Tracking Modern Day Slavery

• NCJ Number: 208708
• Journal: National Institute of Justice Journal Issue: 252 Dated: July 2005 Pages: 29-30
• Date Published: July 2005
• Length: 2 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Journal
• Grant Number(s): 01-IJ-CX-0027
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Issue Overview

Annotation

This article summarizes "Trafficking in Persons in the United States," which was presented as part of NIJ's Research in Progress seminar series.

Abstract

Researcher Kevin Bales collects nation-by-nation data on the amount of human trafficking into and out of each country, as well as the percentage of each country's population that can be considered in some way enslaved. These data were included in a study conducted by Robert B. Smith, currently unpublished, which examined predictors of "human development." Smith's analysis showed that human trafficking and enslavement were not just predictors of a low standard of living, but were by far the strongest predictors in every region of the world. Early statistical analysis by Bales indicates several factors that facilitate trafficking from a given country, i.e., government corruption, high infant mortality, a very young population, low food production, and conflict and social unrest. Preliminary data are less clear about factors that influence the countries most likely to be the recipients of trafficked persons. A 2001 U.S. State Department study estimated that in that year between 45,000 and 50,000 women and children were brought into the United States for illicit purposes. Bales suggests that international- development policymakers should give higher priority to countering forced labor, and more must be done to identify this "hidden" crime in the United States. 1 note