Human Trafficking

“What is human trafficking? Where does it exist?  What contributes to human trafficking?” (My Sister’s House).  People may not consider human trafficking as a part of human rights, but human trafficking is a modern form of slavery.  According to World English Dictionary, slavery is “the state or condition of being a slave; a civil relationship whereby one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty, and fortune.”  In other words, a person has the power over another’s human rights when that person is a slave.  This means that human trafficking forces people into labor and/or sex and their natural rights are taken a way from them.  But most people only believes that human trafficking is related with prostitution. My question is why has no one tried to stop human trafficking?

My Sister’s House, a non-profit organization, has a pamphlet titling Human Trafficking: Look Beneath the Surface.  In the pamphlet, it answers the earlier questions.  It states that “trafficking victims can be single or married, any age or ethnicity” (My Sister’s House).  The victim for human trafficking can be anyone.  One may even know or knew someone that was a victim.  It goes on to state that “all around the world there are millions of women, men, and children who are enslaved and force to live in most horrific living conditions” (My Sister’s House).  This means that neither gender nor does age matter.  Lastly, the pamphlet states that “the most significant contributing factor is the lack of awareness action of the issue which results in continued trafficking” (My Sister’s House).  In other words, people are aware of the situation, but no one has stopped it from happening.

The only thing that the pamphlet omits was not being more concise on the labor part of human trafficking.  Most people would not care about the labor part because they are more interested in why people would force others in to prostitution.  Besides that, My Sister’s House is bias against those who are forced  into human trafficking.  It seems they want to have people start acting on preventing human trafficking from happening.

There are pros and cons for prostitution in dealing with Human Trafficking.  Marjan Wijers, Chair of the European Commission's Expert Group on Trafficking in Human Beings, states that a pro for Human Trafficking is "criminalizing the sex industry creates ideal conditions for rampant exploitation and abuse of sex workers...[I]t is believed that trafficking in women, coercion and exploitation can only be stopped if the existence of prostitution is recognized and the legal and social rights of prostitutes are guaranteed" (Top 10 Pros and Cons: Should prostitution be legal?).  On the opposition, Margareta Winberg, former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, states that "I believe that we will never succeed in combating trafficking in women if we do not simultaneously work to abolish prostitution and the sexual exploitation of women and children. Particularly in light of the fact that many women in prostitution in countries that have legalized prostitution are originally victims of trafficking in women"(Top 10 Pros and Cons: Should prostitution be legal?).  In my opinion,  no one has stopped human trafficking because  of what Margareta Winberg said that many women in prostitution were originally victims of trafficking, so that means that people see that these women are no longer in slavery to people.

References

My Sister's House. Human Trafficking: Look Beneath the Surface. Print.

"Slavery | Define Slavery at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Free Online Dictionary for English       Definitions. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/slavery>.

"Top 10 Pros and Cons - Prostitution - ProCon.org." Prostitution ProCon.org -- Should Prostitution Be Legal?      Web. 17 Apr. 2011. <http://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000115>.

Racial Profiling

What is racial profiling?  Are there any beliefs that law enforcement officials racially profile?  These questions may flow in one’s mind.  The criminal justice system is the most bias and prejudicial system in society from the time of slavery to terrorism. Racial profiling has effects on human rights because the criminal justice system is most likely conduct these racial profiling on ethnic minorities. According to WordNet, “racial profiling is a form of racism consisting of the (alleged) policy of policemen who stop and search vehicles driven by persons belonging to particular racial groups.” My question is why is racial profiling still around?

In the book, Critical Issues in Crime and Justice, by Mary Maguire and Dan Okada discuss racial profiling through police ethics, contemporary race and crime issues, and the research on conflict theory and the police.  Maguire and Okada discusses that “ Higgins, Gabbidon, and Jordan analyzed data from the 2004 Minority Rights and Relations/Black-White Social Audit poll and found that blacks were more likely than whites to believe that racial profiling is widespread” (Maguire 105).  The authors also state that “racial profiling can occur whether or not those targeted are actually engaged in any crimes” (Maguire 105). African Americans believe that officers are racists because they are the most likely to get pulled over by police officers and believe that they have done something wrong.; however, the officers may be looking for someone that committed a crime that resembles the one being pulled over.  Often descriptions are black males from 5 foot 2 to 6 feet.  This makes up majority of all blacks.  This could be the same for other ethnic minorities; however, it depends on how they see law enforcement.

Both Maguire and Okada seem to know what they are talking about.  They hardly omit information.  However, they need to supply the percentage from the Minority Rights and Relations/Black-White Social Audit poll.  This is so that people could see how much more blacks believed that racial profiling was widespread as well as the percentage of other minorities that might have the same beliefs.  Racial profiling is ethicallt wrong for the officer and the criminal justice system in general.  The authors seem to be unbiased when discussing the issue of racial profiling because they made one section of the book all about racial profiling even if the authors wrote on other main critical issues.

Racial profiling has changed since 9/11. Since the “War on Terrorism,” there seem to be some people feel uncomfortable with certain people.  In the article from the CNN.com,“Airlines, Passengers Confront Racial Profiling,” about airlines and passengers confrontations on racial profiling.  An argument against racial profiling is that one passenger stated that "they were treating me like a suspect." The passenger also said "I felt like I was in custody."   In my opinion, racial profiling is unethical as well as a violation of human rights. There is some ethnic minorities that are under the impression that when they are approached by law enforcement that it is racial profiling when in reality, it is for just misidentification or that official is racist.

References:

"CNN.com - Airlines, Passengers Confront Racial Profiling - October 3, 2001." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. 03 Oct. 2001. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. <http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TRAVEL/NEWS/10/03/rec.airlines.profiling/index.html>.

Maguire, M. and Dan Okada. Critical Issues in Crime and Justice: Thoughts, Policy, and    Practice. Sage: Thousand Oaks, California. 2011.

“Racial Profiling.” WordNet. Web. 27 Mar 2011