Authorities have arrested more than 40 pimps and their associates and rescued more than a dozen teens in a crackdown on sex trafficking related to the Super Bowl.
Sara Huston KatsanisAssociate in research at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, Duke Universitysara.katsanis@duke.eduhttp://scienceandsociety.duke.edu/people/leadership-staff/Katsanis studies policy issues related to applications of genetic testing in medicine and law enforcement, and is a former forensic DNA analyst. Her current focus is the use of DNA technologies for identifying victims of human trafficking and adoption fraud.Quotes:"It is a great start that authorities were able to rescue more than a dozen trafficked children at the 2014 Super Bowl. However, sex trafficking is rampant in every community in the U.S., with thousands of women and children living in shadows and in fear of retribution. A broad, methodical effort is needed to document the scope of the problem and to develop strategies to identify these victims." "It's estimated that there are 12.3 million trafficking victims at any given time and each year only three in 1,000 of those are identified. If DNA can be useful for even 1 percent of the 12.3 million, that's progress.""Combating human trafficking is going to require creativity and collaboration among government authorities, law enforcement, social services, academics and victim advocates.""Collection and storage of DNA from sex workers is being piloted as one way to identify trafficked individuals who become victims of violent crime." _ _ _ _ Duke experts on a variety of other topics can be found at http://newsoffice.duke.edu/resources-media/faculty-experts. Note to broadcast editors: Duke provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. We are also equipped with ISDN connectivity for radio interviews. Broadcast reporters should contact Scott Wells at (919) 660-1741 or James Todd at (919) 681-8061 to arrange an interview.###