Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) is a severe form of child sexual exploitation. Thus far, DMST studies have been qualitative or relied on secondary data. There has been no quantitative attempt to directly identify victims in a methodical way in order to determine the prevalence of DMST at a local level or the nature and strengths of its correlates. The present study used a three-tiered screening process to identify victims of DMST in a juvenile detention center. All youth taken into custody over a three and a half month period (N = 738) received a short assessment to identify those most at risk and in need of additional screening. During the study, six youth were identified as DMST victims and statistically significant differences were found between youth referred for additional screening (N = 47) and youth who were not. The results suggest that detention and probation staff identified the presence of DMST risk factors in youth screen interviews and were making referral decisions based on the presence of those risk factors. Practical implications of the findings are discussed along with suggestions for future research.

Recent concern in the United States about human trafficking has been directed primarily on the foreign victims that are brought into the United States rather than on U.S. citizenship who become involved. However, the topic has broadened and has significant impact on the daily lives of U.S citizens. Taking a human rights perspective, this dissertation explores how human trafficking has been used as a “brand” to achieve political and/or economic objectives. Human trafficking has taken away the human rights for individuals and threatens their security. This dissertation is grounded in Critical Theory and uses narrative analysis as a methodological framework. Using 99 public documents from Global Report on Trafficking in Persons by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, International Labor Organization, and Office for Victims of Crime and other Departments of the U.S working on human trafficking issues, with the support of Nvivo software, the dissertation insists that human trafficking violates human rights, has no capacity to support human emancipation, and causes human beings to be treated as animals or objects or commodified a brand. Even though a brand is a mark and logo in economic development and refers to objects, not human beings. Human development is the objective that everyone wants to achieve. Regardless of development, the welfare of all human beings must be the chief concern; every effort to halt all human emancipation must be initiated immediately. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Human trafficking is an international crisis which has emerged as a human rights issue of the highest priority for many nations. This is not a new occurrence, although the onset of globalization has provoked increased intensity in this international crime. Recent studies, including the U.S. State Department’s 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report have predicted that the recent global economic crisis will inflate these numbers to an even larger number of victims. This thesis will investigate these phenomena ultimately asking: Do immigration policies and economic conditions contribute to the recent proliferation in cases of human trafficking for labor purposes? Moreover with the recent global economic crisis, has consumer demand affected an increase in cheap migrant labor furthering vulnerabilities that create prime situations for human trafficking and forced labor? This thesis will investigate these questions by focusing on the geographic parameters of the United States and Mexico due to their physical proximity and the history of immigration between these neighboring countries.

Human trafficking and slavery are horrific crimes that require strict penalties for perpetrators and effective protections for survivors, but these crimes are in part facilitated by a system of laws and norms that effectively marginalize certain populations--the "unskilled" migrant. In this thesis I aim to reexamine and reinterpret the problem of human trafficking and slavery in a way that highlights the background conditions to the problem. I argue that the framework used as a conceptual foundation for addressing the problem limits the scope of responsibility. Specifically, the framework fails to acknowledge structural contributing factors I show to be relevant: law, policy, and norms impacting immigration and migrant labor. I assert that the limited scope of responsibility, which focuses heavily on direct perpetrators of the crime, leaves largely unexamined the role of social-structural processes in contributing to the problem. I use the United States as a case study in order to provide a targeted analysis of social-structural processes that contribute to the problem. In this examination of the United States, I focus on agricultural and domestic slavery. In conclusion, I attempt to build a new conceptual framework that calls attention to social-structural processes and includes this understanding in assigning responsibility for the problem. I assert that anti-trafficking efforts must account for the role of social-structural processes and that these contributing factors must be adequately addressed and incorporated into the framework for prevention.

This research looks to identify precursors to women becoming involved in trafficking for prostitution and/or sexual services in the United States. The failure to find patterns or trends regarding why women are trafficked or what types of women are trafficked most often, helps dispel some myths regarding the stereotypical victim of trafficking.

Within the U.S. there is a growing interest in the case of female adolescents being coerced into the sex industry (Bernstein, 2010; Estes & Weiner, 2001; Soderlund, 2010; Williams and Frederick, 2009). This interest, which emerged due to U.S. involvement in the international trafficking phenomena and grassroots organizing, has resulted in a movement to end commercial sexual exploitation of children (also known as "child trafficking)". Feminist activists have mobilized around this issue seeking recourse for youth who have been victims of exploitation. This thesis presents a study of a prevention/early intervention program, the "Girls Coalition," founded for adjudicated girls who are deemed "high risk" for commercial sexual exploitation. The Youth Resource Center, a non-profit organization, began the Girls Coalition in order to prevent exploitation by empowering the youth to better their lives. While not an openly identified feminist organization, the Girls Coalition does espouse feminist goals and its mission emulates feminist processes. Through qualitative methods my study explores how the staff understand their role in the lives of the youth they serve as well as the organization in which they work. Findings reveal themes centered on feminist management and organizational functioning, which includes the processes and dynamics present within the running of the organization. Results also reveal themes that include how participants enact ethics of care and empowerment of the youth whom the Girls Coalition serves. / Graduation date: 2012