These resources explore moral and ethical challenges related to criminal justice in general, and human trafficking in particular, because two forms of slavery continued in the U.S. even after the Civil War and the passage of the 13th Amendment: slavery in prison and slavery by human trafficking. We pay special attention to how God’s creation order and God’s vision for relationships between human beings impacts the field of criminal justice.

The Third Abolition: A Christian Study and Action Guide to Human Trafficking and the Problems Hidden in Plain Sight

A six week curriculum for small groups or personal reflection that examines the systemic, personal, and spiritual roots of both labor trafficking and sex trafficking. It is called The Third Abolition because Christians abolished slavery once in northwestern and northern Europe prior to the 1300’s, and then again in the British Empire and United States in the 1800’s. But there are more people enslaved today than ever before in history, so we need a third abolition movement. This curriculum is still in progress. It is designed to introduce people (church communities, student groups, etc.) to human trafficking today and how to participate in anti-trafficking actions, personally and in policies.

Christian Restorative Justice in Anti-Trafficking, in Scripture, and Beyond

Slides of a presentation given at the International Christian Alliance on Prostitution Global (ICAP Global) / Route One Ministries Conference in Boston on Sep 12, 2018, and then at the ICAP Global Conference in Springfield, Missouri in May, 2019.  This explores recent application of restorative practices in the prosecuting of former traffickers.  It highlights what we can learn and apply in other fields, both in evangelism and social justice ministry, as well as in the interpretation of Scripture.

Human Trafficking, Colonialism, and Christian Restorative Justice

Slides of a presentation given to the ICAP Global Conference in Springfield, Missouri in May, 2019. It starts with snapshots of how women are vulnerable in different ways based on their ethnicity, geography, and immigration status. It contains historical examples of how Christian leaders tackled the issues of prostitution and trafficking prior to colonialism, noting the shift in theology and policy-practice as colonialism got underway. It is an application of this presentation: White American Evangelical Political Attitudes and Behavior: Explanation and Correctives which was given to the staff of Emmanuel Gospel Center, Apr 18, 2018, to explore white American evangelical political attitudes; audio file here. 

The Rights of Women in the Bible: The Beauty of God’s Restorative Story

Slides of a presentation given to the ICAP Global Conference in Springfield, Missouri in May, 2019. It discusses protections for women in the Old and New Testaments, and opportunities for women in the Old and New Testaments as well. It is an egalitarian position on the question of women in church leadership. It highlights how Jewish faith led to the understanding that a husband must not rape his own wife (contrary to both English and American law until the 1970’s-80’s), how Christian faith impacted policies and laws about women, including the Council of Elvira (circa 300 AD) naming pimping and procuring sex as personal sins, but prostitution as a social sin (and thus not blaming the woman), Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora creating the first “safe house” for ex-prostitutes, etc.

Mako Nagasawa, Debate on Facebook about the impact of Trump’s Immigration Policies

(Facebook, Oct 24 - 29, 2020) This link will take you to Facebook; the debate includes the likely increase in human trafficking on both sides of the US-Mexico border.

International Christian Alliance on Prostitution (website)

Greg Clarke, Caroline Cox on Modern Slavery. Centre for Public Christianity, Apr 28, 2009.

Megan Twohey, Americans Use the Internet to Abandon Children Adopted from Overseas. Reuters, Sep 9, 2013.  Part 1 of a 5 part series called The Child Exchange: Inside America’s Underground Market for Adopted Children. See also Carrie A. Goldberg (Twitter, Feb 7, 2021)  “Here is a Reuters series about the thriving online market of "re-homing" adopted children. Big surprise about who wants unwanted children. Pedophiles.” Thread includes more up-to-date info.

Megan Twohey, In a Shadowy Online Network, a Pedophile Takes Home a ‘Fun Boy’. Reuters, Sep 9, 2013.  Part 2

Megan Twohey, With Blind Trust and Good Intentions, Amateurs Broker Children Online. Reuters, Sep 10, 2013.  Part 3

Megan Twohey, Despite ‘Grave Danger,’ Government Allows Internet Forums to Go Unchecked. Reuters, Sep 10, 2013.  Part 4

Megan Twohey, Orphaned in Russia, Brought to America, and Then Abandoned Time and Again. Reuters, Sep 11, 2013.  Part 5

Andrew Henry, Santa Never Fought Sex Trafficking, But Saint Nick Did. Dec 1, 2013.

Melissa Gira Grant, Fighting Sex Trafficking With Jesus: How the Religious Right's "Healing" Hurts. Salon, Apr 27, 2014.

Glenn Miles and Christa Foster Crawford, Stopping the Traffick: A Christian Response to Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking. Fortress Press | Amazon page, May 12, 2014.

Valeria Fraschetti, Meet an Italian Nun Who's Been Helping Sex Trafficking Victims for 20 Years. Global Post, Jul 21, 2015.

Reuters, Nuns Who Rescue Sex Slaves Expands Efforts to 140 Countries. Religion News Service, Nov 18, 2015.

Ellen Wulfhorst, Religious Sisters Pose As Prostitutes To Rescue Trafficking Victims From Brothels. Reuters, Nov 18, 2015.

Glenn M. Harden, The Sex Trade, Evil, and Christian Theology. Wipf and Stock Publishers | Amazon page, Apr 7, 2016.  

Christa Foster Crawford and Glenn Miles, Finding Our Way Through the Traffick: Navigating the Complexities of a Christian Response to Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking. Wipf and Stock Publishers | Amazon page, May 1, 2017.

Julia Flynn Siler, Asian Women Fought the West’s Slave Trade. And Then They Were Written Out of History. Los Angeles Times, Aug 4, 2019.  re: a San Francisco Christian mission/rescue home for Chinese women survivors of human trafficking, from 1874 - 1930’s, including Tien Fuh Wu, Bessie Jeong, Tye Leung Schulze, and Yamada Waka. See also Julia Flynn Siler, The White Devil's Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown. Knopf | Amazon page, May 2019.  along with review and critique by Gary Kamiya, Saving Girls From Sexual Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown. New York Times, Jun 21, 2019.  and review and interview by Anna Diamond, The Women Who Waged War Against Sex Trafficking in San Francisco. Smithsonian Magazine, May 8, 2019.

Department of Homeland Security, Human Trafficking Response Guide for Faith-Based Community Leaders.  Oct 2022. 

Lena Nealson, Why Prostitution Should Not Be Fully Decriminalized. Demand Abolition.  is related to restorative justice because in secular liberal moral systems, consent alone defines what is moral, and therefore purchasing sex consensually should be moral.  But in a larger relational vision where a person can exploit one's self and another, even consensually, then we are trying to restore that vision of relational personhood.  The Christian vision fits well.

Carina Patritti, Restoring Human Trafficking Victims Through Victim-Offender Dialogue. Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution, linked through Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, Jan 6, 2014.

Marquette University Law School, Restorative Justice and Human Trafficking - From Wisconsin to the World. Marquette University Law School conference, Mar 20, 2015.

Deanna Davy, Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking in Australia? Issues Associated with Australia’s Criminal Justice Response to Trafficking in Persons. Contemporary Justice Review, Aug 19, 2015.

Lilly Yu, Jeanette Hussemann, Hanna Love, Evelyn McCoy, and Colleen Owens, Alternative Forms of Justice for Human Trafficking Survivors Considering Procedural, Restorative, and Transitional Justice. Urban Institute, Mar 2018.

Ear Hustle, Dirty Water. Ear Hustle podcast, Mar 28, 2018.  Sara and LA share their different experiences of being “in the life,” at the same time demonstrating the difficult, yet important work of restorative justice.

Department of Homeland Security, Human Trafficking Response Guide for Faith-Based Community Leaders.  Oct 2022. 

Polaris Project (website) does advocacy and education around human trafficking

Global Slavery Index (website)

U.S. State Dept, Trafficking in Persons Report (website) stats per year

Human Trafficking (website)

Project Reach (website) in Brookline, MA

Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking (website) based in Seattle, WA

Charlotte Alter, Catching Johns: Inside the National Push to Arrest Men Who Buy Sex. Time, date unknown.

Danielle L. McGuire, "It Was like All of Us Had Been Raped": Sexual Violence, Community Mobilization, and the African American Freedom Struggle. Journal of American History, Dec 2004.  the exploitation of black women by white men in the U.S. has to be considered an aspect of human trafficking

Women's Justice Center, Sweden's Prostitution Solution: Why Hasn't Anyone Tried This Before? Women’s Justice Center website, 2005?.  “In just five years Sweden has dramatically reduced the number of its women in prostitution. In the capital city of Stockholm the number of women in street prostitution has been reduced by two thirds, and the number of johns has been reduced by 80%. There are other major Swedish cities where street prostitution has all but disappeared. Gone too, for the most part, are the renowned Swedish brothels and massage parlors which proliferated during the last three decades of the twentieth century when prostitution in Sweden was legal… In 1999, after years of research and study, Sweden passed legislation that a) criminalizes the buying of sex, and b) decriminalizes the selling of sex.”

Browne Onuoha, The State of Human Trafficking and Human Rights Issues in Africa. Contemporary Justice Review, Dec 2, 2009.

Kevin Bales, How to Combat Modern Slavery. TED Talk, Feb 2010.

Miki Mistrati, U. Roberto Romano, Helle Faber, The Dark Side of Chocolate. video documentary, 2010.

Eric Kasum, Columbus Day? True Legacy: Cruelty and Slavery. Huffington Post, Oct 11, 2010.  includes Columbus’ involvement in sex slavery and human trafficking

Amanda Milkovits, Missing Girl from Boston Found Dancing at Providence Strip Club. Providence Journal, Aug 3, 2013.

Daniella Silva, Nearly 400 Children Rescued and 348 Adults Arrested in Canadian Child Pornography Bust. NBC News, Nov 14, 2013.  “Police seized over 45 terabytes of data from the $4-million business that distributed to over 50 counties including Australia, Spain, Mexico, Sweden and Greece. As a result of the investigation thus far, 50 people were arrested in Ontario, 58 in the rest of Canada, 76 in the United States, and 164 internationally. What was most alarming, Inspector Beaven-Desjardins said, was that many of the arrests were of people who worked with or closely interacted with children. Among those arrested were 40 school teachers, nine doctors and nurses, six law enforcement personnel, nine pastors and priests and three foster parents, she said.”

Lara Salahi, MGH Receives Grant to Open Human Trafficking Survivor Clinic. Boston.com, May 1, 2014.

John-Henry Westen, Want to Stop Sex-Trafficking? Look to America's Porn Addition. Huffington Post, Jan 28, 2015.

Choe Sang-Hun, Suit Has South Korea Looking Anew at Its Hard Line on Prostitution. New York Times, Jun 20, 2015.

Mark Weber, Decriminalization of Sex Work Would Only Expand Abuse. Seattle Times, Aug 6, 2015.

Craig Greenfield, Is Prostitution a Human Right? Craig Greenfield blog, Aug 26, 2015.

Katie Grant, Scottish MSP's Plans to Decriminalise Sex Work Wins Support Across the Country. UK Independent, Sep 11, 2015.

Rafael Romo, Human Trafficking Survivor: I Was Raped 43,200 Times. CNN, Nov 10, 2015.

Goldie Taylor, The Sex-Trafficking Victim Next Door. Daily Beast, Jan 22, 2016.

Boston Metro, Man Pleads Guilty to Boston-Area Human Trafficking Sex-Ring. Boston Metro, Feb 2, 2016.

Amanda Hoover, 5 Indicted on Charges Related to Human Trafficking Schemes. Boston Globe, Apr 7, 2016.

Cheryl Fiandaca, Human Trafficking is the Fastest Growing Criminal Enterprise in the World. WHDH News, May 4, 2016.

Joe Cochrane, Indonesia Approves Chemical Castration for Sex Offenders Who Prey on Children. New York Times, May 25, 2016.

Fight the New Drug, Florida Girl in Bathroom Sex Scandal Revealed as Former Sex Trafficking Victim. Fight the New Drug, May 26, 2016.

Sandra Hoyn, Heartbreaking Photos Show What It's Like Living in a Walled City of a Brothel. Washington Post, Jun 13, 2016.  Bangladesh

Mike McPhate, California Today: A Shift in the Child Sex Trafficking Trade. New York Times, Oct 3, 2016.

BBC, US Shuts Down Sex Trafficking Ring Targeting Thai Women. BBC, Oct 5, 2016.

Don Thompson and Terry Wallace, Backpage.com Raided, CEO Arrested for Sex-Trafficking. ABC News, Oct 6, 2016.

Brian Latimer, Uber Driver Saves 16-Year-Old Girl From Sex Trafficking. NBC News, Dec 29, 2016.

Blue Matters, 400 Children Rescued/348 Adults Arrested After Police Take Down $4 Million Child Porn Empire. Blue Matters, Apr 6, 2017.

Matt Stout, Sex Trade Feared to Be Even Worse Than It Once Was. Boston Herald, Apr 25, 2017.

Marian Hatcher, 76% of All Inmates End Up Back in Jail Within 5 Years. Here's How I Broke the Cycle. Vox, Aug 8, 2017.

Julie Bindel, My Work as a Prostitute Led Me to Oppose Decriminalization. BBC, Oct 2, 2017.  in favor of criminalizing the sex customer

Tim Swarens, Who Buys a Trafficked Child for Sex? Otherwise Ordinary Men. USA Today, Jan 30, 2018.  

Jennifer McKim, Illicit Massage Parlors Are Across Massachusetts. Why Is Police Action So Rare? WGBH, Jan 16, 2018.  the first of five in a series

News 12 Westchester, Turn To Tara: Sex Trafficking of Children Flourishing in the Hudson Valley. News 12 Westchester, Apr 30, 2018.

Amanda Arnold, 94 Percent of Native Women in Seattle Survey Say They’ve Been Raped or Coerced Into Sex. The Cut, Aug 27, 2018.   See also Urban Indian Health Institute, Missing and Murdered: Indigenous Women and Girls. Urban Indian Health Institute, 2018.  Data from 71 cities

History.com Staff, When Sexual Assaults Made History. History.com, Oct 9, 2018.  Including Christopher Columbus likely slave trafficking.

Alan Feuer, Ashley Southall and Ali Winston, The New Brothels: How Shady Landlords Play a Key Role in the Sex Trade. New York Times, Nov 14, 2018.  On Brooklyn, NY.

Marissa Wenzke and Kareen Winter, Human Trafficking Sting Across California Nets 339 Arrests, Rescue of Nearly 50 Victims Including Teens. KTLA News, Jan 29, 2019.

Paul Strand, 'Dirty Dozen': These Top US Companies and an Entire State Accused of Sexual Exploitation. Christian Broadcast Network, Feb 12, 2019.  Re: Amazon, Google, Twitter, United Airlines, etc. for enabling porn use.

The Young Turks, Bombshell: Trump Secretary Violates U.S. Constitution. The Young Turks, Feb 22, 2019.  re: Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, while a federal prosecutor, lied to victims of Jeffrey Epstein (pedophile, trafficker) about prosecuting Epstein; Trump meanwhile claims that human trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border is a reason to build a border wall

Gil Smart, Robert Kraft Prostitution Scandal Exposes the Horrors in Our Backyard. USA Today, Feb 25, 2019.

Ian Urbina, The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier.  Vintage Books, Amazon page, Aug 2019.  “There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world's oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation. Traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways—drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world. Through their stories of astonishing courage and brutality, survival and tragedy, he uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil, and shipping industries, and on which the world's economies rely.”  See also interview by Jordan Harbinger, Confronting The Modern Day Slavery in Our Oceans | JHS. Ep. 856.  The Jordan Harbinger Show, Jul 19, 2023.  A 64 minute video.  

Cody Johnston, Katy Stoll, and David C. Bell, The Anti-Sex Trafficking Law That Made Sex-Trafficking Worse. Some More News, May 21, 2019.  the shutting down of websites drives sex-work further underground and made more dangerous

Audrey Conkling, Hawaii Becomes First State To Protect Victims Of Sex Trafficking Who Were Convicted Of Prostitution. Daily Caller, Jul 3, 2019.

Chelsea Hale and Meghan Matt, The Intersection of Race and Rape Viewed through the Prism of a Modern-Day Emmett Till. American Bar Association, Jul 16, 2019.  “An exploration of the historical practice of exploiting and violating the bodies of African American women with impunity and how African American defendants accused of raping white women are treated differently under the law.” This sexual exploitation was akin to human trafficking.

Ali Breland, Why Are Right-Wing Conspiracies so Obsessed With Pedophilia? Mother Jones, Jul-Aug 2019.  “The patriarchal family was under siege, as conservatives saw it, and day-care centers had become the physical representation of the social forces bedeviling them. “You had this Reagan-­driven conservative resurgence,” Beck says, “and day care was seen as at least suspicious, if not an actively maligned force of feminism. Day care held a prominent place in right-wing demonology. As far back as the 1960s, conservatives were warning darkly that child care “was a communist plot to destroy the traditional family,” as sociologist Jill Quadagno writes in The Color of Welfare. In 1971, President Richard Nixon vetoed the Comprehensive Child Development Act, which would’ve established a national day-care system. In his veto message, Nixon used the Red-baiting language urged upon him by his special assistant, Pat Buchanan, saying the program would’ve committed “the vast moral authority of the national government to the side of communal approaches to child-rearing against the family-centered approach.” In a decade of rising divorce rates, at least conspiracism and reactionary social conservatism could enjoy a happy marriage. By the time Judy Johnson came forward in 1983 with allegations that a teacher at the McMartin preschool had molested her child, the country had been primed to assume the worst by more than a decade of child-care fearmongering.

Michael H. Keller and Gabriel J.X. Dance, The Internet Is Overrun With Images of Child Sexual Abuse. What Went Wrong? New York Times, Sep 28, 2019.  “Online predators create and share the illegal material, which is increasingly cloaked by technology. Tech companies, the government and the authorities are no match.” “Children, some just 3 or 4 years old, being sexually abused and in some cases tortured.”

Farron Cousins, Republican Official Indicted For Human Smuggling And Selling Babies. Ring of Fire, Oct 10, 2019.  re: Paul Petersen. See also Matthew Chapman, GOP Official Indicted for Human Smuggling and Sale of Children in Bizarre International Fraud Scheme. Raw Story, Oct 9, 2019.  “Maricopa County assessor Paul Petersen has been indicted on 11 counts, including human smuggling and sale of a child, as part of a far-reaching international adoption fraud scheme.”

Taylor Riggs, How Authorities Used Bitcoin to Bust a Giant Child Porn Site. Bloomberg Technology, Oct 16, 2019.  De-anonymizing Bitcoin.

Jennifer Savin, Pornhub Has Come Under Fire for Allowing Real Rape Videos. Cosmopolitan, Feb 11, 2020.  “Following her own experience of being raped at the age of 14, blogger and writer, Rose Kalemba, has spoken out saying that after her assault took place in 2009, she found videos of it online. This comes at a time where women are increasingly seeking out alternative, safer and better regulated porn sites to use, for their personal pleasure.”

Christina Maza, Inside Baltimore’s Human Trafficking Industry. Aljazeera, Jul 30, 2020.  “Baltimore, Maryland is a hotspot for human trafficking, according to experts. The confluence of highways, including the I-95 corridor that connects Baltimore to other nearby cities like Washington, DC and New York City, combined with the proximity to several major airports, a plethora of hotels and casinos, and extreme poverty beside extreme wealth, has created the perfect conditions for the trafficking industry to thrive. Several interstate highways cut through the heart of the city, running on the east and west of the Baltimore port. Thousands of trucks, cruise lines, and cargo ships pass through Baltimore each year.”

Casey Chalk, Let’s Talk About Contemporary Slavery. The American Conservative, Jul 31, 2020.  “Human trafficking is driven by America's unhealthy obsession with sex.”

Vice News, Indigenous Women Keep Going Missing in Montana. Vice News, Dec 3, 2020.  examines stats, and legal-jurisdictional challenges (tribe, federal, state, county agencies)

KSLA Digital Team, Past U.S. Congressional Candidate Arrested for Alleged Child Pornography. KSLA, Dec 10, 2020.

Aya Gruber, The Atlanta Massacre and US Anti-Trafficking Laws. Aljazeera, Apr 4, 2021.  “In the US, Asian sex work has always been singled out for particular reprobation and regulation since its inception. The early legal regime reflected an American fascination with, fear of, and disgust with Asian female sexuality, as well as a paternalistic desire to “save” Asian women – by deporting them. It was expanded and formalised over decades through the efforts of not just xenophobes and racists but concerned citizens and liberal activists.”

Keith Zubrow, Maria Gavrilovic, and Alex Ortiz, Whistleblower’s Sec Complaint: Facebook Knew Platform Was Used to “Promote Human Trafficking and Domestic Servitude”. 60 Minutes | CNBC News, Oct 4, 2021.  includes documents and other problematic aspects of Facebook’s complicity with other crimes and problematic social outcomes. See also Andrea Cipriano, Facebook Liable for Human Trafficking Connections: Court Ruling. The Crime Report, Jun 28, 2021.

Siddarth Kara, Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives. St. Martin’s Press | Amazon page, Jan 31, 2023. See summary by Terry Gross, How 'Modern-Day Slavery' in the Congo Powers the Rechargeable Battery Economy. Houston Public Media, Feb 1, 2023. “Phone and electric car batteries are made with cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cobalt Red author Siddharth Kara describes the conditions for workers as a “horror show.””

Choe Sang-Hun, A Brutal Sex Trade Built for American Soldiers. New York Times, May 2, 2023. “It’s a long-buried part of South Korean history: women compelled by force, trickery or desperation into prostitution, with the complicity of their own leaders.”

Jordan Harbinger, Exposing The Chinese Slave Trade Nobody's Talking About | JHS Ep. 833.  The Jordan Harbinger Show, May 23, 2023.  “Nathan Paul Southern and Lindsey Kennedy are investigative journalists working to bring awareness to the growing issue of cyber-slavery in Southeast Asia facilitated by Chinese triads with links to local government and law enforcement agencies.  What exactly is cyber-sl*very? When gambling was banned in Cambodia during the early days of the pandemic, local operators quickly repurposed for online criminal activity — which rapidly spread across Southeast Asia to other gambling hubs. To remotely run their shady cyber-scams, organized criminals have enslaved thousands of people across Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. After being lured to a physical location with bogus job offers, victims are held against their will, beaten, and tortured if they don’t make enough money — or try to escape. Chinese organized crime groups run these operations while local authorities turn a blind eye or even arrest victims who try to speak out.”

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts, Three Arrested for Operating High-End Brothel Network.  Nov 8, 2023.