Sex Trafficking

A. Buholtz, N. Figueroa, D. Ramirez, O. Särmä

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Sex Trafficking in Gainesville

Ranking third for human trafficking in the United States, Florida faces a grim reality (Florida Department of Education). Analyzing these trends from the perspective of the state’s four most well-known college cities, Miami, Orlando, Gainesville, and Tallahassee, provides more dimension and a deeper insight into the issue.

University of Miami Area

Figure 1: Florida Ranks Third in US for Active Human Trafficking Cases (Wicker 2018)

First and foremost, Miami-Dade County is the largest trafficking hub in the state: created in 2018, the Human Trafficking Center of Miami has filed 619 trafficking-related cases, 36 percent involving minors (Robertson 2020). The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office estimates that the average sex trafficking victim may be forced to have sex 20 times a day. Infamous for its party scene, major sporting events, conventions, and tourist-drawing occasions, sex trafficking is pervasive in this city.

 

University of Central Florida Area

Similarly, Orlando ranks third in the nation for human trafficking calls, 95 percent pertaining to forced sex work (the remaining 5 percent involves labor trafficking) (Piantini 2019). City leaders indicated an expanding awareness of the problem and characterized the municipality as inherently vulnerable: “because of our tourism, because we are transient, because we are growing rapidly, it makes us a community where this type of exploitation is more likely to happen” (Santich 2017). The overwhelming number of bars, clubs, restaurants, and hotels allow this activity to occur under the radar, with the bustle of theme parks and attractions obscuring victims and solicitors. In an effort to address the emerging issue, Orange County commissioners approved $2 million in 2017 to staff Florida’s first crisis shelter for human trafficking victims (Santich 2017).

 

University of Florida Area

            According to The Gainesville Sun, North Central Florida is a “hot spot” for sex trafficking. Experts estimate that there are hundreds of victims trapped in sex trafficking in Gainesville, with the industry spanning all neighborhoods and economic classes (Howard 2019). The Child Advocacy Center in Gainesville reports that victims are typically between 13 and 17 years old and are manipulated by older men to engage in sexual acts. Local organizations, such as Created Gainesville, have documented helping over 900 women in the community over the course of just eight years, truly highlighting the severity and prevalence of sex trafficking within the University of Florida circle (Marks 2020). 

 

Florida State University Area

Meanwhile, a two-year long investigation by the Tallahassee Police Department led to the arrest of more than 170 people tied to the commercial sex trafficking of a teenage girl (Burlew 2020). Upwards of 100 individuals were charged with felonies, including human trafficking, lewd and lascivious battery on a child under 16 and production and possession of child pornography, among other offenses. Labelled ‘Operation Stolen Innocence’, local and federal law enforcement collaborated to bring the perpetrators to justice. The investigation was the biggest of its kind in Tallahassee’s history. Accordingly, not only did FBI crime statistics rank Tallahassee one of the least safe cities to live in Florida, but human trafficking is characterized as a “significant issue”, with City Commissioners setting a goal to end trafficking in the area within the next five years (Pitzen 2020).

Comparing Sex Trafficking in University Areas in Florida

Comparatively speaking, it is evident that sex trafficking is more likely to occur in larger, tourist-based, and transitory cities, such as Miami and Orlando. However, the presence of serious trafficking offenses and actions persisting within relatively rural Gainesville and Tallahassee is revealing of the widespread, unrelenting, nature of sex trafficking in Florida.  

Factors that Increase Vulnerability

The factors that put individuals at risk of being trafficked are rather uniform across the United States. In order to stop sex trafficking, it is important to pay close attention to the factors that makes an individual more vulnerable to trafficking. In this way, preventive measures can be taken to protect the ones most vulnerable from exploitation. 

Figure 2: Who are the Victims of Sex Human Trafficking? (Kocis 2020)

A single most significant factor is social relations in which many more factors are embedded. For a minor, the lack of stable home environment resulting in running away and thereby homelessness, is a major factor. This makes a minor susceptible for relationships that make them more vulnerable to trafficking. Sometimes these relations are formed through ’survival sex’ the minor engages in to cope with homelessness. The context in which a minor is at risk of sex trafficking often involves poor family relations and potential familial poverty that may result in low school performance, mental health issues, and foster care. Further risk is imposed through social networks that encourage transactional sex, and the experience of juvenile detention (Chohaney 2016).

Many risk factors apply to both, minors and adults, such as substance abuse and homelessness. Further common risk factors include substance abuse and addiction, poverty and early exposure to sexual abuse and trauma (Fedina et al. 2019). These factors are rarely separate, but rather coincide in complex ways to make a person vulnerable to sex trafficking. Therefore, for preventive measures, they should be considered in conjunction with each other.

 

General Indicators

Figure 3: Human Trafficking Can Happen To Anyone (Wylie News 2020)

We have discussed the statistics and issues in the major college cities in Florida and some of the risk factors that can put people at risk, but what can you and I do about it? There are some warning signs that we can look after to notice if someone is a victim of human sex trafficking.

Some general indicators can include:

  • Exhibiting signs of physical abuse or trauma, such as anxiety, bruising, depression, untreated conditions, etc. 

  • Displaying fear of police/authorities, be fearful of telling others about their situations, have limited freedom, and have no passport or mention that someone else is holding it. 

  • Receiving unexplained money/gifts, associating with older people. Experimenting with drugs/alcohol, if they show signs of low self-esteem/self-harm, eating disorder, etc. 

  • Having windows of a property being covered from the inside, visitors at unusual hours, unusual noises, and pungent smells it might mean that this property/residency is being used as a brothel or place to conduct sex trafficking (Hope for Justice 2018).

 

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