Human trafficking is already a severe crime in the United States. To make matters worse, it's the sex trade that has the lives of so many young girls turned upside down. The single largest demographic age for new targets and victims is roughly between the 12-14. New targets are chosen every day. Most are very random choices; but then again some are watched and even have contact with their abductor.

This doesn't mean that because you're not 12, 13, or 14 that you're not a target. Everyone you know is and can be subject to the trade. There may even be people you know that are or have been victims of the human sex trade. These girls go through a lot while they are trapped helplessly in this awful life. They get addicted to drugs because in order to get the girls to cooperate with the process, they are drugged. The average life span of a child in the trafficking process is roughly 7 years. Being drugged and raped for almost 7 years would be a gut-wrenching thing to go through; that's why if the girls get out of the trade they struggle through many years of therapy and suicidal thoughts, and often become easily depressed.

Most young children don't think about leaving their families to be forced into prostitution. But what they don't know is that 100,000 children under the age of 16 are being forced to do the duties of a sex slave. Every night girls are sent out to do prostitution and meet their quota- the amount of money a pimp sets up for one of his girls to make that night. If a girl does not meet her quota she is often beat within an inch of her life. Sometimes, when a girl refuses to cooperate with the pimp he will threaten her with her family. He will usually say something to the affect of "If you don't do it you know your brother may be joining you", and most often the girl will do whatever she is asked to do.

According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year. More than 70 percent are female and half are children. Which narrows down to 1,142,857 children a year. In all honesty, most girls being trafficked are run-aways and these girls were abused mentally, physically or sexually at their current house hold. If a girl in the trade is discovered, there are usually several traumatizing side-affects. The most common are: Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Drug Addiction, and Physical Abuse.

Something needs to be done to try and stop all these children and girls from being trafficked. Something has to change in our government to get their attention; and show them that there is so much more to worry about than whether everybody has health care. To show them that there are thousands of girls taken from their parents to a place they don't know. It's not just America that has this problem it's almost every other country as well. Just ask yourself this question: If this was my child, would I sit around and let them suffer?

~-~WORK CITED~-~

"Frequently Asked Questions." (n.d.): n. pag.Children of the Night. Web. 05 Apr. 2013.

"11 Facts About Human Trafficking." Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2013.

"Freedom Youth Project, Child Sex Trafficking, Truth About Trafficking in America: Human Trafficking." Freedom Youth Project, Child Sex Trafficking, Truth About Trafficking in America: Human Trafficking. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2013.