16 – Gangs and Human Trafficking, with Laura Lederer

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Recorded24 Nov 2011

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Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak are joined by Dr. Laura Lederer from Global Centurion. They discuss the connection between street gangs and human trafficking and how law enforcement and the wider community can begin to address this new criminal activity in their community. Laura Lederer Laura J. Lederer founded and directed The Protection Project at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1997. From 2001 to 2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons in the U.S. Department of State. She also served as Executive Director of the Senior Policy Operating Group on Trafficking in Persons, a high-level policy group that staffed the President’s cabinet-level Inter-agency Task Force on Trafficking in Persons. She has worked as a Subject Matter Expert for the U.S. Department of Defense designing trainings on trafficking for the military and data collection instruments to track DoD related trafficking cases, and as Subject Matter Expert for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help integrate human trafficking into Runaway and Homeless Youth programs. She designed and conducted the first retrospective study of health consequences of human trafficking. Her book, Modern Slavery: A Documentary and Reference Guide (Greenwood Publishing, 2018) examines primary source materials to track the development of the 21st century anti-trafficking movement. Key Points Through an international case law project at Global Centurion, Laura and her team discovered the connection of gang involvement in human trafficking. To stop the reactivity to trafficking, they changed their framework to understanding human trafficking as supply, demand, and distribution. Addressing the root of trafficking means looking at the demand, those who are purchasing commercial sex from women, men, and children. Case law reviews revealed how often gangs are running sex trafficking rings of women and children. There is a major disconnect between task forces focused on gangs and task forces focused on human trafficking, even though they are becoming more and more linked. Addressing this new criminal activity requires more training and law enforcement for the community and for vulnerable youth. Seven key recommendations: Make sure you have anti-gang laws, whether at the state, county, or city level. Introduce new policies that address gangs facilitating human trafficking. Charge and prosecute all gang criminal activity, including human trafficking, so these trends can be identified. Adding human trafficking to injunction and restraining orders preventing criminal gang activity. Use already established local laws to de-incentivize the facilitation of human trafficking, such as property abatement laws. Educate youth: boys about recruitment in gangs, and girls about recruitment into sex trafficking. As well a teachers, caretakers, church leaders, etc. with tailored trainings. Resources Global Centurion Sold for Sex: The Link Between Street Gangs and Trafficking in Persons by Laura Lederer [Note from the Ending Human Trafficking podcast team: This episode was recorded in 2011 so the contact information provided is no longer accurate. Please refer endinghumantrafficking.org/contact for the correct contact information to get in touch with the EHT podcast.] Love the show? Consider supporting us on Patreon! Become a Patron Transcript Dave [00:00:00] Hello. You're listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 16, recorded in October 2011. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak. Sandie [00:00:29] And I'm Sandie Morgan. Dave [00:00:31] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice,

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