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Combating Sex Trafficking

The Role of the Hotel-Moral and Ethical Questions

Bibliographic Data

ID4313993
AuthorsChu-Chuan Jeng (George Mason University), Echo Huang (0000-0003-0893-2112, George Mason University), Sarah Meo (George Mason University), Louise Shelley (0000-0002-8113-796X, George Mason University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume13
Issue2
Pages138
Publication date2022-02-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel13020138
OpenAlexW4210737947
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited6

Legitimate companies are key facilitators of human trafficking. These corporate facilitators include not only websites providing advertisements for commercial sex services but also hotels and motels. Analysis of all active federal criminal sex trafficking cases in 2018 and 2019 reveals that in approximately 80% of these cases, victims were exploited at either hotels or motels. This paper studies the prevalence of the hospitality industry in the crime of sex trafficking and the failure of this industry to address this problem until recent civil suits were filed by victims against individual hotels and chains. Drawing on the civil cases filed in federal courts by victims of human trafficking between 2015 and 2021 along the East Coast of the United States, this paper assesses the characteristics of these hotels and the conditions in the hotels that facilitated sex trafficking. The paper then explores the moral and ethical problems posed by the facilitating role of hotel owners/operators in sex trafficking either through collusion or failure to act on and/or report evidence of individual abuse. Suggestions on how to address the problem are provided

Business · Collusion · Criminology · Engineering ethics · Ethical issues · Hospitality · Human trafficking · Political science · Public relations · Sex trafficking · Sociology · Tourism · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Engineering · Law · Sex work and related issues · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses

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  • Urban Poverty and Neighborhood Effects on Crime

    Open Access•C Graif, Andrew S Gladfelter et al.•Sociology Compass•2014

  • Estimating the sex buying behavior of adult males in the United States

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  • The Law of Crime Concentration and the Criminology of Place

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  • The Hobbyist and the Girlfriend Experience

    Christine Milrod, M A Monto•Deviant Behavior•2012

Unique citing works1
Citations per year1
Citation span2025 - 2025 (1)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 1
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