Ernie Allen, the Director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, says that human trafficking occurs when people "are owned by someone else, lack the ability to walk away, and lack the ability to make a decision in their own self-interest to do something else." Sadly, this doesn't just happen in countries around the globe. It's all around us even in the U.S.—as the following headlines from American newspapers demonstrate:
- "Northern California teens sold for sex"
- "Federal authorities from Memphis honored for breaking up child sex-trafficking ring"
- "Fort Myers, Florida, woman accused of using children as prostitutes"
- "North Alabama man convicted in sex trafficking of an underage girl"
- "Human trafficking ring used girls as young as 12 … prosecutors say"
- "Georgia man arrested for engaging minors in sexual servitude"
- "Somali sex trafficking ring in Tennessee"
- "Mississippi man pleads guilty to sex trafficking"
- "Sex trafficking in the U.S. called 'epidemic'"
- "18 years for [Chicago] sex ring boss convicted of human trafficking"
