By Paul Waldmiller
Did you know that today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day?
With the recent conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell for sex trafficking children, there appears to be a resurgence of interest in rescuing children from sex trafficking.
According to data gathered from etatctics.com website, Florida politicians, police and courts have more work to do in rescuing both children and adults from the criminal act of human and sex trafficking:
- Florida is one of the three worst states for rates and reported cases of trafficked victims. There are 4.08 cases per 100k people. (World Population Review)
- Traffickers don’t discriminate against who they target. (National Human Trafficking Hotline). Victims include
Children
Adults
Females
Males
Ethnic Minorities
Other demographics
- Human trafficking is now the second most common criminal activity behind illegal drug trade. (Stop Human Trafficking)
- Half of all trafficking victims in the state are minors, (Florida Health)
- In 2019, 734 human trafficking cases involved females, 125 cases involved males, and 3 cases involved gender minorities, (National Human Trafficking Hotline)
- The average age that a trafficked victim is first used for commercial sex is 12 to 14 years old. (WFLA)