Human trafficking is modern day slavery; it is the holding of people through force, fraud or coercion where the victim is not free to leave and the trafficker receives proceeds from the victim’s labor. Commercial sex exploitation and forced labor are the two most common types of human trafficking in the U.S. and over 50% of the victims are children. The average age of entrance into human trafficking is 12-14 years for girls and 11-13 years for boys. What’s worse is that 75% of minors engaged in prostitution have a pimp who can earn up to $632,000 per year through their exploitation of our children.
Louisiana’s Criminal Law RS 14:46.2 on human trafficking states that it shall be unlawful:
- For any person to knowingly recruit, harbor, transport, provide, solicit, receive, isolate, entice, obtain, or maintain the use of another person through fraud, force, or coercion to provide services or labor.
- For any person to knowingly benefit from activity prohibited by the provisions of this Section.
- For any person to knowingly facilitate any of the activities prohibited by the provisions of this Section by any means, including but not limited to helping, aiding, abetting, or conspiring, regardless of whether a thing of value has been promised to or received by the person.