Role of Government in the Policy-Making Process

I’m studying for my Law class and need an explanation.

1.Respond to the following with at least 75 words include proper grammar, in text citations, references

“Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor commercial sex act.” (Homeland Security, 2012) Human trafficking is an issue in the United States. Human trafficking can happen anywhere. Human Trafficking may be happening in your community. Traffickers look for people who are vulnerable or they are having a hard time. Traffickers take advantage of these people. Some traffickers look for people on the internet. Your child or loved one could even be targeted. Human trafficking is a concern to many politicians. Human trafficking has been an issue that state and local governments were left to contend with. In 2000, Bill Clinton created a Human trafficking policy. (Ismaili, 2017)The policy has been changed and updated several times since then. There are two U.S. Human Trafficking Legislation Groups; Ant prostitution Sphere and the Human Trafficking Sphere. In Oklahoma Human trafficking is a felony that carries a minimum of 5 years if the victim is 18 or older. We know it is a problem that continues to grow and now we know what the consequences are for an offender. After the trauma and the abuse, the victims have had to endure. I am not sure if this is enough. Talk about and symbolic policy. The Government knows it is a problem and they want to solve the problem but are they really?

2.Respond to the following with at least 75 words include proper grammar, in text citations, references

Human trafficking is an act that is talked about and many people have seen proof of it, but probably do not recognize it until it is too late. While in training for my current position, we had a whole section dedicated to it because Atlanta is a major hub for human trafficking due to the large entertainment industry that we house (sports, music, movies, international airport, etc). I work for probation and one of the main things we talked about in training was how to spot a victim of human trafficking. While GA has statutes to prosecute those who traffic others, it was very rare that offenders were prosecuted harshly in an attempt to deter others. Because there has been more widespread talk about the issue it poses, there have been more arrests recently in GA that I have seen to prosecute traffickers.

While the policy is there so that offenders can be prosecuted, there is very little talk amongst politicians to follow through with making the laws tougher. I think the reason behind that is because GA updated their laws in 2011 to make the penalties harsher and to provide more protections for victims of human trafficking. One of the better updates to the statutes was to require training on human trafficking to all law enforcement officers so that we can better assist victims, instead of assuming that they are willing participants. Most states agree that human trafficking is a problem, but the policies they have in place are not followed through with consistently enough to be taken seriously.