This is the last week of January and our last few opportunities to bring awareness to National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
International Justice Mission, a global organization focused on ending modern human slavery, estimates that there are still over 40 Million slaves in the world. That injustice is prevalent in the Greater Milwaukee region, known as a "mecca for sex trafficking" and throughout Wisconsin. It’s important to note, there has been a human trafficking case in every county in Wisconsin.
From 2013-2016 in the City of Milwaukee alone, 340 individuals (ages 25 and under) were identified as victims of sex trafficking. 231 of those victims were analyzed to get the data listed below. Of those 231 individuals:
- 80 individuals were reported missing from group homes/foster care at least once
- 86% reported interaction with police outside of their trafficking incident, including domestic violence situations, drug related instances, and being reported as “missing”
- 60 individuals had been trafficked multiple times
- 81% were confirmed victims of sex trafficking
- 55% were minors at the time of the first reported incident of trafficking
- 97% were females
*Statistics from Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission 2018 Sex Trafficking Report
Again, this is a topic that is so very important to bring awareness to and one that happens all over our state, the country, and world. We need to work together to put a stop to it.
