Could it be your neighbor? Do you know the definition? Could you get caught up in trafficker tactics?
§7102. Definitions
(11) Severe forms of trafficking in persons
The term "severe forms of trafficking in persons" means—
(A) sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or
(B) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
(United States Code, Trafficking Victims Protection Act)
Did you catch that?
The trafficker isn't just the person who kidnaps someone at gunpoint (It rarely even looks like that, but that's another article.). It isn't just the ringleader or the person who keeps people compliant. It isn't just the person who makes a profit.
The trafficker could be the driver.
The trafficker could be the person providing shelter.
The trafficker could be the person paying for services or simply benefitting.
The trafficker could be someone who brokers the deal but may not personally profit at all.
The trafficker could be the person who lures a person into a place of vulnerability, where someone else takes control.
Even if you're not complicit in all of the pieces, you could find yourself wrapped up in a conspiracy. Conspiracy charges don't require that you committed all the main elements of the offense.
Trafficker tactics permeate our culture. So accepted, we often miss them.
We'll delve into details in later articles. As a starting point, the best protection from the slippery slope that could result in a criminal conviction is conducting ourselves and our business in transparency, motivated by a commitment to empowering others to reach their potential. When we start to treat people like property, as a means to an end, well, that's slavery.