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Category: Sexual Assault & Trafficking

Georgia’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit Is Reexamining Older Cases – and It’s Working

The 2019 creation of Georgia’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit has allowed for much more effective follow-through on local sex trafficking cases. As the name suggests, the unit is dedicated exclusively to investigating, stopping, and prosecuting human trafficking in Georgia. That targeted focus of personnel and resources has allowed them to reexamine cases once written off as closed. Offering these cases the due diligence they’ve so often been denied isn’t just a moral win; the unit is ...

Atlanta’s Sex Trafficking Problem Continues to Traumatize Youth

It’s no revelation that Atlanta has a serious problem with sex trafficking. In 2014, Urban Institute published a study examining sex trafficking in eight of the U.S’s most notorious cities. Based on their findings, Atlanta’s sex trafficking industry had expanded significantly in the previous decade, surpassing even Miami’s. Ever since these numbers came to light, Atlanta has been trying to shed its “Sex Trafficking Capital” reputation, with new anti-trafficking programs and stronger anti-t...

Georgia Has Added Human Trafficking to a Crucial List of Serious Crimes

Whether you’ve been casually following the story of bill SB-461, or you’re just now hearing about it being signed into law, you might be wondering how human trafficking could ever have been considered anything but a serious crime. Using force, deception, or other methods to coerce people into providing commercial sex or other unregulated labor is an obvious violation of human rights. The human trafficking industry ruins lives, and the fight to eliminate it has passionate bipartisan support...

Coweta County’s Human Trafficking Problem Continues

As Georgia carries on with its statewide efforts against sex trafficking, Coweta County remains a hotspot. Through multiple rounds of mass arrests, the same types of criminal operations crop up again and again. For every investigation that recovers one or two more victims, it’s safe to assume that there are many more out there, unidentified and continuing to be abused. Many have no idea that there are ways out, or ways of fighting back. A Recent Sting Ended with 26 Arrests and 1 Rescue...

Law Enforcement Officials Who Take Part in Sex Trafficking Must Face Justice

Distrust of law enforcement is one of the toughest obstacles preventing countless victims from escaping forced sexual servitude. While some sex trafficking victims are kept guarded at all times, many others have frequent physical opportunities to escape and alert the police, but do not trust that this will improve their situation. Common reasons include: Uncertainty that what is happening to them qualifies as sex trafficking Fear of being returned to an abusive home Belief that ...

Georgia’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit Is Showing Great Promise

There’s no question that Georgia has a serious human trafficking problem. The vast majority of human trafficking, here and all over the country, involves sexual exploitation, and underage girls are especially vulnerable to this kind of predation. The question of how to address the problem has, unfortunately, proven far more contentious and complex. Historically, the legal response has far too often been to arrest the most conveniently available targets — the victims — for prostitution, ...

Human Trafficking Victims Are Entitled to Compensation for Their Suffering and Unpaid Labor

Though it often goes unrecognized, human trafficking for the purpose of forced labor absolutely does happen in the U.S. In 2020 alone, the Department of Justice opened 663 investigations into suspected human trafficking activity, and for every confirmed case, there are likely many more yet to be discovered. Human trafficking is the use of lies, threats, violence, or other forms of coercion to force a person to work against their will or under unacceptable conditions. The coercion process o...

Minors Affected by Sex Trafficking Have a Range of Options for Collecting Compensation

Child sex trafficking is, of course, an extremely serious crime with potential prison sentences to match. What many don’t realize is that it’s also grounds for a civil lawsuit. Some survivors like the idea of suing their traffickers, while others are hesitant for a variety of reasons, from emotional complications to fear of retaliation. From a legal perspective, suing a sex trafficker directly is certainly an option, but not the most practical one. The reason is that most of these criminal...

Survivor Who Escaped from Gang-Related Sex Trafficking in Albany Can Now Sue for Compensation

In the summer of 2019, a 16-year-old girl reported to police that she had been held in forced sexual servitude by the Inglewood Family Gang, a Georgia chapter of the larger criminal organization best known as the Bloods. According to the survivor’s account, she was drugged, physically abused, and forced to have sex with multiple men to raise money for the gang over the course of two months, before she escaped and reached help. Many sex trafficking victims are instilled with so much fear of...

Young Survivors Discovered in Georgia’s Latest Sex Trafficking Bust Can Now Sue Their Exploiters for Compensation

As part of the “Operation Not Forgotten” series of sex trafficking investigations now in progress, no fewer than 20 missing minors, ranging in age from 17 years down to just six weeks, were located across Georgia this past May. Most were found in Cobb, Gwinnett, Fulton and DeKalb counties. Currently, authorities suspect that sex trafficking played a role in 16 of the 20 missing minor cases. The search was a collaborative effort between the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Marsha...