., prostitution, pornography, migrant work, sweat shops, domestic servitude, forced labor, bondage, peonage, or involuntary servitude."
Derek Armstrong is a journalist contributor to several TV news shows, magazines and newspapers. He has appeared as a reporter on HNN's Nancy Grace, the Larry King Show, MSNBC News, FOX News, Inside Edition, NBC's Dateline and the Dr. Phil Show. Armstrong is currently chief crime correspondent for Crime Report USA, and contributes to Films & Books Magazine, Advance Magazine, Canadian Money Magazine, Secure Net News, LINK World News Magazine, and EDI Weekly. Derek Armstrong is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).
We are seeing Elizabeth Warren marketed like nothing else yet she has openly stated she is a neo-liberal....she supports global markets. Now, you will not tame global corporations and be rid of corporate rule with global markets so Warren looks to be an Obama in woman's clothing.
The worst thing that Bill and Hillary did was to end Welfare just as they planned to build global corporations taking jobs from the US and leaving high unemployment and low wages! THEY ARE THE TWO MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAS BEEN THE DISMANTLING OF ALL GAINS FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN POVERTY!
As Marketplace/NPR stated loudly and strongly....this recovery for mainstreet has over 70% of jobs coming back as part time and almost all in hotel, restaurant, low-end health care.....all poverty jobs. They also acknowledged that it is women who are taking most of these jobs and people of color still largely unemployed. The War on Poverty and New Deal were responsible for bringing just these demographics into the middle-class as well as working class white men. When neo-liberals starting with Bill and Hillary Clinton ended Welfare and broke Glass Steagall they did it knowing we would have global corporations and corporate rule that would seek to end New Deal and War on Poverty----which is what is happening. Obama is a neo-liberal moving that goal forward.
STOP ALLOWING A NEO-LIBERAL DNC CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATES! IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THE CANDIDATE IS BLACK, BROWN, OR A WOMAN....THEY NEED TO BE LABOR AND JUSTICE!
Why are all the job growth industries low-wage? The NEW ECONOMY means global corporations sending workers as immigrant labor all over the world. We will all be traveling somewhere to work and staying in hotels and eating at restaurants while doing it. THIS IS WHAT DISCONNECTS FAMILIES, WORKPLACE, AND POWER FOR CITIZENS AND THESE 1% KNOW THAT. This is why labor and justice must FIGHT THE TPP and entrenchment of global policy. They should not be trying to 'get along' because we will lose!
5 Industries with the Fastest Job Growth
by Lexie Forman-Ortiz
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 195,000 jobs were added to the workforce in June 2013. Jobseekers can increase their chances of getting a job by looking in the industries with the most job growth. These 5 industries have created the most over the past month:
5. The financial services industry added 17,000 jobs last month.
Insurance agencies are looking for remarkable talent while banks and financial istitutions are adding more and more jobs everyday in a variety of positions like relationship management or loan officers.
4. Health care added 20,000 jobs to workforce in June.
This field is not limited to doctors and nurses but also ambulatory care, pharmacists, anyone promoting good health among the people.
3. The retail trade industry added 37,000 jobs last month. The wholesale trade industry continued with upward growth adding over 11,000 jobs, while most other new positions fell in the auto and building-goods sectors.
This is an indication people are shopping and someone needs to be providing the goods. Join the auto industry or look into exciting retail opportunities.
2. Employment in professional and business services rose by 53,000 in June. Over the past year this field has added over 600,000 jobs!
This industry has jobs that range far and wide from management positions, ranging from technical services to computer systems and everything in between.
1. The leisure and hospitality industry added 75,000 jobs in June and monthly job growth in this industry has averaged 55,000 so far in 2013 doubling last year’s growth.
If you’re a people person maybe you have a future in this line of work? Think jobs like front-desk supervisor at great hotel or maybe you’ve always had a passion for food and becoming a chef has always been something on your radar.
The American labor market performed strongly in June 2013. While ADP reports numbers slightly different numbers than the BLS (188,000 jobs added in the month of June and a 39% increase since May) both sources show positive workforce trends. In addition to which industries are creating the most jobs, also check out the cities with the most job growth. Knowing what is in demand is half the battle.
______________________________________________
When you hear neo-liberals pretending to be all about families and the middle-class baby boomers know they are ignoring the fact that we have been there and done that. New Deal and War on Poverty programs did just that,.,..lifted women, children, and people of color out of poverty and into the middle-class. Neo-liberals starting with Bill and Hillary Clinton declared war on the War on Poverty and New Deal and ended all the progress made. The Clintons ended Welfare at the same time they broke Glass Steagall and deregulated banks and entered free trade agreements to make global corporations and wealth inequity. THIS IS WHAT KILLED ALL OF NEW DEAL AND WAR ON POVERTY GAINS! So, when Obama or Hillary ....O'Malley or Rawlings-Blake use the mantra of families and jobs....
THEY ARE PEDDLING POVERTY AND EXPLOITATION AS WORKER AND JUSTICE PROTECTIONS ARE DISMANTLED!
The Straight Facts on Women in Poverty
SOURCE: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast
Michelle Ramirez picks her children up from day care; the single mother of two is struggling to make ends meet on her receptionists salary as day care and medical costs rise.
By Alexandra Cawthorne | October 8, 2008
Download the brief (pdf)
Women in America are more likely to be poor than men. Over half of the 37 million Americans living in poverty today are women. And women in America are further behind than women in other countries—the gap in poverty rates between men and women is wider in America than anywhere else in the Western world. Consider the following facts:
Poverty rates are higher for women than men. In 2007,13.8 percent of females were poor compared to 11.1 percent of men.
Women are poorer than men in all racial and ethnic groups. Recent data shows that 26.5 percent of African American women are poor compared to 22.3 percent of African American men; 23.6 percent of Hispanic women are poor compared to 19.6 percent of Hispanic men; 10.7 percent of Asian women are poor compared to 9.7 percent of Asian men; and 11.6 percent of white women are poor compared to 9.4 percent of white men.
Black and Latina women face particularly high rates of poverty. Over a quarter of black women and nearly a quarter of Latina women are poor. Black and Latina women are at least twice as likely as white women to be living in poverty.
Only a quarter of all adult women (age 18 and older) with incomes below the poverty line are single mothers. Over half of all poor adult women--54 percent—are single with no dependent children.
Elderly women are far more likely to be poor than elderly men. Thirteen percent of women over 75 years old are poor compared to 6 percent of men.
Poverty rates for males and females are the same throughout childhood, but increase for women during their childbearing years and again in old age. The poverty gap between women and men widens significantly between ages 18 and 24--20.6 percent of women are poor at that age, compared to 14.0 percent of men. The gap narrows, but never closes, throughout adult life, and it more than doubles during the elderly years.
Why Are More Women Living in Poverty? Women face a much greater risk of poverty for a number of inter-related reasons, including:
Women are paid less than men, even when they have the same qualifications and work the same hours. Women who work full time earn only 77 percent of what men make—a 22 percent gap in average annual wages. Discrimination, not lack of training or education, is largely the cause of the wage gap. Even with the same qualifications, women earn less than men. In 2007, full time, year round female workers aged 25 to 32 with a bachelor’s degree were paid 14 percent less than men.
A woman works as a waitress at a diner. Women are often tracked into “pink-collar” jobs that typically pay less than jobs in industries that are male-dominated.
Women are segregated into low paying occupations, and occupations dominated by women are low paid. Women are tracked into “pink-collar” jobs such as teaching, child care, nursing, cleaning, and waitressing, which typically pay less than jobs in industries that are male-dominated. In 2007, nearly half—43 percent—of the 29.6 million employed women in the United States were clustered in just 20 occupational categories, of which the average annual median earnings were $27,383.[1]
Women spend more time providing unpaid caregiving than men. Women are more likely than men to care for children and elderly or disabled family members. One study found that 69 percent of unpaid caregivers to older adults in the home are women. Because combining unpaid caregiving with paid work can be challenging, women are more likely to work part time or take time out of the workforce to care for family. Twenty-three percent of mothers are out of the workforce compared to just 1 percent of fathers.
Women are more likely to bear the costs of raising children. When parents are not living together, women are more likely to take on the economic costs of raising children. Eight in ten custodial parents are women, and custodial mothers are twice as likely to be poor as custodial fathers.
Pregnancy affects women’s work and educational opportunities more than men’s. The economic costs associated with pregnancy are more significant for women than for men. Unplanned and mistimed pregnancies in particular can result in the termination of education and keep women from getting and sustaining solid employment.
Domestic and sexual violence can push women into a cycle of poverty. Experiencing domestic or sexual violence can lead to job loss, poor health, and homelessness. It is estimated that victims of intimate partner violence collectively lose almost 8 million days of paid work each year because of the violence perpetrated against them by current or former husbands, boyfriends, or dates. Half of the cities surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors identified domestic violence as a primary cause of homelessness.
What can we do? The poverty gap between men and women is not inevitable. The gender wage gap has narrowed over the past 30 years as women have gained greater access to education, the labor market, and better paid jobs. Ending women’s poverty and providing better economic opportunities for all women will require specific policy actions to ensure that:
- Women receive the pay they deserve and equal work conditions
- Women have access to higher-paying jobs
- Women in the workforce have affordable child and elder care, as well as access to quality flexible work and paid family leave
- Women receive the support they need through expanded tax credits to help meet the costs of raising their families
- Women receive the contraceptive services they need so that they can plan their families
- Women receive the support and protection they need to leave violent situations while maintaining job and housing stability
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As people know one of the brutal facts about poverty is the abuse that comes with desperation. We know that across the US it was found that police departments ignored DNA testing for rape for decades and we know that women today are facing ever increasing violence and abuse as social safety nets are being dismantled. This is happening because neo-liberals have control of the democratic party and are working as hard as republicans to end War on Poverty and New Deal programs. When you ignore massive corporate fraud and cut spending that primarily hits these programs....those pols are knowingly placing women and children at the greatest risk.
STOP ALLOWING A NEO-LIBERAL DNC CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATES...RUN AND VOTE FOR LABOR AND JUSTICE!
DISMANTLING SOCIAL SAFETY NETS TO PROTECT MASSIVE CORPORATE FRAUD IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE!
Rape of WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN America
F A C T S * A B O U T * V I O L E N C E
U.S. Statistics / Global / Links to Statistics
U.S. STATISTICS
Fact #1: 17.6 % of women in the United States have survived a completed or attempted rape. Of these, 21.6% were younger than age 12 when they were first raped, and 32.4% were between the ages of 12 and 17. (Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)
Fact #2: 64% of women who reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked since age 18 were victimized by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, boyfriend, or date. (Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)
Fact #3: Only about half of domestic violence incidents are reported to police. African-American women are more likely than others to report their victimization to police Lawrence A. Greenfeld et al. (1998). (Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends. Bureau of Justice Statistics Factbook. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Justice. NCJ #167237. Available from National Criminal Justice Reference Service.)
Fact #4: The FBI estimates that only 37% of all rapes are reported to the police. U.S. Justice Department statistics are even lower, with only 26% of all rapes or attempted rapes being reported to law enforcement officials.
Fact #5: In the National Violence Against Women Survey, approximately 25% of women and 8% of men said they were raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or date in their lifetimes. The survey estimates that more than 300,000 intimate partner rapes occur each year against women 18 and older. (Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)
Fact #6: The National College Women Sexual Victimization Study estimated that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 college women experience completed or attempted rape during their college years (Fisher 2000).
Fact #7: Men perpetrate the majority of violent acts against women (DeLahunta 1997).
Fact #8: Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted. (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) calculation based on 2000 National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice)
Fact #9: One out of every six American women have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. (Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women Survey, National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998)
Fact #10: Factoring in unreported rapes, about 5% - one out of twenty - of rapists will ever spend a day in jail. 19 out of 20 will walk free. (Probability statistics based on US Department of Justice Statistics)
Fact #11: Fewer than half (48%) of all rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police (DOJ 2001).
Fact #12: Sexual violence is associated with a host of short- and long-term problems, including physical injury and illness, psychological symptoms, economic costs, and death (National Research Council 1996).
Fact #13: Rape victims often experience anxiety, guilt, nervousness, phobias, substance abuse, sleep disturbances, depression, alienation, sexual dysfunction, and aggression. They often distrust others and replay the assault in their minds, and they are at increased risk of future victimization (DeLahunta 1997).
Fact #14: According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, more than 260,000 rapes or sexual assaults occurred in 2000; 246,180 of them occurred among females and 14,770, among males (Department of Justice 2001).
Fact #15: Sexual violence victims exhibit a variety of psychological symptoms that are similar to those of victims of other types of trauma, such as war and natural disaster (National Research Council 1996). A number of long-lasting symptoms and illnesses have been associated with sexual victimization including chronic pelvic pain; premenstrual syndrome; gastrointestinal disorders; and a variety of chronic pain disorders, including headache, back pain, and facial pain (Koss 1992).Between 4% and 30% of rape victims contract sexually transmitted diseases as a result of the victimization (Resnick 1997).
Fact #16: More than half of all rapes of women occur before age 18; 22% occur before age 12. (Full Report of the Prevalance, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)
Fact #17: In 2000, nearly 88,000 children in the United States experienced sexual abuse (ACF 2002).
Fact #18: About 81% of rape victims are white; 18% are black; 1% are of other races. (Violence Against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994.)
Fact #19: About half of all rape victims are in the lowest third of income distribution; half are in the upper two-thirds. (Violence against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994.)
Fact #20: According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS), a national survey of high school students, 7.7% of students had been forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to. Female students (10%) were significantly more likely than male students (5%) to have been forced to have sexual intercourse. Overall, black students (10%) were significantly more likely than white students (7%) to have been forced to have sexual intercourse (CDC 2002).
Fact #21: Females ages 12 to 24 are at the greatest risk for experiencing a rape or sexual assault (DOJ 2001).
Fact #22: Almost two-thirds of all rapes are committed by someone who is known to the victim. 73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger (— 38% of perpetrators were a friend or acquaintance of the victim, 28% were an intimate and 7% were another relative.) (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2005)
Fact #23: The costs of intimate partner violence against women exceed an estimated $5.8 billion. These costs include nearly $4.1 billion in the direct costs of medical care and mental health care and nearly $1.8 billion in the indirect costs of lost productivity and present value of lifetime earnings. (Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2003).
Fact #24: Domestic violence occurs in approximately 25-33% of same-sex relationships. (NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, October 1996.)
Fact #25: Boys who witness their fathers' violence are 10 times more likely to engage in spouse abuse in later adulthood than boys from non-violent homes. (Family Violence Interventions for the Justice System, 1993)
Fact #26: An estimated 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States annually for sexual exploitation or forced labor. (U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 2000)
Fact #27: Somewhere in America a woman is battered, usually by her intimate partner, every 15 seconds. (UN Study On The Status of Women, Year 2000)
Fact #28: A University of Pennsylvania research study found that domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to low-income, inner-city Philadelphia women between the ages of 15 to 44 - more common than automobile accidents, mugging and rapes combined. In this study domestic violence included injuries caused by street crime.
Fact #29: Following the Supreme Court's decision in 2000 to strike down the civil-rights provision of the Federal Violence Against Women Act (ruling that only states could enact such legislation), only two states in the country (Illinois and California) have defined gender-based violence, such as rape and domestic violence, as sex discrimination, and created specific laws that survivors can use to sue their perpetrators in civil court. (Kaethe Morris Hoffer, 2004).
Fact #30: A study reported in the New York Times suggests that one in five adolescent girls become the victims of physical or sexual violence, or both, in a dating relationship.
(New York Times, 8/01/01)
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Child and Women Sex Trafficking Fastest Growing Crime - In America
By Derek Armstrong
In any month several news stories appear announcing yet another sentence in sex trafficking of a child. Not so often reported are the thousands of "unsolved" cases involving the fastest growing crime in America--human trafficking. Tasks forces such as Operation Guardian Angel, a unique undercover law enforcement investigation targeting the demand for child prostitutes, helps bring many to justice.
Too Many Cases
Some all-too common examples of recent stories:
- A young women was smuggled from Mexico to New York only to become a sex slave and prisoner, forced to into prostitution with up to fifteen clients per day. When her own child died because her captors refused to seek treatment, the victim was forced to hide her child's remains by her abusers. Charged were Domingo Salazar and his wife Norma Mendez.
- Antoinette Davis, charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse of her own child after surveillance film captured her accused accomplice Andrette McNeill, carrying Antoinette's own five-year-old daughter into a Sanford hotel, shortly before her body was found.
Staggering Numbers of VictimsThe numbers are staggering, even if they are hard to come by, given the "underground" nature of the crime. UNESCO's Trafficking Statistics Project described the issue: "When it comes to statistics, trafficking of girls and women is one of several highly emotive issues which seem to overwhelm critical faculties. Numbers take on a life of their own, gaining acceptance through repetition, often with little inquiry into their derivations."
UNICEF estimated the worldwide victims in women and children at 1.75 million, while the FBI is more modest in a 2001 estimate of 700,000 victims. Most widely quoted in various media reports is 1.2 million women and children, which is somewhere between these two extremes.
14,500 to 17,500 Trafficked Into USA Each Year
While the most often quoted number of "human trafficking victims" is 300,000 total in the USA, what is known more certainly is that the number of victims trafficked into the United States each year is 14,500 to 17,500 according to US State Department statistics (2005).
The average age of human trafficking exploitation in America is pegged at 12 to 14 for girls and 11 to 13 for boys. Internationally, the crime trends younger, with 12 year old child prostitutes considered "too old" in countries like Cambodia.
Abroad the issue might be appear to be worse-in Thailand, for example, at least 60% of child prostitutes were found to have HIV-yet of the 1.2 million estimated victims around the world, a disproportionate percentage are assumed to be American-based crimes.
Revenues generated from this horrifying crime is estimated at $9.5 billion dollars. The costs of doing "business" is ruined lives, children abused, and long-term damage done to the millions of victims. According to the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), "A study of 207 women trafficked into prostitution in Europe found that the vast majority (95 percent) suffered physical and sexual abuse..." (Zimmerman et al 2006).
Human Trafficking in the USA
US Department of Justice estimated 200,000 American children were "at risk for trafficking into the sex industry" according to Attorney General John Ashcroftt in 2003. Most of these victims come from East Asia, estimated at about 7,000 victims by the Department of Justice, with up to 5,500 victims coming from by Europe and Latin America. Unlike many countries, the USA is proactive in combating the second fastest growing crime, hampered by the difficulty of prosecution.
Difficult to Prosecute
Human trafficking is often difficult to prosecute. According to Dorchen Leidholdt, Director for Families Center for Bettered Women's Legal Services, "Sex trafficking victims are often put into situations in which their very survival is contingent on their outward compliance with their traffickers' demands. Victims not infrequently have to pose smilingly for pornographic pictures, dance with customers, sign prostitution contracts, and even marry their traffickers, all of which is later used by defense counsel to prove that the victims were "willing prostitutes," not trafficking victims. If all that was required was to show proof of sex trafficking itself, not force, fraud, or coercion, such evidence would either be stricken as irrelevant or deemed probative of sex trafficking." Prosecutors are forced to prove coercion or force, often difficult with unwilling victims who are frightened they might themselves be charged.
Definition
The most common "definition" of human trafficking is less sensational than the crimes they actually attempt to depict. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) of 2000 describes the crime: "is the recruitment, smuggling,transporting, harboring, buying or selling of a human through force, threats, fraud, deception, or coercion for the purposes of exploitation i.e., prostitution, pornography, migrant work, sweat shops, domestic servitude, forced labor, bondage, peonage, or involuntary servitude."
Derek Armstrong is a journalist contributor to several TV news shows, magazines and newspapers. He has appeared as a reporter on HNN's Nancy Grace, the Larry King Show, MSNBC News, FOX News, Inside Edition, NBC's Dateline and the Dr. Phil Show. Armstrong is currently chief crime correspondent for Crime Report USA, and contributes to Films & Books Magazine, Advance Magazine, Canadian Money Magazine, Secure Net News, LINK World News Magazine, and EDI Weekly. Derek Armstrong is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).
__________________________________________________
We are seeing an explosion in sex trafficing of women in America. First and foremost it is cause by the suspension of Rule of Law and dismantling of public justice systems....the same thing that has allowed tens of trillions of dollars to be sucked from our economy by corporate fraud. THAT MONEY WOULD BE SUPPORTING ALL PUBLIC JUSTICE/SOCIAL JUSTICE AGENCIES AND PROGRAMS! Neo-liberals like Obama and O'Malley are doing this! The next factor is the ever increasing immigrant population that creates a sub-culture with no rights. When your neo-liberal welcomes immigrants to the state and then offers them no protection from exploitation....they are working for wealth and profit. What has happened is natural...men brought to America for work need female companionship. This is what created the massive movement by gangs and cartels of women to America through these sex trafficing networks. As that was happening, the poor in America looking for a way to survive now see drugs sales expanding to prostitution, and then of course sex trafficing. When Bill and Hillary Clinton ended Welfare at the same time they created the 'moving jobs overseas' policies....free trade agreements with no protections for people...America now looks like Eastern Europe with depravity brought from extreme poverty.
Child and Women Sex Trafficking Fastest Growing Crime - In America
By Derek Armstrong
In any month several news stories appear announcing yet another sentence in sex trafficking of a child. Not so often reported are the thousands of "unsolved" cases involving the fastest growing crime in America--human trafficking. Tasks forces such as Operation Guardian Angel, a unique undercover law enforcement investigation targeting the demand for child prostitutes, helps bring many to justice.
Too Many Cases
Some all-too common examples of recent stories:
- A young women was smuggled from Mexico to New York only to become a sex slave and prisoner, forced to into prostitution with up to fifteen clients per day. When her own child died because her captors refused to seek treatment, the victim was forced to hide her child's remains by her abusers. Charged were Domingo Salazar and his wife Norma Mendez.
- Antoinette Davis, charged with human trafficking and felony child abuse of her own child after surveillance film captured her accused accomplice Andrette McNeill, carrying Antoinette's own five-year-old daughter into a Sanford hotel, shortly before her body was found.
Staggering Numbers of VictimsThe numbers are staggering, even if they are hard to come by, given the "underground" nature of the crime. UNESCO's Trafficking Statistics Project described the issue: "When it comes to statistics, trafficking of girls and women is one of several highly emotive issues which seem to overwhelm critical faculties. Numbers take on a life of their own, gaining acceptance through repetition, often with little inquiry into their derivations."
UNICEF estimated the worldwide victims in women and children at 1.75 million, while the FBI is more modest in a 2001 estimate of 700,000 victims. Most widely quoted in various media reports is 1.2 million women and children, which is somewhere between these two extremes.
14,500 to 17,500 Trafficked Into USA Each Year
While the most often quoted number of "human trafficking victims" is 300,000 total in the USA, what is known more certainly is that the number of victims trafficked into the United States each year is 14,500 to 17,500 according to US State Department statistics (2005).
The average age of human trafficking exploitation in America is pegged at 12 to 14 for girls and 11 to 13 for boys. Internationally, the crime trends younger, with 12 year old child prostitutes considered "too old" in countries like Cambodia.
Abroad the issue might be appear to be worse-in Thailand, for example, at least 60% of child prostitutes were found to have HIV-yet of the 1.2 million estimated victims around the world, a disproportionate percentage are assumed to be American-based crimes.
Revenues generated from this horrifying crime is estimated at $9.5 billion dollars. The costs of doing "business" is ruined lives, children abused, and long-term damage done to the millions of victims. According to the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), "A study of 207 women trafficked into prostitution in Europe found that the vast majority (95 percent) suffered physical and sexual abuse..." (Zimmerman et al 2006).
Human Trafficking in the USA
US Department of Justice estimated 200,000 American children were "at risk for trafficking into the sex industry" according to Attorney General John Ashcroftt in 2003. Most of these victims come from East Asia, estimated at about 7,000 victims by the Department of Justice, with up to 5,500 victims coming from by Europe and Latin America. Unlike many countries, the USA is proactive in combating the second fastest growing crime, hampered by the difficulty of prosecution.
Difficult to Prosecute
Human trafficking is often difficult to prosecute. According to Dorchen Leidholdt, Director for Families Center for Bettered Women's Legal Services, "Sex trafficking victims are often put into situations in which their very survival is contingent on their outward compliance with their traffickers' demands. Victims not infrequently have to pose smilingly for pornographic pictures, dance with customers, sign prostitution contracts, and even marry their traffickers, all of which is later used by defense counsel to prove that the victims were "willing prostitutes," not trafficking victims. If all that was required was to show proof of sex trafficking itself, not force, fraud, or coercion, such evidence would either be stricken as irrelevant or deemed probative of sex trafficking." Prosecutors are forced to prove coercion or force, often difficult with unwilling victims who are frightened they might themselves be charged.
Definition
The most common "definition" of human trafficking is less sensational than the crimes they actually attempt to depict. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) of 2000 describes the crime: "is the recruitment, smuggling,transporting, harboring, buying or selling of a human through force, threats, fraud, deception, or coercion for the purposes of exploitation i.e., prostitution, pornography, migrant work, sweat shops, domestic servitude, forced labor, bondage, peonage, or involuntary servitude."
Derek Armstrong is a journalist contributor to several TV news shows, magazines and newspapers. He has appeared as a reporter on HNN's Nancy Grace, the Larry King Show, MSNBC News, FOX News, Inside Edition, NBC's Dateline and the Dr. Phil Show. Armstrong is currently chief crime correspondent for Crime Report USA, and contributes to Films & Books Magazine, Advance Magazine, Canadian Money Magazine, Secure Net News, LINK World News Magazine, and EDI Weekly. Derek Armstrong is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).
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