3 Recognizing and Responding to Human Trafficking in Texas: Summary
victims of trafficking in the U.S. or to prosecute their traffickers. Congress has reauthorized and amended the TVPA several times, but its fundamental purpose and legal authorities remain the same.
Task Force and other organizations working to reduce human trafficking. An Essential Role for Healthcare Providers The American Medical Association (AMA) said: “Physicians should be aware of the definition of human trafficking and of resources available to help them identify and address the needs of victims.” Healthcare professionals are uniquely positioned to identify and intervene on behalf of trafficking victims.
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The terms victim and survivor can both be used to refer to individuals who were trafficked.
Victim : Has legal implications within the criminal justice process and generally means an individual who suffered harm because of criminal conduct. Survivor : Term used by many in the health services field to recognize the strength it takes to continue a journey toward healing in the aftermath of a traumatic experience. HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN TEXAS In 2009, the Texas legislature created the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force to respond to the growing human trafficking crisis and designated the attorney general as the presiding officer. The Task Force develops legislative recommendations to attack the crime as well as policies to protect victims. A 2016 report by the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work estimated that there are approximately 79,000 minor and youth victims of sex trafficking and 234,000 workers who are victims of labor trafficking. Of the 1,080 cases of human trafficking in 2019, most were for sex trafficking (739 cases), with labor trafficking being the next most common (116 cases). Most victims were female (824 cases vs. 131 for men), and adult (659 cases vs. 216 cases involving minors). An important caveat to all statistics about human trafficking is the difficulty of obtaining accurate data, which is a limitation of research into this issue that has been pointed out in the reports of the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention
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In a study of 98 sex trafficking survivors, 88% had at least one encounter with a healthcare provider while they were being trafficked, with 63% of these encounters happening in an emergency department.
Unfortunately, studies have demonstrated that medical care providers are often unprepared to identify trafficking victims. Identifying Potential Victims of Human Trafficking Certain patient behaviors and/or companion behaviors can alert healthcare professionals to a potential human trafficking case. • The presence of a person who seems to control both the patient and the situation • The physical proximity of the traffickers perpetuates their coercion and control of the victims, preventing them from communicating with healthcare personnel directly • The presence of an overbearing or controlling companion should trigger concern
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