Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of others. Victims are forced, defrauded, or coerced into trafficking. Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises around the world. Even if victims initially offer consent, their consent is rendered meaningless once the traffickers exploit them for labor, services, or commercial sex.
     High profits and low risk are the two primary factors that have a hold on the spread of human trafficking. Human-trafficking is a criminal industry that is based on supply and demand. It is like drugs and arms trafficking. Human Trafficking is a billion dollar business. Every year, traffickers make billions of dollars by victimizing millions of people around the world, including the United States, and even our home state of Ohio.
     Human trafficking has become a serious problem in the state of Ohio. An estimated 1,078 children in Ohio become victims every year and 3,016 more are at risk. In Ohio, the most common age for children to become victims of human trafficking is 13 years old. The number of children in ohio who become victims of trafficking each year could fill a large high school.
     Governor Kasich formed The Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force in 2012 to gather the state’s resources to provide services for victims and punish the perpetrators of this awful crime. Goals of this task force are to try to identify and rescue victims, create a coordinated law enforcement system to investigate and prosecute human trafficking crimes, and also provide services and treatment needed for victims to get back control of their lives. There are eleven state agencies that are members of the task force.  Governor Kasich has become committed to to addressing this problem. Process has been made, but there is still a lot of work that still needs to be done.
     The polaris project is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to prevent and fight against human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Polaris operates the central 24-hour national human trafficking hotline for the United States and connect professionals, victims, and community members to information and services. They also offer client services to victims of all forms of human trafficking.
     I read the story of a girl named Sarah who was a victim of domestic minor sex trafficking. She was a 17-year-old caucasian female and grew up in rural Ohio. She had a troubled home life and ran away. She was walking to the store alone and 30-year-old man drove up beside her seemed concerned about her. He even offered to pay for her to get her nails done and wanted to meet up the next day. For two months he acted like her boyfriend and took her out to eat and did nice things for her. The two spent a lot of time together. He asked her to move in with him and she did. One she moved in, he forced her into commercial sex to pay his rent. One night while Sarah was out on the street, she was raped by a stranger. She called the police and was taken to the hospital for an exam. Polaris provided emergency housing and emotional support for her. They also helped her find a part-time job. She eventually saved enough to get her own apartment. She works part-time and even attends evening classes. She wants to attend college and own her own business some day.
     Human trafficking is a major concern in the United States, and in Ohio. Governor Kasich has made it a high priority to take care of this issue. It is something that everyone needs to be aware of and take precaution towards. No human being should be bought or sold, kept captive, or forced to do something they do not want to do.