Twenty First Century: Combating Human Trafficking
Interview Report
Prepared for: Dr. Wendy Stickle - CCJS325 - Slavery in the Twenty First Century: Combating Human Trafficking, University of Maryland College Park. Prepare by: Cristina dos Reis, Nicholas Christopher, Pamela Bravo, and Tuan Nguyen.
March 7, 2014
Human sex trafficking is an epidemic affecting millions around the world. Recently, it is becoming more prevalent in Maryland due to a convenient location that facilitates trafficking. According to The Abell Report, Police [and] social agencies say human trafficking [is] growing faster than authorities can control. For the aforementioned reasons, we have decided to conduct an interview in an attempt to understand and inform ourselves and others on what local police …show more content…
This question is important because it can show us the strains on the department that can have negative effects on their success and thus, negative effects in bringing/not bringing awareness to the main problems at hand. Unfortunately, Sergeant Penrod informed us that prosecution of traffickers in the state of Maryland is not priority. He states that Montgomery County has eight detectives and only one prosecutor for these cases. No comment on that is enough to portray the group’s frustration. Once again Sergeant Penrod makes his dissatisfaction clear regarding prosecutions and states, "the failure to prosecute and sentence [traffickers] appropriately allows them to continually victimize and profit." The group understood that it must be very frustrating for law enforcement to spend months or even sometimes even more than a year investigating crime organizations when in the end, the criminals aren’t even put in …show more content…
This question is important because knowing a state’s ranking gives insight on how much that state should be focusing on abolition and awareness. A state with a poor rating deserves more attention with regards to awareness. To our surprise, Maryland gets a very poor grade in human trafficking compared to other states. Sgt. Penrod does believe that most of Maryland’s laws are sufficient to combat the majority of human trafficking but, if the individuals arrested are not prosecuted and sentenced, then we are fighting an unwinnable battle. He believes Maryland should pass state RICO laws to combat human trafficking organizations and money laundering laws. However, Maryland can’t even amend its massage laws to require licensing of acupressure/reflexology to stop labor trafficking. The solutions aren’t really complex, but in a state where the prosecution of human traffickers is not a priority in most jurisdictions, it looks
Prepared for: Dr. Wendy Stickle - CCJS325 - Slavery in the Twenty First Century: Combating Human Trafficking, University of Maryland College Park. Prepare by: Cristina dos Reis, Nicholas Christopher, Pamela Bravo, and Tuan Nguyen.
March 7, 2014
Human sex trafficking is an epidemic affecting millions around the world. Recently, it is becoming more prevalent in Maryland due to a convenient location that facilitates trafficking. According to The Abell Report, Police [and] social agencies say human trafficking [is] growing faster than authorities can control. For the aforementioned reasons, we have decided to conduct an interview in an attempt to understand and inform ourselves and others on what local police …show more content…
This question is important because it can show us the strains on the department that can have negative effects on their success and thus, negative effects in bringing/not bringing awareness to the main problems at hand. Unfortunately, Sergeant Penrod informed us that prosecution of traffickers in the state of Maryland is not priority. He states that Montgomery County has eight detectives and only one prosecutor for these cases. No comment on that is enough to portray the group’s frustration. Once again Sergeant Penrod makes his dissatisfaction clear regarding prosecutions and states, "the failure to prosecute and sentence [traffickers] appropriately allows them to continually victimize and profit." The group understood that it must be very frustrating for law enforcement to spend months or even sometimes even more than a year investigating crime organizations when in the end, the criminals aren’t even put in …show more content…
This question is important because knowing a state’s ranking gives insight on how much that state should be focusing on abolition and awareness. A state with a poor rating deserves more attention with regards to awareness. To our surprise, Maryland gets a very poor grade in human trafficking compared to other states. Sgt. Penrod does believe that most of Maryland’s laws are sufficient to combat the majority of human trafficking but, if the individuals arrested are not prosecuted and sentenced, then we are fighting an unwinnable battle. He believes Maryland should pass state RICO laws to combat human trafficking organizations and money laundering laws. However, Maryland can’t even amend its massage laws to require licensing of acupressure/reflexology to stop labor trafficking. The solutions aren’t really complex, but in a state where the prosecution of human traffickers is not a priority in most jurisdictions, it looks