Louisiana ranks first in the nation in fighting domestic minor sex trafficking, jumping from a C grade to an A in three years.
Shared Hope International, an organization dedicated to preventing sex slavery and protecting women and children, ranks each state based on 41 key legislative components in its annual Protected Innocence Challenge.
Each state receives a numerical score to determine its letter grade within categories to decide the score of the state — criminalization of domestic minor sex trafficking, criminal provisions addressing demand, criminal provisions for traffickers, criminals provisions for facilitators, protective provisions for child victims and criminal justice tools for investigation and prosecution.
Louisiana’s final score was 96, with Tennessee trailing two points behind. In two years, Louisiana has raised its score nine points.
This year, 530 bills have been introduced across the country related to minor sex trafficking, 123 of which have been enacted.
Business management senior and president of Tigers Against Trafficking Jonathan Snyder said Louisiana’s ranking is due to recent developments in the state, including legislative changes and a new shelter for women.
This year, the Louisiana Legislature passed numerous bills, cracking down on human trafficking.
Tigers Against Trafficking founder and University alumna Natalie LaBorde now works at the State Capitol, spearheading anti-trafficking legislation, Snyder said.
With a founder working closely with policy, Snyder said he believes his organization has made an impact in Louisiana policies.
“We put in hours and hours of work trying to make a difference, and we’re finally starting to see some of the results,” Snyder said.
While some improvements have come from policy, others come from organizations’ individual efforts to help victims.
Trafficking Hope, a Louisiana organization, built one of the first homes in the nation for victims of human trafficking, Snyder said. Women 18 and older can reside in the Hope House and go through a recovery program to assimilate them back into society.
“Our heart is not just to provide housing, but to offer them a holistic approach; to see them walk in physical, emotional and spiritual freedom,” according to the Hope House website.
Although these developments have boosted Louisiana’s ranking, Snyder said human trafficking is still an issue in Louisiana. He said it is difficult to definitively rank what state has the most human trafficking activity because it is an underground market.
Snyder said most people think human trafficking only happens in places like Asia or Europe, but in reality, it happens all over the globe.
“It’s happening in our own backyard,” Snyder said.
This lack of proper education, Snyder said, is because people don’t spread the word. If people tell a friend and they tell someone else, a chain reaction will start and simply passing along the word will make a difference, Snyder said.