Critically discuss the factors that make the youth more vulnerable to human traffickers

There are common misconceptions that human

trafficking victims are only foreign nationals, when in

fact, both U. S. citizen and non-U. S. citizen children are

trafficked within the United States.

Victims of sex trafficking are traditionally treated as

perpetrators and prosecuted for prostitution, rather than

being identified as victims. This occurs more frequently

on a state level. While federal law may identify a child as

a victim of sex trafficking, a state will charge the child with

juvenile prostitution. For example, in 2008, children were

three times more likely tobe arrested for prostitution than

to be identified as a victim of a crime.

Children are hard to find. They often act and dress like

adults, especially those in the commercial sex trade.

They are uninterested in being "rescued" because most

adults in their lives have failed them, and many of them

are teenagers who have suffered abuse.

Child trafficking cases, particularly those involving

international victims in the United States, can be

ambiguous as to whether they should be considered

smuggling or human trafficking schemes. Sometimes