The Center Square - While highlighting achievements and investments, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency has been shining the spotlight on the individuals impacted by its work. The claims help recover from lost wages, pay medical expenses, and more. The roundtable highlighted the work of the NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking, which brings together victim services, community organizations, and law enforcement to combat the issue at the regional level. Advocates say without education addressing these misconceptions within the public, traffickers can continue preying on vulnerable people undetected.
Venues for trafficking cover a broad spectrum of public places, with the crime occurring more or less in plain sight. While sex trafficking often happens in the locations broadcasted by media - the streets, hotels, online, and at truck stops, migrant camps, and brothels - labor trafficking can occur anywhere people work, from restaurants to factories and even homes.
PennDOT is working with the commission in the statewide human trafficking workgroup. Much like the task force, it takes an interdisciplinary approach, which centers victim advocacy alongside law enforcement to address the problem.
The subject has been one of intense debate at the national level. Additionally, a victim-centered approach takes into account the risks inherent to victims coming forward, such as retaliation by their abusers or even being charged themselves for crimes like prostitution they committed under coercion.
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