Pearl Kim is a prosecutor known for fighting against human trafficking and sexual assault and she recently visited Cabrini. She was recently appointed to the Office of Public Engagement in Harrisburg, Pa. There she is the Senior Deputy Attorney General for Public Engagement. She generally handles cases in the areas of rape, physical and sexual child abuse, domestic violence, human trafficking and internet crimes against children. She currently sits on the executive committee of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the board of directors for the Institute for the Advancement of Women in Law Enforcement, and the board of directors for Pearl S. Buck International. She was named 2015 Government Lawyer of the Year by the Pennsylvania Bar Association Government Lawyers Committee.
On March 29th Kim came and spoke to many students about human trafficking. The event was sponsored by ECG 200 Voice for the Voiceless taught by Cynthia Ross.
Kim brings her expertise to Cabrini as she talked about several issues about human trafficking and sexual violence. Human Trafficking is a pandemic that really affects many adolescents and teens.
“The large issue that we have here in the state of Pennsylvania is that there are no resources for the victims of human trafficking,” Kim said.
Human trafficking is basically a crime involving the exploitation of someone for the purposes of a commercial sex act through the use of force, fraud or coercion. Human trafficking affects individuals across the world, including here in the United States, and is regarded as one of the most pressing human rights issues of the 21st century.
Human trafficking has many contributing factors. Many children get lead into being trafficked by being run-aways, being homeless, and being in foster care. Some will be lead to be trafficked by being with an older boyfriend and they could lead them into the world of human trafficking. Sometimes when people go in it takes a while for them to be pulled out.
Recently there has been an uproar on social media about the many teens that has recently gone missing in the Washington D.C. area. Human trafficking has been possibly linked to the missing girls. Human trafficking is a pandemic that needs to stop. Forcing someone to do a sexual act against their will isn’t right and the people who do it should be punished.
The punishment for human trafficking is typically three to eight years in prison. If there was rape involved there is a extra penalty of three to eight years on top of that and if kidnapping was involve there is another sentence of three to 11 years on top of that.
