Victims in Plain Sight —the State of Rape for Profit in the US
And with the increase of the commercial sex trade, gangs are recruiting victims from all corners of the community, tempting their targets with promises of love and money.
“These young people are getting plucked out of schools, malls, from all over our communities, (and) from the Internet,” Duffy said.
While many human trafficking victims have certain risk factors, including coming from unstable, impoverished families and having a history of trauma, the prevalence of recruiting as resulted in victims coming from all types of economic, family, and educational backgrounds.
“Those girls are looking less and less like the girls in the shadows, and more and more like my 13-year-old daughter,” Means said. “They come from intact homes, they come from good schools, (and) they come from high socio-economic areas.”
“These are victims who are in plain sight,” stated Duffy.
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