Sex Trafficking: A Financial Crime Perspective

Abstract

The trafficking of women for the purpose of sexual exploitation has become a global business operated by organised crime groups and is now viewed as having reached ‘critical proportions’. Trafficking exists to meet the market demand for women who are used in brothels, the production of pornography and other aspects of the ‘sex industry’. It is nothing less than a modern day slave trade.

Examining the Association Between Massage Parlors and Neighborhood Crime

“…It has been noted that police intervention in massage parlors is minimal and often only occurs in response to a complaint, a response that could lead to the perception that these businesses are tolerated (Bell, 2001). Although masseuses commonly report high numbers of robberies and exploitation, they also mention that they are unlikely to report these occurrences to the police (Nemoto et al, 2004).…”

Sex, Slavery and the Trafficked Woman

“…Yet the focus on the methods adopted by these actors, who are in fact migration agents and in some cases may meet the definition of smuggler, feeds the notion that trafficking is a form of organised crime -that separate individuals involved in the process are necessarily linked in a network. As a result, the literature describes trafficking's links to 'fraud, kidnapping, identity crime, bribery and corruption, and deprivation of liberty -all of which have to be successfully coordinated and managed clandestinely to ensure that the operation is run sufficiently effectively and often enough to generate profit' (Putt, 2007: 2; see also Bell, 2001). Such a conclusion brings to mind films like Human Trafficking (2005) and Taken (2008) critiqued earlier in this book for their incorrect and sensationalist portrayals of traffickers, their networks and the naive victim.…”

The Lenient Social and Legal Response to Trafficking in Women

“…1 Although estimates are not certain as to how many women are being trafficked each year, trafficked women's reports include vivid descriptions of deception and psychological pressure with regard to working conditions (high number of working hours, low salary) or the nature of the work to be done; withholding of salaries, increasing their dependence on pimps; debt bondage; confinement in unendurable conditions; deprivation of movement and of personal choice; and psychological and physical violence, including threats of or actual assault, rape, and murder. Because of their illegal status, the women are also afraid to seek assistance from local authorities; most likely, they would be summarily deported and return to their country empty-handed (Bell, 2001;Bertone, 2000;Caldwell et al, 1999;Dinan, 2002;Hughes, 2000;Lazaridis, 2001;Melrose & Barrett, 2006;Rathgeber, 2002;Rijken, 2003;Schauer & Wheaton, 2006;Smartt, 2003;Tavcer, 2006;Watts & Zimmerman, 2002;Williams, 1999).…”

“…Although since the 1990s, TWP has gradually become the focus of many international conventions, declarations, and policy documents (see Bell, 2001;Lazaridis, 2001;Rijken, 2003;Van Impe, 2000), evidence suggests that paradoxically, the willingness of states in general and particularly legal systems to take efficient actions to suppress TWP and prosecute traffickers and pimps is often lax, sporadic, or even nonexistent (e.g., Caldwell et al, 1999;Lebenkron & Dahan, 2003;Melrose & Barrett, 2006;Raymond et al, 2002;Rijken, 2003;Schauer & Wheaton, 2006). Interestingly, the main explanation found in the literature for this weak social reaction may be defined as attitudinal: Governments and legal systems in receiving countries usually perceive, and consequently respond to, TWP not as a serious criminal problem causing female victimization but rather as a much less severe problem of illegal migration, an approach that redefines these victimized women as criminals (e.g., Caldwell et al, 1999;Dinan, 2002;Raymond et al, 2002;Schauer & Wheaton, 2006;Tavcer, 2006).…”

“…. Trafficking in women for prostitution refers to the use of women in the commercial "sex industry," including in brothels, strip clubs, massage parlors, sex tourism, pornography, and militarized sexual services(Bell, 2001;Bertone, 2000;Hughes, 2000;Smartt, 2003).…”