Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Human trafficking is a subject that is not often talked about. Many people believe it is something that happens overseas and not here in the United States.

According to the Polaris web site, 8,042 human trafficking cases in the United States in 2016 (last full year with statistics), up from 5,961 from the previous year. As of June 2017, 4, 406 human trafficking cases have been reported.

Polaris estimates that "the total number of victims nationally reaches into the hundreds of thousands when estimates of both adults and minors and sex trafficking and labor trafficking are aggregated."

Learn more about human trafficking. The Yocum Library has a number of books on the subject including The Slave Next Door : Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today by Kevin Bales and Faraway : A Suburban Boy's Story as a Victim of Sex Trafficking by R.K. Kline and Daniel D. Maurer. We have more books and other Berks County libraries have additional resources that you can request and have sent to The Yocum Library.
Here are just a few web sites about human trafficking:

• Polaris Project
• Saving Innocence
• Stop Human Trafficking in Pennsylvania (Philly.com blog article)