Sex Trafficking and Technology

Sex Trafficking and Technology

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

Laws of War, Chocolate Milk, Sex Trafficking and Tech

Episode: Laws of War, Chocolate Milk, Sex Trafficking and Tech

  • Apr 20, 2015 9:00 pm
  • 17:08 mins

Guest: Vanessa Bouche, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Texas Christian University and lead researcher on a new report for the anti-human trafficking non-profit THORN Technology has proven both a blessing and curse in many aspects of society. Perhaps nowhere is its dual nature more stark than in sex trafficking. Police use the internet to catch perpetrators. But a new report by the anti-human trafficking organization THORN finds traffickers are also rapidly leveraging digital networks and platforms to recruit, groom and sell children for sex. The report was based on a survey of more than a hundred victims of the sex trade in America who were first trafficked at the age of 16 or 17, on average. “There are a variety of factors that make children at risk for sex trafficking. (Over 300,000 victims in the United States). Some of the factors include poverty, parental abuse, and neglect. Also, parents being drug addicts. Sometimes these factors lead children to want to run away or seek some kind of community of belonging outside of their family and, it many times, makes them vulnerable to sex trafficking. The statistics are that 48 hours after running away, the minor will be picked up and recruited for the purpose of sexual exploitation," says Bouche.