Racial Disparities, COVID-19, and Human Trafficking

July 29, 2020
The pandemic is greatly impacting Latinos and Black people in the United States as the result of systemic inequities in our society. Those inequities are the same ones that create the vulnerabilities that traffickers often take advantage of.

How Unproven Trafficking Stories Spread Online and Why Stopping Them Matters

July 22, 2020
The Wayfair theory, like other viral stories, can potentially result in overwhelming services meant for victims, as well as increasing online harassment and privacy intrusions of people mistakenly believed to be victims. These theories also detract from the knowledge we do have about how sex trafficking actually works, and how we can prevent it.

New Georgia Law Helps Trafficking Survivors Clear Their Records

July 13, 2020
Georgia enacted a law that allows adult survivors to clear their criminal records of convictions that occurred because they were being trafficked. This is great news for countless human trafficking survivors, the vast majority of whom have some record of arrest or conviction as a direct result of their victimization.

Human Trafficking and Prison Labor

July 7, 2020
Most people assume that slavery in the United States was abolished in any form but the reality is that the Thirteenth Amendment contained one important exception: Prison labor. Those who have been convicted of a crime can still be forced to work in this country.

How the New Supreme Court Rulings Affect Human Trafficking

July 2, 2020
The U.S. Supreme Court decided two cases that together increase protections for the LGBTQ+ community and undocumented immigrant youth. These decisions are positive steps in the work to end sex and labor trafficking, both directly and indirectly.

Need help? Polaris operates the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline.