PJ Media

PJ Mediahttps://pjmedia.com/phyllischesler/2007/11/23/when_is_a_trafficking_victim_w/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usFri, 12 Jun 2026 20:14:35 -0400When is a Trafficking Victim Worthy of Rescue and Who Gets to Decide?<![CDATA[According to the Department of Justice (DOJ) a prostitute or a victim of trafficking is entitled to justice but only if she has been “forced, tricked, or coerced” into doing what the DOJ calls “sex work”–and if she can prove it. Today, according to U.S. governmental Trafficking Prosecutors, a rescue-worthy prostitute is someone who has been forcibly “trafficked” or “tricked” into sexual slavery. If she is from a Third World country, she commands more DOJ sympathy that does an American child who has escaped from an incestuous and dangerously abusive family in Iowa or Minnesota and who has ended up in the arms of a violent pimp or brothel-owner in another American state. In addition, the DOJ does not seem to count minor children who are used in “commercial sex acts” as trafficking victims because, by definition, they have not necessarily been “coerced” or “duped.”]]>Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:30:10 -0500<![CDATA[Phyllis Chesler]]>https://pjmedia.com/phyllis-chesler/2007/11/23/when_is_a_trafficking_victim_w-n103319