Last year - a major Vanity Fair story brought the issue of sex trafficking in the US to many who’d never considered the issue. And the stories it told were centered right here in Connecticut.
In that story, our first guest, Krishna Patel, an Assistant US Attorney told the magazine this:
“Human trafficking—the commercial sexual exploitation of American children and women, via the Internet, strip clubs, escort services, or street prostitution—is on its way to becoming one of the worst crimes in the U.S.”
We spoke with Patel about this issue a few years ago - and seemingly, the problem has gotten worse. Earlier this week, a father and son were charged with running a sex trafficking ring using New York City cab drivers. And Patel’s office has been involved in a number of cases of exploitation.
She helped to coordinate a panel discussion at Yale Law School called Trade of Innocents earlier this month.
As we heard on NPR’s Morning Edition today - the Justice Department is taking the issue of human trafficking very seriously. Here’s Attorney General Eric Holder - giving a major speech on the subject yesterday in Little Rock, Arkansas:
"In this country and under this administration, human trafficking will not be tolerated and that a zero tolerance, one-strike approach has taken hold I don't think could be more clear."
You can join the conversation - do we need to be paying more attention to human trafficking - a kind of modern slavery - that’s right here in Connecticut?
