In California at present, the Attorney General and other crime fighting and prosecuting authorities within the state are taking up a fight against the crime of human trafficking. According to a release on the State of California Department of Justice's website, human trafficking is the world's fastest growing criminal enterprise.
Currently, human trafficking brings in about $32 billion per year. After drug trafficking, human trafficking is the world's second-most popular criminal enterprise. Almost tied with human trafficking is the crime of illegal arms trafficking. Because all three of these crimes are financially profitable for those who are in the business, it is often hard to detect the offenders.
The United States is a major market for sex trafficking, California is one of the nation's top four destination states for human trafficking beings. This means that there are many victims sent to underground entities in California where they are sold to act as labor slaves or sex slaves within the state. Most of the human trafficking that takes place in California is the work of transnational gangs and domestic gangs.
Transnational gangs typically locate border tunnels and then move drugs, guns, and humans along these passageways from Mexico into the Golden State. Oftentimes street gangs will purchase the trafficked women in these instances and then set up prostitution rings where they are able to make a significant profit.
The California authorities are taking this crime very seriously, and looking for offenders to arrest and prosecute. Currently, authorities say that much of the human trafficking deals take place on private chat rooms online. Traffickers tend to use social media and other tools to recruit victims and use misleading advertisements to lure them into the business. Once humans are held hostage, they are often advertised for services on websites.
Thankfully, the government in California is discovering tools and tactics to uncover these crimes. If you want more information about human trafficking, or if you have been accused of this crime though you are innocent, then you are going to want a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney at Diamond & Associates to assist you. Talk to a lawyer at the firm today for more information.