Speaker for the Living

With the rise of true crime podcasts, documentaries, and television shows (hey, murderinos!), JJ (who is also crime obsessed) can't help but wonder—why hasn't human trafficking been taken up by the true crime community? This week, Seth and JJ discuss why studying killers can be helpful to those who study trafficking, how the true crime community can help, and the legal differences between trafficking and other crimes like kidnapping. JJ also weirds out Seth with her love of murder.

Sources:

* A Brief History Of Court TV,  Where Many A True-Crime Obsession Was Born, Gizmodo

* Atlanta Monster, Tenderfoot TV and HowStuffWorks

* Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the Anglo-Jamaican World by Trevor Burnard, Amazon

* Ariel Castro Kidnappings, Wikipedia

* I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, HarperCollinsPublishers

* Photo: Max Pixel

Seth and JJ talk about the challenges of using software to fight human trafficking, most notably on the Internet. Software tools like MEMEX and those produced by Thorn are essential in making connections across many forms of data, but algorithms can only do so much, and false positives and false negatives can occur. Sex and labor trafficking require different software approaches. Software targeting sex traffickers can analyze ads and forum postings across the web. Assessments and audits of supply chains are one way of using software to address labor trafficking. Humans will remain essential in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. Seth explains software concepts. And JJ questions the effectiveness of demand reduction approaches on the Internet for sex trafficking (while not talking about demand reduction for labor trafficking).

Sources:

* Ashton Kutcher Testifies to Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Speaker for the Living

* Memex Helps Find Human Trafficking Cases Online, Human Trafficking Center

* How the Global Economy Fosters Human Trafficking, Stefano Zamagni

* The Economics of Human Trafficking, Institute for Faith, Work & Economics

* Spotlight, Thorn

* Software that detects human trafficking, The Economist

* Assessments, Verité

* Maurice Middleberg, Free the Slaves

* Our Research, Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking

* Photo: DARPA

President Trump signed FOSTA into law on April 11, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017. Seth and JJ discuss the story of Backpage.com, and how it led to FOSTA being passed. Survivors have advocated for and against the law. While it has potential to be a useful tool against traffickers, there are concerns about how it may negative impact sex workers and free speech, due to ambiguous language and focusing on both sex trafficking and prostitution.

Sources:

* President Donald J. Trump Signs H.R. 1865 into Law, The White House

* Trump Signs Controversial FOSTA Bill Targeting Online Sex Trafficking, HuffPost

* Justice Department Leads Effort to Seize Backpage.Com, the Internet’s Leading Forum for Prostitution Ads, and Obtains 93-Count Federal Indictment, Department of Justice

* Feds Praise Backpage Takedown as Sex Workers Fear for Their Lives, Gizmodo

* Backpage.com's Founders, Employees Indicted on Charges of Facilitating Prostitution, Rolling Stone

* If Backpage's Shutdown is a Win for Sex Workers, Why are Sex Workers So Mad About it, The Washington Post

* Backpage.com's Knowing Facilitation of Online Sex Trafficking, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, United States Senate

* How Backpage Saved My Life, Medium

* Backpage Is Bad. Banning It Would Be Worse., The Daily Beast

* What Methods, Strategies Will Sex Traffickers Use Following Seizure Of Backpage?, CBS

* Backpage.com sex advert website owners face charges, BBC

* “Erotic Review” blocks US Internet users to prepare for government crackdown, Ars Technica

* Stop Online Sex Trafficking – Call NOW to Support FOSTA-SESTA Act, National Organization for Women New York City

* Today! Tell your Senator to vote for FOSTA+SESTA package., World Without Exploitation

* Action Alert: Support SESTA/FOSTA, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation

* PSA featuring Seth Meyers, Amy Schumer, Josh Charles, Tony Shalhoub and others - FOSTA-SESTA, Vimeo

* The Law Needs to Stop Protecting Sex-Trafficking Websites, Lenny Letter

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Guest Kyleanne Hunter​ of VetsForGunReform joins Seth and JJ to discuss how gun trafficking, drug trafficking, and human trafficking are linked via transnational criminal organizations, cartels, and gangs. They look at how guns are used as currency in illicit markets internationally, which is aided by lax guns law in the US. Lastly, they talk about the challenges of researching and discussing mitigation from a national security perspective.

Sources:

* Kyleanne Hunter​

* Kyleanne Hunter, Twitter

* VetsForGunReform

* VetsForGunReform, Twitter

* Why Mexico’s drug cartels love America’s gun laws, The Washington Post

* Inside the illegal online weapons trade, CNN

* Human Trafficking Outpaces Drugs, Guns As World's Fastest Growing Criminal Industry, WGBH

* United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto, UNODC

* Photo: Wikipedia

 

 

Seth and JJ explain the UAC law within the TVPA, along with the the challenges faced by the children and the US government in trying to manage the situation. The story of unaccompanied alien children isn't just what happens when they arrive at our border and possibly enter our county. It's what happens when they are turned away. It's about the journey there, and possibly back again. It's what can happen along the way. How we treat children at our borders makes a statement. It can't be just about America and Americans. If we are a great nation, we have a responsibility for more.

Sources:

* State of the Union 2018: Read the full transcript, CNN

* What Trump Doesn't Understand About MS-13, The Atlantic

* Trump’s assault on immigrant children must stop, The Hill

* Reauthorize, Don’t Gut, the TVPA, Freedom Network USA

* Protecting victims of human trafficking - the TVPA and where the focus should really be, International Justice Mission

* Statement on The Protection of Children Act of 2017, House Judiciary Committee

* William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, U.S. Department of State

* Unaccompanied Alien Children: A Primer, Bipartisan Policy Center

* Unaccompanied Minors Flow Out Of Central America Under Weak Border Enforcement, Huffington Post

* Rising Child Migration to the United States, Migration Policy Institute

* Riding ‘the beast’: child migrants reveal full horror of their journeys to America, The Guardian

* Migrants Ride a ‘Train of Death’ to Get to America & We’re Ignoring the Root of the Problem, Huffington Post

* Which Way Home (2009), IMDB

* Photo: Wikipedia

 

 

 

Seth and JJ talk about human smuggling as a business operation and explain how human smuggling is different from human trafficking. Who are the people involved in the business of human smuggling? How do people pay for smuggling and how much does it cost? How are people vulnerable in the smuggling process? Seth shares of few of his precarious experiences while transiting to Cambodia. JJ talks about snakeheads in China, including the infamous Sister Ping.

Sources:

* Tinti, Peter and Tuesday Reitano. Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Savior. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

* The Cost Of Crossing, Planet Money

* United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

* Snakehead empress who made millions trafficking in misery, The Guardian

* A Smuggler of Immigrants Dies in Prison, but Is Praised in Chinatown, The New York Times

* Supporting the Snakeheads: Human Smuggling from China and the 1996 Amendment to the U.S. Statutory Definition of Refugee, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

* China Is Among Worst Human Trafficking Offenders, State Dept. Says, The New York Times

* How can migrants afford huge smuggling fees? Three answers, Open Borders

* Prices Charged by Human Smugglers, HavocScope

* Human smuggling fees, Open Borders

* An Analysis of Migrant Smuggling Costs along the Southwest Border, US Department of Homeland Security

* Smugglers up prices for crossing border, Mexico News Daily

* Border Crossing Costs, Mexican Migration Project

* The Conservative Case for Immigration Tariffs, Competitive Enterprise Institute

* Photo: Ggia on Wikipedia

Leanne McCallum, Task Force Coordinator for the Greater New Orleans Human Trafficking Task Force, and Human Trafficking Center alum, joins Seth and JJ to talk about services available to survivors of human trafficking, some challenges survivors have in navigating services, and how service providers are collaborating in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Sources:

* Greater New Orleans Human Trafficking Task Force

* Photo: Pixabay

Erotic service provider and adult play specialist Domina Elle on erotic service, decriminalization verses legalization, and the way the modern trafficking movement forgets or mischaracterizes consensual workers.

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, but the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) has expired. Seth and JJ talkd about how the Trump administration and a GOP Congress failed to reauthorize the TVPA, which means funding for many programs ended in 2017. Despite early indications that the Trump administration may prioritize anti-trafficking efforts, actions prove otherwise. Further, Homeland Security has further emphasized a Prosecution approach to trafficking, primarily directing people to ICE. JJ talks about the Protection and Prevention.

Sources:

* President Donald J. Trump Proclaims January 2018 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, White House

* Thinking about Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Human Rights First

* Congressional Human Trafficking Legislation in August 2017, Speaker for the Living

* H.R.898 - Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2013, Congress

* Trump Signed 96 Laws In 2017. Here Is What They Do And How They Measure Up, NPR

* Trump is Slashing Trafficking Programs, Your Help is Needed Now, Free the Slaves

* What is Modern Slavery?, US Department of State

* Blue Campaign, US Department of Homeland Security

* Common Health Issues Seen in Victims of Human Trafficking, Department of Health and Human Services

* FBI rescues 84 children from sex traffickers in nationwide raid, Independent

* Human Trafficking News, US Department of Justice

* Responsible Public Awareness Campaigns for Human Trafficking, Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking

* Human Trafficking Awareness Training, US Department of Homeland Security

 

President Donald Trump reportedly questioned, “Why do we need more Haitians?” and “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” in a meeting on Thursday, January 11th. Hosts Seth Daire and JJ Janflone discuss what happened at the meeting, and how this will have a negative impact on international relations, as well as human trafficking. The Trump administration's position on immigration is problematic even if Trump didn't say everything attributed to him, and a number of people are defending Trump's words as if he said them, which is highly disturbing, and also showing a lack of understanding of international migrations flows, most notably why people migrate.

"We need to be better, and looking at the rest of the world, to think more highly of people." - Seth Daire

Sources:

* Trump derides protections for immigrants from ‘shithole’ countries, The Washington Post

* Trump decries immigrants from 'shithole countries' coming to US, CNN

* Shithole special, Vox's The Weeds

* Here are the right-wing media figures defending Trump’s racist “shithole” comment, Media Matters for America

* The “Shithole Countries”—and the Rest of the World—Respond to President Trump, The New Yorker

* Ryan calls Trump 's---hole' remarks 'unhelpful' and 'unfortunate', The Hill

* This is how ignorant you have to be to call Haiti a ‘shithole’, The Washington Post

* What Really Happened in Congo, Foreign Affairs

* 11 Incredible Books by Writers from ‘Shithole’ Countries, Electric Literature

* Photos: Wikipedia and Pixabay