Kirkland

Haylea Kirkland
Professor Elizabeth Caruso
UWRT 1103
15 November 2016
Defense Paper: Human Trafficking
When most Americans think about human trafficking, they typically picture some thirdworld country overseas, or a scene from Taken. What many people fail to realize is that human
trafficking is a major problem here in the United States even today. The problem has only gotten
worse as investigators for the Department of Homeland Security are seeing a 50 percent spike
in their caseload according to a special agent for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements
Homeland Security Investigations team (Sullivan 1). In 2013, the team saw more than 800
traffickers convicted at the federal level, and only saw 144 convictions just three years earlier
(Sullivan 1). According to Whitni Wertz, a member of the local human trafficking task force,
North Carolina currently ranks in the top ten for reported cases of trafficking nationally with
Charlotte ranking as the number one city in the state. It is I find it alarming to learn that North
Carolina is ranked anywhere near the top ten in the country, however I find it is even more
alarming that Charlotte is ranked number one in the state.
The vast majority of Charlotteans are oblivious to the modern day slavery that surrounds
them. My goal is to get the word out about human trafficking in Charlotte and to raise awareness
about the disturbing occurrence of trafficking. About one-third of the handful of slaves freed in
the United States each year come to liberty because an average person sees something they just
cannot ignore (Bales and Soodalter 4). By increasing awareness in just the Charlotte area alone,
we can work to increase the number of victims that we save while reducing the concentration of

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trafficking within the area. Since public transportation in Charlotte is used considerably, To
accomplish this, I created a poster for bus stops in the Uptown area. Public transportation in
Charlotte is used considerably. In 2011, the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) was ranked
48 out of the top 50 largest transit agencies when ranked by unlinked passenger trips and
passenger miles according to the 2013 Public Transportation Fact Book (8). By putting a poster
in these bus stops, I will be able to successfully reach my target audience of adults, particularly
young adults, in the Uptown area. The reason I chose to target Uptown Charlotte is because it is
a rapidly growing area. In addition to reaching a the local population, the poster will also extend
to reach many commuters from the surrounding cities such as Matthews and Mint Hill who work
in Uptown. So as not to distract from the important information on the poster and to portray a
dark mood, I stuck with The poster is a black and white theme with shades of gray. I included
two eye-catching statistics on the poster as well to minimize the appearance of text while still
being able to accomplish my goal of raising awareness. I also put key words in red to focus the
viewers attention to specific places, as well as include a website for people to visit in order to
learn more about human trafficking.
North Carolina has been a hotspot for trafficking because of factors such as the states
location on the Eastern seaboard, the number of military installations, and the number of ports
located on the coastal region, as well as the states large agricultural economy (Jayson 4). The
number of major interstate highways in North Carolina also plays a role in the states high
concentration of trafficking, for example the intersection of two major highways in Charlotte; I77 and I-85 in Charlotte. In addition, Charlotte is the home to several large venues such as the
Bank of America Stadium, the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and the Charlotte Douglas
International Airport. These venues are especially attractive to perpetrators due to the high

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volume of people, particularly tourists, who visit these locations. The Charlotte Douglas
International Airport also provides offenders with quick access to transport victims throughout
the world, making them more difficult to locate.
In my poster I wanted to specifically include a statistic about children. Think about it: if
you were to see two separate statistics dealing with victims in human trafficking, one focusing on
adults and the other focusing on children, which would you find more alarming? In the United
States, there are approximately 200,000 U.S. children at high risk for being sold into slavery
(Transforming Hope Ministries, 2013 1). Despite the fact that most of the research and resources
for on trafficking victims hasve been directed towards adults rather than children, many
researchers agree that there is a growing number of sexually exploited and trafficking children in
the United States (Fong and Cardoso 1). There is no official estimate of the exact number of
trafficking victims because there is a massive dark figure of crime, the group of unreported
crimes, making approximations problematic. The dark figure of crime is the group of unreported
crimes. The reason there is such a high dark figure is because many victims are often fearful of
their captors due to various forms of physical and psychological abuse. Victims also do not trust
the police and typically do not know where to turn for help (Wake People Up 2). Polaris
estimates that the total number of victims nationally reaches into the hundreds of thousands when
estimates of both adults and minors and in sex trafficking and labor trafficking are aggregated
(1). The 2013 Trafficking in Persons report estimates that more than 26 million individuals are
enslaved worldwide through various forms of human trafficking (U.S. Department of State,
2013b). The same report also states that less than one percent, roughly 40,000 victims, have
been identified in that same year. According to the National Human Trafficking Resource
Center, there have been 140 cases reported this year in North Carolina alone, and over 470 calls

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made to the National Human Trafficking Hotline (1). Despite this, the full extent of trafficking
within the state is still widely unknown.
As stated before, the main focus of my product is to raise awareness and fuel, if not
spark, the conversation about human trafficking, particularlt within the Charlotte community. As
people go about their daily activities, I hope they remember my poster and keep an eye out for
potential victims while also being careful to avoid putting themselves in a possible situation
where they too could be victimized. About one-third of the handful of slaves freed in the United
States each year come to liberty because an average person sees something they just cannot
ignore (Bales and Soodalter 4). With time, I hope that the Department of Homeland Security
will begin to see a decline in trafficking cases as awareness is spread throughout hotspot areas
such as Charlotte.

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Works Cited
Original Sources:
15 Ways You Can Help Fight Human Trafficking. U.S. Department of State, 2016,
www.state.gov/j/tip/id/help/
Human Trafficking Awareness Training: TIP 101. U.S. Department of State, 2016,
www.state.gov/j/tip/training/index.htm
Alvarez, Priscilla. When Sex Trafficking Goes Unnoticed in America. The Atlantic, 23 Feb.
2016, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/how-sex-trafficking-goes-unnoticedin-america/470166/
Harper, Kathleen. Exploring the hidden world of human trafficking in our own backyard. Elon
University, Center for Writing Excellence, www.elon.edu/eweb/academics/writing_excellence/contest/Contest%20Entry%20Harper
%20Journalism.xhtml
National Human Trafficking Resource Center. 2015 NHTRC Annual Report. NHTRC, Polaris,
Feb. 2016, traffickingresourcecenter.org/resources/2015-nhtrc-annual-report
National Human Trafficking Resource Center. North Carolina Statistics. NHTRC, Polaris, 30
Sept. 2016, traffickingresourcecenter.org/state/north-carolina
The Conversation. Popular movies are spreading misinformation about the reality of human
trafficking. Raw Story, 20 Jan. 2016, www.rawstory.com/2016/01/popular-movies-arespreading-misinformation-about-the-reality-of-human-trafficking/
Vandergriff, Caroline. Study: 110 Reported Cases of Human Trafficking in NC in 2015. Timer
Warner Cable, Charter Communications, 28 Jan. 2016,

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www.twcnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2016/01/28/study--110-reported-cases-of-humantrafficking-in-nc-in-2015.html

New Sources:
11 Facts About Human Trafficking. Do Something, 2016, www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11facts-about-human-trafficking
The Facts. Polaris, Charity Navigator, 2016, polarisproject.org/facts
Why Dont They Just Run Away?. Wake People Up, Grounded Group, 2010,
www.wakepeopleup.com/why-dont-they-just-run-away/
American Public Transportation Association. Table 3. 2013 Public Transportation Fact Book,
64th ed. Washington, DC, Oct. 2013.
www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/FactBook/2013-APTA-Fact-Book.pdf
Bales, Kevin, and Ron Soodalter. The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking in America Today.
University of California Press, 2009. Google Books, books.google.com/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=J936zQHE44EC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=human+trafficking+in+north+ca
rolina&ots=MooJ1ndK0D&sig=gSsGBs3qsiivojr4Dg9MwHy4bo#v=onepage&q&f=false
Fong, Rowena, and Jodi Berger Cardoso. Child human trafficking victims: Challenges for the
child welfare system. Evaluation and Program Planning, Vol. 33, The University of
Texas at Austin, 17 July 2009,
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149718909000640
Jayson, Karen G.. Introduction. Human Trafficking in North Carolina: Human Beings as a
Commodity, N.C. Governors Crime Commission Criminal Justice Analysis Center, 2

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Oct. 2013,

www.nccrimecontrol.org/div/GCC/pubs/Human_Trafficking_North_Carolina_2013.pdf
Sullivan, Karen. Human trafficking more likely as Charlotte region grows, authorities say The
Charlotte Observer, 11 Jan. 2016,
www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article54153290.html
Transforming Hope Ministries. Statistics. Transforming Hope, Story Driven Media Group,
2013, www.transforminghopeministries.org/human-trafficking