Category — Author: Elizabeth Pfenning

In recent weeks, neighborhood watch groups have warned community members to be vigilant for higher incidents of burglary and fraud that occasionally coincide with the seasonal influx of magazine solicitors operating without permits from out of state. But what these watch groups fail to address are the dangers posed not just to consumers, but the solicitors or salespeople themselves and the potential for human trafficking in traveling sales crews. [Read more →]

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The issue of illegal brothels posing as legitimate massage parlors is tied to Polaris Project’s first moments as an organization.  Our founders, Katherine Chon and Derek Ellerman, became passionate about the issue of human trafficking after learning about one of these brothels in Rhode Island, which operated a couple blocks from their college apartments.  Over the past nine years, our organization has focused on combating all forms of human trafficking, but we’ve always maintained an expertise and understanding of this particular network. [Read more →]

Studies indicate that Native American women experience the highest rates of violence of any ethnic or racial group in the United States.  In addition to high rates of domestic and intimate partner violence, it’s estimated that at least one in three Native American women will experience sexual assault during her lifetime compared to the national average of one in five.  And while these crimes are distinct, the same factors that make this population increasingly vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual assault also put them at risk of being trafficked. [Read more →]