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Y O U N G L A W Y E R S J O U R N A L
36
JANUARY 2017
CBA YOUNG
LAWYERS SECTION
Chair
Kathryn Carso Liss
The Law Offices of Jean Conde PC
First Vice-Chair
Jonathan B. Amarilio
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Second Vice-Chair
Brandon E. Peck
Peck Ritchey LLC
Member Service Manager
Shawna S. Boothe
Schiff Hardin LLP
Public Service Manager
Alexander M. Memmen
The Memmen Law Firm, LLC
Project Officer
Octavio Duran
Hart & David, LLP
Project Officer
Paraisia Winston Gray
Secretary/Treasurer
Carl M. Newman
City of Chicago
Department of Law
YLS Journal
Co-Editors in Chief
Oliver A. Khan
American Association of
Insurance Services
Nicholas D. Standiford
Schain, Banks, Kenny &
Schwartz, Ltd.
Assistant Editor
Elizabeth Babbitt
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
YLS Director
Jennifer Byrne
Human Trafficking
Awareness Month
By Kathryn Carso Liss
YLS Chair
J
anuary is Human Trafficking Aware-
ness Month. As our YLS theme this
year is Protecting Our Children, the
CBA has designated the last week of this
month to raise awareness toward this topic,
specifically as it pertains to children.
The sex trade industry is believed to exist
in almost every major U.S. city and affects
every demographic. The National Human
Trafficking Resource Center reported 122
human trafficking cases in 2015 in Illinois
alone. There were likely many more cases
which were not reported in 2015. People
may think that human trafficking does not
affect their community. However, it very
well may, and until a community can iden-
tify, intervene with, and support people who
are susceptible to trafficking, trafficking will
unfortunately continue to the detriment of
hundreds and thousands of people.
The reason why is money. Human
trafficking is a hugely profitable business.
The International Labor Organization
estimates that human trafficking globally
is a $150 billion industry. According to a
2014 report by Urban Institute, pimps and
traffickers in the underground commercial
sex trade in eight major U.S. cities received
between $5,000-$32,833 per week.
Two types of human trafficking are
labor trafficking and sex trafficking. Both
types are considered forms of modern
slavery, as the person being trafficked is
not allowed to willingly leave the ‘trafficker’
(i.e. the person exploiting the vulnerable
individual). The trafficker physically or
psychologically coerces an individual to do
something against their will. The constant
manipulation used on these vulnerable
individuals and the repeated abuse of the
individuals is devastating.
In labor trafficking, the trafficker often
gives a false promise of a high-paying job,
education, travel or something else appeal-
ing to a vulnerable individual. Once the
individual accepts the job offer, they are
placed into awful working conditions, work
long hours, and are either not compensated
or barely compensated. Surprisingly, this
type of trafficking currently exists within the
U.S. likely due to a worker’s immigration
status, existing debt, their poverty level, or
a lack of labor protections. Between 2007
and 2015, the National HumanTrafficking
Resource Center reported more than 4,000
labor trafficking cases inside the United
States. Globally, the International Labor
Organization estimates 14.2 million people
are trapped in forced labor, specifically
within agriculture, construction, domestic
work, and manufacturing.The U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor identified 136 goods from
74 countries made by force and child labor.
This is only what has been detected thus far.
“Sex trafficking of minors” is included
in the broader definition of sex trafficking,
as contained in the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act of 2000: “the recruitment,
harboring, transportation, provision, or
obtaining of a person for the purpose of a
commercial sex act…in which a commer-
cial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or
coercion, or in which the person induced
to perform such an act has not attained 18
years of age” (22 USC § 7102; 8 CFR §
214.11(a)). When a trafficked person is a
minor (i.e. under the age of 18), 18 U.S.C.
§ 1591 mandates that the minor is a victim
of sex trafficking regardless of whether or
not the trafficker used force, threats of
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