The State of Alabama and a coalition of law enforcement and non-profit support groups have issued a new report on human trafficking. The study breaks down the issue into vulnerabilities and efforts at combating the crime, which includes sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The Alabama Public Radio newsroom spent fourteen months investigating this problem in the state. The first of eight invitations from the U.S. State Department for APR to address foreign delegations was about the newsroom’s human trafficking report.
Ten Alabama counties were ranked as being the most vulnerable for human trafficking. The list started with the southwest part of the state with Houston and Dale counties listed as number and two. Mobile came in third, followed by Calhoun, Montgomery, Lee, Jefferson, Franklin, Talladega, Barbour, Etowah, and Russell Counties. Issues that were used to formulate this ranking start with poverty.
APR’s investigation into human trafficking focused on “familial” trafficking where adult family members, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. are the “seller” of sexual services and younger family members were victimized. Sources in APR investigation pointed to poverty and drug addiction as the driving factors prompting some families to sell their own children…