Texas Penal Code 20A.02: Trafficking of Persons
Since 2011, Texas divides Trafficking into 4 categories
- Adult Labor
- Adult Sex
- Child Labor
- Child Sex
To prove trafficking of an adult, whether for sex or labor, you must have either force, fraud, or coercion.
To prove labor trafficking of a child, you must have either force, fraud, or coercion.
A person is committing the crime of trafficking if that person knowingly traffics a child AND BY ANY MEANS causes that child to engage in or become the victim of... PENAL CODE 20A.02(7)
Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to control victims for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or labor services against his/her will.
Sex trafficking has been found in a wide variety of venues within the sex industry, including residential brothels, escort services, fake massage businesses, strip clubs, and street prostitution.
Labor trafficking has been found in diverse labor settings including, domestic work, small businesses, large farms, and factories
The state of Texas is 2nd, behind California, for the most reported cases of sex trafficking in our nation. Just this year 307 cases of sex trafficking has been reported and 1,024 calls have been made to the hotline. The average age for a child to be trafficked is between 12-14.
One third of runaways will be approached by a pimp within 48 hours of being on the street. Sex trafficking effects all races, religions and social economic backgrounds. Sex trafficking does not stereotype, it endangers each one of us.
Denton County Human Trafficking Coalition
Department of Homeland Security
US Department of Health & Human Services
State and National Resources
- Improving School Safety in Texas
- Taylor Hooton Foundation
- Raptor Technologies, Inc.
- School COPs Software
- National Safe Place
- National Center for Missing or Exploited Children
- Texas School Safety Center
- i-Safe
- National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention
- Parents. The Anti-Drug.
- Stop Bullying Now
- Texas Attorney General's Office
- Texas Education Agency
- Not My Kid
- National School Safety and Security Services
- Students Against Destructive Decisions
- Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence
- Drug Watch
If you know of other great resources that would benefit SROs, please let us know.
Free School Safety Toolkit here.