Radio Smart Talk for Tuesday, June 28:
We tend to think about human trafficking as a problem that occurs in some far-off, third world nation, halfway around the globe. But there are cases right here in Central PA. Recently, Melissa Plotkin, chairwoman of the York County Human Trafficking Task Force, told the York Dispatch about a case in which two Vietnamese women were brought to the U.S. and forced to work at two York-area nail salons. And according to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, anywhere from 100 thousand to 300 thousand children, right here in the United States, are enslaved in sex trafficking every year, many of them under the age of 14.
Are those numbers really accurate? How do we know? And more importantly, how can we seek to stop it? We'll talk with Cumberland County District Attorney Dave Freed and Krista Hoffman, a criminal justice training specialist with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.
Resources for human trafficking:
http://www.polarisproject.org/state-map/pennsylvania
LISTEN TO PROGRAM:
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The one thing that most people miss when they think of human trafficking------which involves involuntary servitude (slavery)-----is the reality that women who are in tremendously abusive relationships, domestic abuse, are literally slaves to their partner's whims. If he possesses the bulk of the power in the relationship, she has little or none herself.
Put another way, it may be that we need to redefine the reality of slavery in the world------that people can be slaves even in their own homes, in our communities, yet look not that different than anyone else.
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