by Amy Joy BSW MPA
Reviewed by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism
The author Amy Joy is the founder and executive director of Restoration Place, a faith-based, nonprofit organization to help minor victims of sexual exploitation. Amy is a national speaker on how to identify and respond to human trafficking.
Before I began this book, I was thinking about issues of social justice. My husband was an insurance man who would never sell a policy unless the person needed it. My sons, also were invested in social justice. Most of the time I was called to school during their high school period and on into college they made decisions for the other person involved in the interaction. So social justice is part of our framework. In this book Amy, deals with the most despicable interactions, that of human trafficking. The increase in access to pornography, ability for predators to access vulnerable people from across the globe, and lack of accountability for buyers and suppliers of the human trafficking are just a few of the major issues that have created one of the world’s largest criminal industries. In the past five years reports of suspected child sex trafficking has risen 846% and directly correlated to increased use of internet to sell children for sex(National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 2018) Ths organization reported more than 2.3 million reports of suspected child secual exploitation to law enforcement and analyzed more than 108 million images and videos depicting apparent child pornography. Human trafficking is complicated and every case is unique, making this horrific crime difficult to detect and fix. However, knowing the signs, understanding the basic dynamics of trafficking, and knowing how to respond are the keys to making a dent in this evil practice and protecting Your loved one.
By reading this book, you will learn how human trafficking is defined by the United States Federal Government, how these laws may differ from your State laws and how to identify and respond when you suspect there is a case of human trafficking in your community. There are examples and tips along the way to help you find quick references for practice. Some warning signs for online predators can include: having no friends in common with you; Having a very common first and last name (sometimes their name is misspelled as English is not their first language);if their profile picture or other pictures are low quality(grainy) this could be a clue that the photo was downloaded from someone else’s page; predators will often use your “about” section and your noted interests to create their profile, making it appear as though you both have the same or similar interests, hobbies or careers; and if today was the magic day they decided to create a Facebook page and You are their first friend, yet you do not know who they are, something is definitely amiss. The book contains added procedural and process information that is important for all especially for those engaged and invested in social justice reform.