The Compiler

              Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority Winter/Spring 2007
The fi ght against human traffi cking
Global forces rally to fi ght modern-day slave market in
laborers, children, and victims of the sex trade
(Continued on page 2)
By Adrianne Frederick
PUBLICATIONS 3 RESEARCH 4 GRANTS 6 TECHNOLOGY 8
The slave trade is alive and well in
21st century America, preying
particularly on women and chil-dren
coerced into forced labor and
commercial sexual exploitation.
Governments and social organizations
worldwide have begun to fi ght back
against human traffi cking, which they
say undermines human rights achieve-ments
in democratic societies, threatens
public health and safety, fosters the
growth of organized crime—which
fi nds traffi cking a lucrative revenue
source—and may even constitute a po-tential
terrorist tool.
Data collection
challenges
Victims of this ugly global enterprise
are in this country in startling numbers,
but available statistics vary among
sources.
Worldwide, the Justice Department, Bu-reau
of Justice Assistance, fi gures that
the enslaved number 27 million, 80 per-cent
of whom are women, and that as
many as 2 million victims are each year
traffi cked across international borders.
Between 18,000 and 20,000 victims also
enter the U.S. every year, according to
the Administration for Children and
Survivor gives a voice to women, teens
living in the shadows of the sex trade
By Cristin Monti Evans
Photo credit: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(See VOICE, page 7)
After more than two decades of
prostituting herself on the streets,
Brenda Myers-Powell had been
repeatedly shot, stabbed, and sexually
assaulted before fi nally deciding she
had to get out. After one last violent
episode, she fi nally said, “Enough is
enough.”
Myers-Powell left the streets after 25
years to build a new life as a health
educator, sex trade victim advocate,
motivational speaker, and daytime TV
personality. Today she is a voice for
other women struggling to survive on
the streets and trying to exit the life of