Is Human Trafficking an Issue in America's Backyards? by Barry Goodson in JFSCI - Juniper Publishers
Hello, my name is Barry Goodson and I serve as a Professor of Criminal Justice with Columbia Southern University. My experience ranges from serving with a Special Ops group known as the CAP Marines during the Vietnam War to service in law enforcement as a member of the CAC Investigation Task Force, which involved many cases concerning local human trafficking, which is typically heralded as a crime that only happens overseas. My purpose for this article is to further awareness of this crime in our very backyards. One of the more memorable cases I worked involved a 13-year-old girl, who lived in the northern part of our county. Her parents were far from wealthy, dictating both parents work, leaving the child home alone many hours of each day. Sound familiar? According to E.J. Dionne, Jr. of the Washington Post [1], "most families these days cannot afford to have one parent stay home with the kids". This was the case with this family. Additionally, as our children reach the age of puberty, which may be one of the most emotional and more vulnerable stages in life, we, as parents, seem to believe that our children can automatically assume responsibility for their lives and that they will make the right decisions in any given situation, which is a task that remains formidable for most adults.
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