Sanchez 1

Hayven Sanchez

Professor Hugetz

ENGL 1301

5 April 2022

Debates on Sex Trafficking

Sex trafficking is one of the most common topics that many people can debate about. Sex

trafficking is also well known as human trafficking or modern slavery because the way women

are forced into sexual acts. Sex trafficking happens all over the United States but “Houston,

Texas comes in with a total of 3,634 calls about sex trafficking in the year of 2019.” (Chernush,

Kay, 2021). Sex trafficking has become a major debate between those who feel that sex

trafficking is more effective on mental health and that other criminal cases besides sex

trafficking is more effective on mental health and between those who feel that there is not

enough law enforcement and that who believe there is enough law enforcement.

Many people that see news about sex trafficking victims often believe that they are more

effected mentally then for instance victims of attempted murder are. Human trafficking is known

as “A modern-day form of slavery.” (Nelson, 2012). Human trafficking comes with a lot of drug

use and “Forced labor on men and women as young as children.” (Nelson, 2012). All the trauma

caused by sex trafficking leads to a huge number of mental illnesses. The type of mental or

emotional health caused by sex trafficking includes “Feeling of guilt, posttraumatic stress

disorder, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and eating disorders.” (Clawson, 2008). Human

trafficking is a worldwide problem that effects about an “Estimate of 11.7 million people.”

(Clawson, 2008). Since there is such a huge number of human trafficking cases this means, our
 Sanchez 2

generation has failed to show right from wrong. The cause of sex trafficking for children is the

disobedience they have to their parents of sneaking out late at night or simply just being

somewhere they should not have been. Most causes of men and women to be sex trafficked is

simply because of their actions of going out intoxicated and not having a reliable person to get

them home safely. This is the cause for the debate about if sex trafficking is more effective.

The other side of this debate is that people believe attempted murder cases are more

effected mentally then what sex trafficking victims are. Sex trafficking victims has a list that is

more about mental health while attempted murder victims have a list of physical health,

emotional health, mental health, and tips for coping. From seeing such varieties of list, you can

see that attempted murder cases have more effect on health and is more traumatic. Physical

health consists of “Nausea, tremors, heart palpitations. dizziness, high blood pressure, and lack

of coordination.” (FBI, 2016). Some examples of emotions health are “Anxiety, fear, guilt, grief,

depression, and withdraws.” (FBI, 2016). Mental health deals with “Slow thinking,

disorientation, memory problems, nightmares, and being undecisive.” (FBI, 2016). From the

lists that are presented this means that attempted murder has a lot more effects on a human’s

health then what sex trafficking does. This proves that the debate on mental health is

questionable and can be proven to be true. So now that we see both sides of this debate, we truly

see which side is more effected mentally. Attempted murder cases are more gruesome than what

sex trafficking cases are but has the same mental impact as sex trafficking if not more. The cause

of such high number of cases in attempted murder comes from mental health but then adds more

health problems after. After evaluating both sides of the debate attempted murder seems to be

more effective on humans more than sex trafficking.

 Sanchez 3

When talking about sex trafficking cases we often question if there is enough law

enforcement to stop cases from rising and some may agree that there is. Sex trafficking is the

“second most profitable criminal enterprise” in the world and law enforcement still makes a

difference. (Alacantara, 2016). There was a “month-long FBI operation” that helped rescue “100

child sex trafficking victims” and “identified 103 minor victims as part of the investigation.”

(Allen, 2019). Due to great law enforcement “the FBI has recovered or identified more than

6,600 victims since 2003.” (Allen, 2019). FBI is constantly working on cases and even “set up

fake dates, meet at pre-arranged locations to catch traffickers in the act because that’s all we can

really do” (Allen, 2019). This means that law enforcement isn’t just sitting around letting

trafficking cases go up. This information impacts this debate due to it proving that law

enforcement has something to due with cases going down and not rising as much as they would

be. So now that we see that the FBI is faithfully involved in stopping sex trafficking we don’t

have to wonder if something is being done or not. Now that we see several victims getting saved,

we can now see that there is enough law enforcement being put into sex trafficking.

The other side of this debate is that people disagree and believe that there is not enough

law enforcement being put into sex trafficking. Many people question “how can law enforcement

be enough” to stop sex trafficking around the world. (Alcantara, 2016). As people witness and

hear about sex trafficking they believe “more elements should be brought into the picture than

just law enforcement.” (Alacantara, 2016). There are three goals that law enforcement gives, and

they are “prevention, protection, and prosecution.” (Farr, 2016). Law enforcement is constantly

sending mixed signals because they are only “able to find far fewer actual sex trafficking cases.”

(Albanese, 2016). Due to law enforcement only being able to stop a certain number of cases this

means sex trafficking has not stopped around the world. This impacts the debate because it
 Sanchez 4

shows that law enforcement just isn’t enough to stop cases from rising. We now must input

something that will make cases go down because law enforcement is efficient enough to do so.

This proves that there is not enough law enforcement and that there is a real debate about it.

In conclusion, there is a serious number of debates when it comes to sex trafficking.

There has been a debate whether sex trafficking victims get the most unstable health rather than

victims of attempted murder. Sex trafficking victims come out with a lot of mental health more

than anything. While attempted murder victims come out with not only mental health but also

emotional and physical. The second debate that most people have about sex trafficking is if there

is enough law enforcement placed to help reduce sex trafficking cases. Some believe there is

enough law enforcement placed due to a couple thousands of cases being solved. Others believe

law enforcement is not enough for this type of crime and that there needs to be more done.

People will forever have a debate and opinion about sex trafficking, but if there is something

being done is all that matters.

 Sanchez 5

Work Cited

1. Nelson, Katie. Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking, the Differences,

https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/11/16/human-trafficking-sex-trafficking-the-

differences/.

2. H.J. Clawson, N. Dutch, and E. Williamson, 2008, National Symposium on the

Health Needs of Human Trafficking Victims: Background Brief. Fairfax, VA: ICF

International.

3. “Coping with Crime Victimization.” FBI, FBI, 17 June 2016,

https://www.fbi.gov/resources/victim-services/coping-with-victimization.

4. Alcantara, Alina. “The Great Debate: Is Law Enforcement Alone Enough to Reduce

Human Trafficking?” JIA SIPA, 6 Oct. 2016, https://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/online-

articles/great-debate-law-enforcement-alone-enough-reduce-human-trafficking.

5. Allen, Karma. “More than 100 Sex Trafficking Victims.” ABC News, ABC News

Network, 7 Aug. 2019, https://abcnews.go.com/US/100-sex-trafficking-victims-

rescued-us-amid-busts/story?id=64845453.
Sanchez 6