Deck 14: Criminal Justice in the New Millennium

Question 1

Global Sex Trafficking
Human trafficking has become a global problem. How great a problem? The International Labor Organization (ILO)-the United Nations agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues-estimates that there are at least 12 million adults and children in forced labor, bonded labor, and commercial sexual servitude at any given time. Of these victims, the ILO estimates that at least 1.39 million, 56 percent female, are victims of commercial sexual servitude, both transnational and within countries.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of women and children-primarily from Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe-are lured by the promise of good jobs and then end up forced into brothels or as circuit travelers in labor camps. Most go to wealthy industrialized countries. Japan now has more than 10,000 commercial sex establishments with 150,000 to 200,000 foreign girls trafficked into the country each year. India has experienced a large influx of foreign sex workers who are believed to be the source of the HIV epidemic that is sweeping the country. Traffickers import up to 50,000 women and children every year into the United States despite legal prohibitions (in addition to prostitution, some are brought in to work in sweatshops).
Global trafficking gangs use force, fraud, or coercion to exploit a person for profit. Victims are subjected to labor and/or sexual exploitation. Gangs prey on the weak, targeting vulnerable men, women, and children. They use creative and ruthless ploys designed to trick, coerce, and win the confidence of potential victims. Very often these ruses involve promises of a better life through employment, educational opportunities, or marriage.
Trafficking for labor exploitation-the form of trafficking claiming the greatest number of victims-includes traditional slavery, forced labor, and holding people in bondage until they can pay off debts. Trafficking for sexual exploitation may include involvement in prostitution or pornographic films. The use of force or coercion can be direct and violent or psychological. Women may be kidnapped, beaten, raped, and led to believe they can never return home. If they still won't cooperate, their families and friends may be threatened or attacked.
Trafficking gangs are located in Latin America, Asia, and Eastern European nations such as Bulgaria and Russia. The UN report found that sex traffickers are often women, many of whom began as sex workers themselves. They are encouraged by their recruiter/trafficker to return home and recruit other women, often under the scrutiny of people working for the trafficker to make sure they don't try to escape.
Because it is a global enterprise, there is a great deal of cooperation in trafficking, so that in Eastern Europe a single gang may include Russians, Moldavians, Egyptians, and Syrians. Cooperation allows sex slaves to be trafficked not only to neighboring countries but all around the globe. The UN found that victims from East Asia were detected in more than 20 countries in regions throughout the world, including Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa.
Combating Trafficking
Recently, the United States made stopping the trafficking of women a top priority. In 1998, the "Memorandum on Steps to Combat Violence Against Women and the Trafficking of Women and Girls" was issued, which directed the secretary of state, the attorney general, and the president's Interagency Council on Women to expand their work against violence against women to include work against the trafficking of women.
In the former Soviet Union, prevention education projects are aimed at potential victims of trafficking, and nongovernmental organizations have established hotlines for victims or women seeking information about the risks of accepting job offers abroad.
The UN report found that the number of convictions for human trafficking is increasing, especially in a handful of countries. Nonetheless, most countries' conviction rates rarely exceed 1.5 per 100,000 people, which is even below the level normally recorded for rare crimes like kidnapping.
CRITICAL THINKING
If put in charge, what would you do to slow or end the international sex trade? Before you answer, remember the saying that prostitution is the oldest profession, which implies that curbing it may prove quite difficult.

Answer 1

Case synopsis:
This case is related to the global sex trafficking. The gangs force huge number of women and children to exploit for their personal profit. Every year large number of foreign girls is moved to wealthy countries. The traffickers force them into pornographic films and prostitution. These kinds of activities are initiated in few countries and they supply sexual workers in a global level.
However, US have reduced this kind of traffic gradually. However, globally the sex trafficking is increasing.
The following are the ways to end the international sex trade:
• Creating awareness about the sex for women helps to solve their problems.
• Death penalty for the sex traffic makers will create a fear and it leads to reduce the sex trade.
• Each country should properly check the passport and visa details and the work contract. The country should not allow huge number of women labor at a time. The background of the employer should be clearly verified before allowing them to the country.
• Sometimes traffickers kidnap the young women and send them through the container ships. Hence, the custom officers should scan all the containers before shipping.
• By arresting, gangs who involve in the sex trade and destroying their network from top to bottom will help to entirely windup the international sex industry.
• In some countries, the sex work is legalized. It is required to stop that and globally the sex work should be stopped.
• Finally, the government should monitor frequently whether any new gang has been started to sex trade. It should be controlled before it grows in business globally.

Question 2

Would the torture of a suspected terrorist determined to destroy the government and harm innocent civilians ever be ethical? Although most people loathe the thought of torturing anyone, some experts argue that torture can sometimes be justified in what they call the ticking bomb scenario. Suppose the government found out that a captured terrorist knew the whereabouts of a dangerous explosive device that was set to go off and kill thousands of innocent people. Under these circumstances, would it be ethical to waterboard or otherwise torture this single suspect if it would save the population of a city? Before you answer, consider the fact that opponents of torture believe that even imminent danger does not justify state violence. There is a danger that torture would then become calculated and premeditated; torturers would have to be trained and in place, ready to take action. We couldn't be running around looking for torturers with a bomb set to go off, could we? Because torturers would be part of the government bureaucracy, there is no way to ensure that they would use their skills only in certain morally justifiable cases. What happens if a superior officer tells them to torture someone, but they believe the order is unjustified? Should they follow orders or risk a court-martial for being disobedient?
Ethical Challenge: Write an essay that presents an ethical argument for both sides of this issue: Is it ethical not to use torture in order to save thousands of lives? Is it ethical to use torture on someone who is only a suspect and not yet convicted in a court of law?

Answer 2

Terrorism:
Group of people threatened by using violence to obtain a religious, political, or ideological aim is termed as terrorism.
Interrogation torture techniques:
To obtain the information from the suspect, officials in the army, police, or CIA agents torture the suspect by various methods. The following are some interrogation techniques:
• Waterboarding
• Water dousing
• Abdominal slap
• Attention grasp
• Stress positions
• Wall standing
• The facial hold
These techniques are used to make the suspect feel fear. This would help to obtain information.
Determine whether it is ethical to employ "interrogation techniques" to obtain information from terror suspect:
The terrorist attack leads to loss many human beings life and high value of financial loss. For security of the nation and the citizens, it is required to obtain information though the interrogation techniques from the suspect. The trained terrorists will not declare any kind of information in the normal investigation. Hence, it is ethical to use above said interrogation techniques to safe many people's life.
Determine whether it is ethical to employ "interrogation techniques" on only the suspect and not convicted by law:
As per human right commission, torturing a human being is crime. The arrested person is only a suspect and not committed any crime yet. In this case, it is not ethical to torture the suspect.
Sometime the police officials order their subordinates to torture someone for personal reasons. It is entirely misuse of power and is considered as an unethical activity. However, if the suspect is proved as criminal planned for some illegal activity and then it is ethical to torture him to obtain the information.

Question 3

Should the US government use drones to spy on suspected terrorists on American soil?

Answer 3

Terrorism:
Group of people threatened by using violence to obtain a religious, political, or ideological aim is termed as terrorism.
US government should employ drones to discover on suspected terrorists on A Country soil:
Drones are unmanned vehicle that fly and monitor the earth with help of cameras. Computers control a drone and sometimes it is loaded with arms and weapons.
A country should use drones to spy all over the country to control the terrorist's activity. However, using the drone is not enough to control the terrorism.
The government should follow the below steps:
• Frequently monitor the internet for the suspect purchases such as gun, bomb, materials related to organize blast
• Terrorists' communications through internet, radio frequencies, and using letters
• Illegal money transfers that helps the terrorist attack
• They should monitor the foreigners' activity and their frequency of visit

Question 4

Global Sex Trafficking
Human trafficking has become a global problem. How great a problem? The International Labor Organization (ILO)-the United Nations agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues-estimates that there are at least 12 million adults and children in forced labor, bonded labor, and commercial sexual servitude at any given time. Of these victims, the ILO estimates that at least 1.39 million, 56 percent female, are victims of commercial sexual servitude, both transnational and within countries.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of women and children-primarily from Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe-are lured by the promise of good jobs and then end up forced into brothels or as circuit travelers in labor camps. Most go to wealthy industrialized countries. Japan now has more than 10,000 commercial sex establishments with 150,000 to 200,000 foreign girls trafficked into the country each year. India has experienced a large influx of foreign sex workers who are believed to be the source of the HIV epidemic that is sweeping the country. Traffickers import up to 50,000 women and children every year into the United States despite legal prohibitions (in addition to prostitution, some are brought in to work in sweatshops).
Global trafficking gangs use force, fraud, or coercion to exploit a person for profit. Victims are subjected to labor and/or sexual exploitation. Gangs prey on the weak, targeting vulnerable men, women, and children. They use creative and ruthless ploys designed to trick, coerce, and win the confidence of potential victims. Very often these ruses involve promises of a better life through employment, educational opportunities, or marriage.
Trafficking for labor exploitation-the form of trafficking claiming the greatest number of victims-includes traditional slavery, forced labor, and holding people in bondage until they can pay off debts. Trafficking for sexual exploitation may include involvement in prostitution or pornographic films. The use of force or coercion can be direct and violent or psychological. Women may be kidnapped, beaten, raped, and led to believe they can never return home. If they still won't cooperate, their families and friends may be threatened or attacked.
Trafficking gangs are located in Latin America, Asia, and Eastern European nations such as Bulgaria and Russia. The UN report found that sex traffickers are often women, many of whom began as sex workers themselves. They are encouraged by their recruiter/trafficker to return home and recruit other women, often under the scrutiny of people working for the trafficker to make sure they don't try to escape.
Because it is a global enterprise, there is a great deal of cooperation in trafficking, so that in Eastern Europe a single gang may include Russians, Moldavians, Egyptians, and Syrians. Cooperation allows sex slaves to be trafficked not only to neighboring countries but all around the globe. The UN found that victims from East Asia were detected in more than 20 countries in regions throughout the world, including Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa.
Combating Trafficking
Recently, the United States made stopping the trafficking of women a top priority. In 1998, the "Memorandum on Steps to Combat Violence Against Women and the Trafficking of Women and Girls" was issued, which directed the secretary of state, the attorney general, and the president's Interagency Council on Women to expand their work against violence against women to include work against the trafficking of women.
In the former Soviet Union, prevention education projects are aimed at potential victims of trafficking, and nongovernmental organizations have established hotlines for victims or women seeking information about the risks of accepting job offers abroad.
The UN report found that the number of convictions for human trafficking is increasing, especially in a handful of countries. Nonetheless, most countries' conviction rates rarely exceed 1.5 per 100,000 people, which is even below the level normally recorded for rare crimes like kidnapping.
CRITICAL THINKING
Should men who hire prostitutes who are obviously involved in the sex trade against their will be punished more severely in order to deter them from getting involved in the exploitation of these vulnerable young women? Or is it unfair to expect someone to know the reasons their sex partner was involved in prostitution?

Question 5

Would you allow federal agents to use intense interrogation techniques such as waterboarding to pry information from terror suspects?

Question 6

Should people who illegally download movies or music be prosecuted for theft?

Question 7

How can Internet pornography be controlled considering that a great deal of adult content is available on foreign websites?

Question 8

Considering the threat of transnational drug trafficking, should drugs be legalized and controlled by the government?

Question 9

Should the Internet be more closely monitored and controlled to prevent the threat of cyber war?

Question 10

Is there any point to placing economic sanctions on billion-dollar corporations? Should corporate executives be put in prison? Put another way, what is the purpose of incarcerating someone like 72-year-old Bernard Madoff? Is he really a threat to society?