(The Center Square) – “Behind the Demand,” a four-part webinar series, begins next week and will be led off by North Carolina first-term Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson.
A production of the NC Demand Reduction Task Force lasting 90 minutes each of the next four Wednesday nights, the series intends to examine the desire for commercial sex and low-cost labor fueling human trafficking. The task force is hopeful those engaged will gain knowledge on disruption to the system that can be caused by individuals, communities and systems.
Preregistration is available at the task force website.
There’s no true estimate on the cost of human trafficking to the state’s taxpayers. Human lives are the ultimate, and beyond that, there are impacted areas often burdened that include law enforcement, victim support services, health care, courts and jails.
The North Carolina Human Trafficking Commission in January announced an annual grant program with $500,000 in recurring funds. The money helps direct services for victims.
A year earlier, the Buffet Foundation provided a five-year, $9.6 million grant to the State Bureau of Investigation to support its Human Trafficking Unit. Appropriations related to human trafficking from the Legislature have been in the millions this decade.
In a study using 2021 data, the cost of an inmate annually in North Carolina was $33,000.
The sessions include, on Oct. 29, “What Fuels Trafficking? Understanding Demand”; on Nov. 5, “Culture in the Crosshairs: Why Beliefs Shape Behavior”; on Nov. 12, “Survivor Insights: Lessons from the Inside”; and Nov. 19, “Your Role in the Ripple Effect: Join the Demand Reduction Effort.”
The task force, in a release, said it is a “statewide coalition committed to reducing the demand that drives human trafficking. We engage anti-trafficking professionals across diverse sectors in North Carolina to design and implement a comprehensive, data-driven strategy to reduce demand for both sex and labor trafficking.”
