On January 26, 2024, the Criminal Justice Center at CSU Law partnered with the Department of Counseling, Administration, Supervision, and Adult Learning (“CASAL”) under CSU Levin College of Public Affairs and Education to provide a space for practitioners in the legal and mental health spaces to discuss the timely topic of human trafficking. The program, “Human Trafficking Unveiled: The Digital Frontier of Webcam Pornography,” continued in the theme of exploring the digital space and its implications on life today. Sparked by the recent arrest of Andrew Tate, the program explored “the growing market for webcam pornography and the industries link to human trafficking.” Presenters brought the perspectives of law enforcement as well as legal and mental health professionals to explore the “supply and demand for human exploitation and the billion-dollar, international, web-based sex industry.” (emphasis added).
In her keynote, Kirsti Mouncey, President and CEO of Collaborative to End Human Trafficking (“Collaborative”), demonstrated the collaborative efforts within Ohio to combat this pervasive issue pointing toward over 70 different organizations and entities all working together for victims and survivors. Mouncey draws on her profound experience in social work and previous 15-year experience as Chief Program Officer at the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center when she meets with new survivors of human trafficking. She explained that through community-led efforts, the Collaborative’s mission to see a world without human trafficking can come into fruition. This involves a strategic approach incorporating education, awareness, technical assistance, facilitation of referrals to services (Greater Cincinnati Coalition Against Human Trafficking), and even a Survivor Advisory Council comprised of over a dozen individuals leading the charge and providing guidance through their lived experience.
Yet, it is far from simple. Human trafficking is intricate and ever-changing along with modern technology. It also intersects with public safety, human services and organizations, public health, behavioral health, government, education, child development, economic organizations, and businesses. On top of that is the cost to victims’ time. There is typically a 10-year journey of trauma healing and restoration once a survivor is no longer being trafficked. Utterly heartbreaking – ten years of intentional and deliberate self-healing and trauma healing to “restore back to a level of someone who has not undergone human trafficking.” CSU Law alum and Director of the Human Trafficking Project at Case Western Reserve University, Maya Simek, expanded on Mouncey’s description. As an Ohio Licensed Independent Social Worker with Supervision designation, Simek broke down the legal elements to the law. An action to induce, recruit, harbor, transport, provide or obtain an individual through the means of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of commercial sex, labor, or both. Note that the law does not require the State to prove force, fraud, or coercion for cases involving minors.
With this framework in mind, Simek stated the relevancy of trauma-responsive models where the law is one tool, but not the only one. Simek explained that “if you’re not looking at the whole person, you can’t best assist them.” This further demonstrates the necessity of additional tools to reach goals on micro-, mezzo-, and macro-levels. On a micro level, the goal is to work with people on a one-on-one basis; to provide them with services they need. On a mezzo level, the goal is to translate the law into something the community can understand. On a macro level, the goal is to translate stories of survivorship up and down into positive, protective legislation. To reach these goals, it’s vital to have resources in various “buckets of wellness” to refer persons to; “you can’t be everything for every person.”
But what exactly is human trafficking? Mouncey explains that human trafficking requires three ingredients that do not exist within a vacuum: a vulnerable person, an exploiter, and a demand. A vulnerable person can be characterized as someone who has experienced abuse or neglect or has had prior engagement with children services, family dysfunction, poverty, or a disability; an exploiter is self-explanatory; and demand is for sex, labor, or both.
Ohio currently ranks 5th in the nation for human trafficking due to our multiple major highways, rural communities with large temporary populations, the substance use epidemic, and proximity to the Canadian border. Each of these factors increases the ease of mobility and control over a person being trafficked. Simek posed an interesting question: why is it good that Ohio is ranked so highly? The answer is resources. Because of the high national ranking, Ohio is able to bring more awareness, more resources, more billboard campaigns – more tools to combat human trafficking than other states. These tools collectively make trafficked persons more comfortable with reaching out for help.
Simek alluded to three typical prongs to fighting human trafficking: prevention, protection, and prosecution. She then added a fourth: partnership. One such partnership among a vast array of organizations and entities is with the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department through Detective John Morgan. Detective Morgan is a 24-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department and is a Department of Homeland Security Investigations Task Force Officer assigned to the Ohio Attorney General’s Northeast Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force. He previously investigated violent crimes within Human Trafficking Investigations for the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Detective Morgan is also a military veteran, having completed active-duty combat tours with the United States Marine Corps and the Ohio National Guard.
Within his 24-years as Sheriff’s Detective and 16-years combatting human trafficking, Detective Morgan is an expert within all prongs in the fight against human trafficking. He has seen the world of human trafficking become the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Where $99 billion of $150 billion associated with sex trafficking. Detective Morgan noted that this is due to the diversifying nature of drug traffickers into sex trafficking – a renewable resource. As of January 2024, a trafficked person would generate $1,500 per day for their trafficker with only two days off per month. Based on this information, traffickers are making over $500,000 a year; $42,000 per month.
Detective Morgan provided a framework for today’s recruitment process. The “who” being runaways, “throwaways,” persons with no purpose/direction or with a void in their life. Persons of low self-esteem, lower IQ, and history of mental disabilities were also included. The “where” being everywhere. Trafficked persons were taken from schools, group homes, bus stations, malls, or other teen hangout spots. Lastly, the “how” being through the rise in technology – texting, social media, and dating apps. The average age of a trafficked person is 14 with the youngest that Detective Morgan has seen being 11 years old, and the oldest being 66 years old. Over 25% of trafficked persons are recruited as juveniles with life expectancy after becoming a prostitute being a startlingly low 7 years. This information is regularly proffered from arrested traffickers themselves.
Detective Morgan shared the story of a time when a man went to a Starbucks to purchase a 16-year-old girl. He noted hurdles of addiction, mental health, trauma, and our own unconscious bias. Mental Health Professional Dr. Brain Le Clair spoke from Los Angeles, California, on the economic vulnerability of victims like immigration status and traffickers using calls to “I.C.E.” as a means of compliance.
So, how can we help when trafficking seems like an impossible criminal industry to take down, when even coffee shops become a normal venue to meet, proposition, and sell people? Detective Morgan pointed to a simple solution – if you see something, say something. If you suspect something, say something. Call the Cuyahoga County Human Trafficking Task Force hotline at 216-443-6085 where they will respond within twenty (20) minutes.
Human trafficking is now venturing into a completely online venue through cam sites. These sites provide a space where victims do not have to physically interact with Johns. These virtual platforms can provide traffickers with even more continued control over victims for exploitation through full dependency. Dr. Le Clair explained how a psychological manipulation and grooming process causes groomed victims to believe they are making their own choice to engage in commercial sex. These further highlight how traffickers can run their shows – literally and figuratively – from anywhere in the world. Or, anywhere in Ohio, whether that is in the Heights, Downtown Cleveland, the East-side, the West-side, Gates Mills, or Moreland Hills. So, if you suspect something, say something. Call the Cuyahoga County Human Trafficking Task Force hotline at 216-443-6085.
Timely discussions like these are made possible to us as students by the dedication and hard work of Andrew Heffron, the Continuing Education Coordinator at CASAL, and Dr. Laura Hoffman, Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for Health Law and Policy at CSU Law. They have worked extensively to host these seminars in ways that allow practitioners to obtain CE/CLE credits, but also for students to attend free of charge. Additionally, Co-Directors Jonathan Witmer-Rich and Robert Triozzi of the Criminal Justice Center and Jill Natran, Manager of Administrative Operations, have been instrumental in bringing these opportunities to CSU Law. Last, but certainly not least, the astounding IT team at CSU Law are always working diligently to ensure that every conference, symposium, or program goes off without a hitch. Thank you all for enriching this educational journey for your students and professional networks alike.
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