Some high-profile legal cases are bringing attention to sex trafficking crimes, which experts say usually happen out of the spotlight. 

Music legend Sean “P. Diddy” Combs faces federal sex trafficking charges from the Southern District of New York. According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Combs allegedly used violence, intimidation, and financial support to coerce women into engaging in sex acts with commercial male sex workers for days-long periods for his entertainment. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York also recently brought headline-grabbing sex trafficking charges against three brothers in New York, accusing them of using their wealth and status to coerce women into non-consensual sex with the promise of luxury experiences, travel and accommodations. Both Combs and the Alexander brothers have denied wrongdoing.  

Former WWE impresario Vince McMahon has been accused of sex trafficking in Connecticut in a civil lawsuit brought by Janel Grant, a former employee. Grant accuses McMahon of trafficking her to men within and outside of WWE to facilitate business deals and lure new talent to the organization. Grant claims that her employment was contingent on the expectation that she engage in sex acts at WWE headquarters during the work day. The Department of Justice let a stay on Grant’s civil suit expire at the end of December following the conclusion of a federal investigation into McMahon that did not result in criminal charges. McMahon has denied all wrongdoing. 

Trafficking cases usually do not involve those who are brushing shoulders with the rich and famous, but marginalized, vulnerable people. Sex trafficking victims in particular frequently are people seeking both stability and some sense of emotional connection. 

The 19th spoke with experts in the field of human trafficking about what sex trafficking is and isn’t, and how to understand who it impacts.

What is trafficking?

At the federal level, human trafficking can be one of two crimes, as defined by the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act: 

• Sex trafficking is the inducement in commercial sex acts by force, fraud or coercion
• Labor trafficking involves any form of labor induced by force, fraud or coercion

All 50 states have their own laws making trafficking a crime, too, said Amy Farrell, a professor of criminology and the co-director of the Violence and Justice Research Lab at Northeastern University, though the definitions of trafficking created by these state laws vary. Additionally, the federal government has civil laws against trafficking, and many states have civil recovery for trafficking allegations as well.

Bridgette Carr, the director of the Human Trafficking Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, told The 19th that understanding the way vulnerabilities are exploited by traffickers is key to the federal legal definition. For sex trafficking in particular, prosecutors look at instances when someone is compelled to exchange a sex act for something of commercial value. While this might be a financial payment, it doesn’t have to be. Shelter, clothing and employment can all be commercially valuable things for which a person is trafficked. 

People often believe “that sex trafficking involved these kinds of iconically innocent victims duped by nefarious predators,” said Farrell. “What we find is a much more complicated story.” 

Trafficking, she said, often involves marginalized people who find themselves “making difficult decisions based on few choices. What this means in reality is that sometimes a victim might suspect that they are going to be compelled to engage in commercial sex acts, sometimes a victim may have no idea that this is planned by their trafficker, but in either scenario, tools are being used to keep them in that situation.” 

Civil trafficking charges are survivor-led, whereas criminal trafficking charges are raised by attorneys on behalf of evidence gathered by the federal government. 

Doesn’t it involve crossing the border?

A common misperception about trafficking is that it entails movement. 

Smuggling, which involves bringing a person across a border illegally, is a crime against a nation, whereas trafficking is a crime of exploitation of a person. Smuggling requires movement, but not necessarily exploitation; trafficking requires exploitation, but not necessarily movement. 

Trafficking and smuggling can happen concurrently, but both can — and frequently do — happen independently of each other. 

What is coercion?

While state laws vary, in a federal case, proving coercion is key. Coercion most often takes the form of psychological coercion, such as threats and withholding something meaningful to a person, whether that be their identification documents, housing, financial support or even romantic attention. This coercion can be physical but is also frequently psychological in nature, including but not limited verbal intimidation and threats of revealing sensitive information about a person. 

Very rarely does trafficking involve victims “being abducted and taken against their will and held in locked basements,” Farrell said. “These are situations where people oftentimes even have some autonomy. They may be walking out in the world, they have cell phones — but they just can’t get out of the situation that they’re in because they owe someone a debt or because they depend on that person for a variety of different things.”

Carr also stressed how rarely “snatching” or kidnapping factors into sex trafficking. Most frequently, a person who is sex trafficked knows their trafficker well — it is often a family member, romantic partner or employer. Frequently people being trafficked are under the impression that they and their trafficker are “in this together,” or working toward some kind of shared dream. 

“This modern-day narrative of sex trafficking when someone is snatched from a parking lot, put in a room, handcuffed to a radiator and beaten until they submit just doesn’t match at all with the psychological coercion we see rampant in sex trafficking,” Carr said. 

How does coercion take place?

Farrell stressed that structural marginalization is a critical dynamic. 

“When people are in situations where they have few choices and they have very little agency, they’re much easier to coerce — and that can look different for different people. What might not be coercive to me might be coercive to someone else who was in a different situation than I am due to who they are, their economics, their background, their trauma history, their immigration status, their previous interactions with the justice system,” she said.

Carr also noted that many trafficking victims were already vulnerable: Many have been sexually abused, others may have mental health struggles or a history of substance misuse. Because of this, trafficking victims frequently are people who have received government benefits, interacted with the criminal justice system, or both. 

This reality often doesn’t line up with who the public commonly believes are the most common victims of trafficking — middle to upper class, well-educated White women. According to the Department of Justice, over 40 percent of all trafficking victims are Black women and girls. 

Though polling shows that Americans broadly support eradicating trafficking, often a lack of understanding of how coercion works impacts how people see victims. 

“This is the case for lots of victims of sexual violence,” Farrell added. “We often believe they are in some way responsible for their own situation, and then we’re more likely to see either the offenders as less culpable or more likely to blame those victims.”

What do traffickers look like?

Farrell said that while public perception of traffickers is of individuals involved in organized or transnational crime units or serial predators, traffickers rarely fit this profile. 

Traffickers are, first and foremost, people who have the ability to determine what their victim’s highest need is and fill it, Carr said. For most people, that need is attachment. 

“People are lonely. People are coming out of foster care. People are looking for partners and don’t have them,” Carr said. “And so often what traffickers initially offer is attachment: ‘I’ll take care of you. I’ll show up for you.’”

This is why Carr calls trafficking a crime of relationship —  meaning traffickers first build relationships with their victims. 

How can anti-trafficking misinformation harm survivors?

Farrell stressed that while eradicating trafficking is popular in theory, people’s lack of understanding can often harm rather than help survivors. Many people believe the criminal justice system is the best way to eradicate trafficking, but that fails to address the structural, societal conditions that allow trafficking to take place, she said — things like economic inequality, racial injustice and gender discrimination. 

Carr also expressed concern that a desire for simple narratives and simpler solutions might mean a “moving backwards” for the work to help trafficking victims. “I think when we want simplicity and clarity, we want very clear answers — a story about evil people or good people.” 
But in reality trafficking is about people seeking attachment, Carr said, which means the stories of trafficking survivors may not always fit easy narratives and reflect simple choices. And again, victims are most commonly targeted because of their need to feel support, economic and emotional. “This human desire for connection is so powerful.”