Research Log #2

Goodyear, Michael, Dan Brook, and Sally Stoecker. "Hype and Horror in Human
Trafficking." The Washington Post 26 Sept. 2007, Regional Edition ed.: 587
words. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. <http://www.lexisnexis.com/
hottopics/lnacademic/>.

Currently the conversation about human sex trafficking is not much of a conversation at all. Many don’t understand the topic enough to make conversation about it. But according to The Washington Post, “Hype and Horror in Human Trafficking”, many law enforcements don’t even understand the human trafficking laws themselves so this is why there “crimes are underreported”. This is one main problem as to why there are not many people being put away for these crimes. The human sex trafficking business is one that is highly hidden. This makes it very hard for people to be caught and for the most part if people are caught the victims are too afraid to speak out. These cases are extremely hard to build and can be very high priced. These days many can confuse the difference in prostitution with trafficking and vise versa. Many now enter the trafficking world underground which can make it that much more difficult for them to be caught. And sadly for the most part, many people believe that the women who are being sex trafficked should blame themselves and that it is their own fault.

After reading this article I became more aware of why it is we don’t catch these traffickers as common as we would like to. It is pathetic to hear that many people in law enforcement don’t even know the own laws passed about human trafficking. That gives me no hope for the future of the people to be caught. Shouldn’t you know the laws enough to know and be able to catch the people breaking the laws. It is their jobs and it may not be their own fault as to why they don’t understand or have any knowledge of the laws, but whoever’s fault it is needs to fix it. I think once that factor is changed we can have a more positive outlook on this topic of human sex trafficking and have the ability to stop it.

I chose this source because I thought it would be reliable since it was an article in The Washington Post. Also while I was reading it I was learning many things I hadn’t learned in the past articles I had read. The article an interesting piece and intrigued me. From here I would think to go in the direction of what happens to victims if they survive, after the tragedy. I would like to research and learn about some victims’ stories and their own experience.