Human Trafficking Among Utah Girls and Women

Human trafficking is a global problem that involves the exploitation of people for profit through the means of force, fraud, or coercion. It takes a variety of forms, including forced labor, debt bondage, domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation. Despite public perceptions that human trafficking is only an international problem, it occurs in the United States and even within urban and rural areas of Utah. Recently, the Utah Women & Leadership Project published a research snapshot on this very topic. The snapshot examined human trafficking definitions and contributing factors, the direct and indirect costs and consequences of human trafficking, the stats on Utah specifically, and recommendations for eliminating human trafficking in Utah. This episode explores some of the highlights of the report with Dr. Susan Madsen, Founding Director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project, and Dr. Annie Isabel Fukushima, a human trafficking scholar and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, and Associate Professor in the Division of Ethnic Studies with the School for Cultural & Social Transformation at the University of Utah.