Human Trafficking in Missouri
Human trafficking is worse than ever. In 2015 alone, there were 365 reported signals by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. Of these reported cases, 67 of them were in Missouri. There are far more than 365 cases of human trafficking, just in the U.S., but thousands of cases go unreported.
The 67 reported cases in Missouri, 62 of them were female and five of them male, nearly a third were minors and 20 were United States citizens. All but eight of these cases were for sex. The state of Missouri realizes that this is an issue that needs to be addressed and hopefully stopped. To prevent human trafficking in the future, Missouri law enforcement holds numerous seminars and conferences to raise awareness that human trafficking is happening and what to look for. Efforts have been made to do random checks and to monitor hotel rooms and have law enforcement aware of what is going on on the Internet.
People need to also be educated about this matter as a way to prevent human trafficking in the future. The D.A.R.E. program has recently become involved and has started to educate young people about human trafficking. Their mission statement, “A world in which students everywhere are empowered to respect others and choose to lead lives free from violence, substance abuse, and other dangerous behaviors,” stresses on the importance of no longer allowing a student go down a wrong path from just drugs or alcohol, but they need to know that human trafficking is out there and how to protect themselves.
If a victim and/or a pimp were to be caught by law enforcement, they can be arrested and prosecuted accordingly. The prostituted person can receive a Class B misdemeanor resulting in up to six months of jail, and up to a $500 fine. If the prostituted person knowingly has HIV, then they are charged with a Class B Felony that can be anywhere from 5-15 years of prison. The Johns receive a Class B Misdemeanor for patronizing. If the prostituted person is 14-17 years of age the John receives a Class A misdemeanor resulting in a penalty up to one year in jail, and or a fine up to $1,000. If the Prostituted Person is under 14 years of age then the crime results in a Class D felony, which is up to 5 years in prison or they can spend 1 year in jail and pay a fine up to $5,000.
There are also other services offered to the first time offender Johns. There is the Johnz School and The Oar (Offenders Accountability Re-Education) Program. This form of diversion is an alternative to conviction, as long as there were not minors involved. The main purposes of these programs are to show men how they are implicated in support of a brutal system and discourage them of future participation. All of the fees collected from the programs are put back into Veronica’s Voice.
Veronica’s Voice is Kansas City’s only 24 hour hotline crisis, advocacy, non-profit, survivor-recovery program there is. Their goal is to, “Influence systemic change through survivor informed leadership, by connecting with American victims of commercial sexual exploitation of all ages, advocating for DEMAND reduction, and providing community education and awareness on the realities of prostitution in America and ALL its forms.” This organization allows victims to slowly gain their lives, confidence, and self- worth back.
In October of 2015, Emily Russell, an advocate for victims of trafficking crimes, and Representative Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, joined forces to create a task force in Missouri. This task force would focus on ways to strengthen Missouri’s anti-human trafficking laws as well as raise awareness of human trafficking happening in Missouri. State lawmakers have teamed up with victim and child advocates as well as law enforcement officials with the goal of publishing their findings and using them to improve Missouri’s current laws on human trafficking. One of the biggest challenges it faces is getting people to realize just how common human trafficking is in Missouri.
Husch Blackwell has created the first legal clinic in the country that is dedicated to helping all victims of human trafficking that have been referred to them by the U.S. Attorney’s office. The Western District of Missouri has prosecuted more human trafficking cases than any other district in the U.S. All of this work is done pro bono by Cynthia L. Cordes, the former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western district of Missouri. In 2006, the Western District of Missouri created the Human Trafficking Rescue Project to combat trafficking. Today, it is considered one of the most successful task forces in the country. Another important task force in Missouri is The Central Missouri Stop Human Trafficking Coalition. They want to not only identify victims and support them on their road to recovery, but also expose traffickers and buyers.
