Investigating and Prosecuting Trafficking in Illicit Massage Businesses: Part 1 скачать в хорошем качестве

Investigating and Prosecuting Trafficking in Illicit Massage Businesses: Part 1

Presented by Jane Anderson, Attorney Advisor at AEquitas and Bradley Myles, CEO and Oriene Shin, Strategic Initiatives Specialist at Polaris Illicit Massage Businesses (IMBs) are known fronts for criminal activity and human trafficking. They are venues guised as legitimate massage or bodywork businesses in which women are forced, coerced, and defrauded into performing countless sex acts with strangers on a daily basis. As in other sex-trafficking settings, many of the women fail to self-identify as victims of sexual, psychological, and physical violence by perpetrators who exploit their inability or unwillingness to engage the criminal justice system. Instead, the women view themselves as consenting members of IMBs. In spite of increased law enforcement efforts to combat human trafficking, IMBs have proved to be difficult targets largely because of ineffective response focused more on arresting individuals (particularly women) than on effectively dismantling organizations and offering services to victims. This traditional law enforcement response jeopardizes victim safety, permits “buyers” to escape accountability, and permits owners to resume operations in a new venue. Part 1 of the 3-part series provides an overview of the IMB organizational model, which typically exists within one of many nationwide networks. The presenters discussed how women are recruited, harbored, and exploited within those networks. This webinar recording explors some of the challenges facing law enforcement and prosecutors, demonstrating the need for strategies to build evidence-based cases that can ensure that offenders are held accountable for their wide-ranging criminal activity.