Executive Summary
The research identifies that Florida is a high-risk state in terms of human trafficking. In line with this, there is the need for some kind of urgent policy formulation that will deal with the needs and requirements of the state. The problem of Florida is complicated by its location and its cultural make-up which includes a lot of Hispanic Americans.
The policy brief identifies that there are three options available including supply-chain tracking, victimization policy and a proactive and coordination oriented method. Supply-chain tracking is deemed as expensive and a bit unworkable at the other side of the border. A victimization policy is problematic because it is going to be expensive and burdensome for the state financially and will not take care of security at the other side of the border.
However, it is recommended that the state of Florida should make a law that will establish a unique human trafficking unit that will have the duty of bringing together different elements and aspects of human trafficking in the state of Florida. This will be a unit that will gather information, monitor trends and promote the short-term, long-term and medium term demands of all stakeholders to achieve optimal results.
Context and Importance of the Problem
Human trafficking is defined as “the illegal movement of people, typically for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation”. Human trafficking is a major problem in most major countries around the world. In the United States, the areas of greatest risk are transit points where traffickers get people across the border onto US soil. Due to the location of the state of Florida, it is a gateway to many immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean into the United States. There is a lot of possibilities and reasons for human traffickers to bring vulnerable people from south of the United States to be exploited through Florida.
There are several organizations and institutions that have been set up to deal with some of these demands and requirements. This includes The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC). The Florida branch of the NHTRC announced that there were as many as 6,819 calls reporting cases of human trafficking in the state of Florida between 2007 and 2015. This culminated in a total of 1,767 cases that were successfully prosecuted in the state for human trafficking.
Thus, it is established that there are two components of human trafficking in the state of Florida. First of all, Florida is a high-risk state due to its location, which makes it a geostrategic point for people from different parts of the world to enter the United States. Thus, human traffickers from Africa, Asia and other parts of the world might want to enter some of the states, south of Mexico and traffic people across the border into Florida, integrate into the minority communities and then ply their trade and conduct illegal activities that will go against the laws of the state. Secondly, there is evidence that this trend has happened and continues to happen, because it is rather common to have drug and prostitute rings that might want to traffic people across to Florida to minimize their chances of detection and arrest. Therefore, there is the need for some kind of coherent policy to be put together to increase the possibility of detecting and dealing with human trafficking.
The purpose of this policy brief is to identify a coherent policy framework that will deal with three main areas:
The ability to deal with the volume of human trafficking risks in Florida which is an exceptionally high-risk area;
The need to identify and fix flaws that exists in the current policy framework for human trafficking in Florida;
The appropriate transposition of federal policy into a state-level context that is relevant to Florida.
Policy Options
As identified above, there is a problem with the presentation of the processes and system that was applied and utilized to dealing with human trafficking. Florida as a state is one of the top 3 states that has the highest cases of human trafficking in America where convictions have occurred. The others are California and Texas which are all on the Mexican border. Most of these people end up in the sex-trafficking industry which is common in Mexico and other places where young girls are tricked into moving to new places and end up being kept as sex slaves who make profits for their “owners”. Therefore, it is necessary for some kind of appropriate measure to be taken to deal with the volume of risk in Miami.
Secondly, there is a general framework and a general system that human trafficking is carried out in Florida. Human trafficking is seen as a shadow of drug enforcement, therefore for a long time, it was handled as a sub-activity of the Drug Enforcement Agency since 1973. On the other hand, the police department deals with human trafficking in the state of Florida in a fire-fighting approach which involved dealing with cases and activities that came up. However, for the achievement of results, the best approach is to set up a proactive system and approach that can be applied in dealing with issues and matters. Also, immigration policy and politics play a role in making the entire process of crossing the border difficult, but this does not cover and control the activities and procedures of human traffickers.
However, there is the need for coordination and the linkage of the different federal laws and the existing human trafficking processes. The Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act, 2012 provided a framework through which human trafficking could be identified and dealt with at the federal level and utilized as a yardstick in formulating state level laws. Although the act spells out some of the most fundamental definitions that defines the parameters of human trafficking, it is opened to a lot of grey areas that are has loopholes. So a proper policy to be adopted by the State of Florida must be one that will take into account, all the realities and define the best framework and system through which people could be protected and saved from human trafficking and its risks.
Option 1: Supply Chain Tracking
A supply-chain tracking approach is one that the state authorities will concentrate their effort and ability to the tracing of each and every event relating to human trafficking. This will include the evaluation and analysis of each case that is reported and the identification of the networks and the parties that are related to the process. The idea is to use the model similar to tracking down the powerful mafia bosses and authorities who are at the top of the pyramid. This will have the following obvious pointers:
The tracing of cases back to the country of origin and gathering information about crime groups and crime cells;
Sharing information and data about each point and unit that is involved in a human trafficking case and trying to find a solution to each problem;
Gathering information and creating a level of awareness about the modus operandi of human traffickers and dealing with what they actually do in order to prevent them from gaining a significant root in the state of Florida.
Option 2: Victimology Policy
Victimology policy refers to an approach whereby the state authorities are going to check information about the victims in each case and dealing with what the victims need and require in order to make a difference in their lives. A victimology policy will include a method whereby the different people in situations similar to human trafficking settings are identified and evaluated and assessed in order to find out whether they are actually trafficked or not.
The process include the following pointers:
Granting some form of amnesty to people who are in Florida illegally and gathering information about their situation;
Providing protection for such persons and guiding and protecting them in what they do in order to achieve results and protect them from negativity and threats;
Providing protection for vulnerable family members and relations outside the United States;
Putting some kind of care in place to detect threats and other third parties that might want to threaten their lives.
Option 3: Proactive & Coordinated Approach
The third approach will be about the formulation of a unique human trafficking unit that will have the duty of coordinating affairs and information about human trafficking at different points in time in the state of Florida. A proactive coordination approach is one that will deal with different processes from the borders to the private and social lives of people in the state of Florida and providing monitoring, data and information in order to initiate arrests and deal with the needs of people and their processes. This will include amongst other things:
The formulation of a unique and distinct anti-human-trafficking unit.
The unit will be responsible for coordinating information and dealing with the information and data and building short-term, long-term to medium-term data requirements and expectations for the company.
There will be proactive action that will be coordinated by a unit of the police and law enforcement authorities that has the power and authority to deal with such actions and promote the best of results.
Procedures can be put in place to coordinate affairs with law enforcement systems in order to protect lives overseas and achieve optimal results.
Evaluation of Policy Options
The evaluation of the different policies will be done according to a number of pointers and views. There are some generic pointers that are necessary and important in policy frameworks and context. For instance, the workability and internationalization elements are important in achieving policy goals and objectives. These are all pointers necessary for examining and evaluating the options available. The main yardsticks include:
Ability to meet the risk of the state of Florida (AR)
Coordination domestically (CD)
Coordination Internationally (CI)
Detection of Long Term Risks (DL)
Financial Commitment (FC)
Protection of Victims (PV)
These six pointers are going to provide the basis and yardstick for the analysis and assessment of each of the different classes of issues in order to draw conclusions on the desirability or otherwise. Each pointer will be evaluated from 1 to 5 with 1 being lowest with 5 being the highest. This is going to be grossed and used as basis for the choice of the best level and standard.
Option 1: Supply Chain Tracking
This is an extremely difficult thing to do and it comes with major problems and risks that are somewhat limited and difficult to monitor. The findings are presented below:
The findings show that the system for supply-chain tracking gives average results. This is because it is severely limited outside Florida in the direction of south of the continent. This shows that the procedure could be put in place yet smuggling and trafficking of humans will continue in several ways and forms since there is no effective mechanism of checking victims on the other side of the border.
Option 2: Victimology Policy
This policy seem to have a focus on proactively investigating people who are likely to find themselves trapped in the state of Florida. Such investigations will lead to major conclusions and findings that can aid in improving treatment and actions.
This approach is likely to give a less than ideal result because it is going to have less than 50% in terms of the key successful indicators. These pointers will mean that the policy will have major problems and issues that will render it counter-productive.
Option 3: Proactive and Coordinate Approach
This approach will include the formation and empowerment of a unique human trafficking unit that will be equipped and powerful enough to deal with victims and matters in the most productive and interactive form possible. This will include the blend of stakeholders and coordination within the scope of existing laws.
The Proactive and Coordinated Approach provides a strong and positive solution that scores almost a perfect score. This means that it is something that can be examined and applied more critically.
Conclusion
The third approach, which involves a Proactive and Coordinated effort built around a unique and autonomous human trafficking unit that is properly equipped will monitor and play a policing role that will ensure that all elements and aspects of the state of Florida can be watched closely and modified where necessary. Therefore, it is recommended that this unit must be formed and policies on how to coordinate internationally, protect victims locally and coordinate affairs in the state can be formalized.
Recommednations
In line with the findings, a new policy for the state of Florida must be formulated that will set up and apply and protect the unique human trafficking unit and activity. This should lead to a proactive method and approach that will be used as a means to formulate a unique and distinct human trafficking watchdog with the appropriate power and authority.
There must be the coordination of affairs and proper collection and utilization of data and information that will be used for the achievement of optimal results and achieving the best of results for all parties. This will support a proactive approach that will involve the change of methods and processes to achieve results as and when necessary and appropriate.
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