Uk British Muslim Identity Sociology Essay

Uk British Muslim Identity Sociology Essay The purpose of this essay is to focus on the historical and contemporary construction of British-Muslim identity in U.K. and analyse its perceived relationship with radicalism. The first part of the essay will shed light on the problem of this umbrella term British-Muslim by highlighting the extent to which the religious identity of Muslims in Britain is beyond ethnic and national identities. In addition to this, this section will discuss whether putting a label of British-Muslim identity is legitimate, in terms of structure, meaning and a body of people who subscribe to the label. The next part of the essay examines why and how the British-Muslim identity has come to be associated with radical extremism. This section will include debates of integration and assimilation and discuss why some Muslims in the UK fail to achieve a sense of belonging in Britain and thus consequently turn to radical extremist organisations. In the end pertinent conclusions will be drawn based on the precedi ng arguments. Contemporary estimates suggest that the total population of British Muslims in the UK is approximately 2 million, or around 3.3% of the national population. This population is comprised of people from approximately 56 national backgrounds speaking around 70 languages including groups originating from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, North-Africa, the Middle East, South-East Asia, Iran and more recently Somalia, Iraq, Nigeria and Afghanistan as well as an increasing number of European Muslims including English converts.  [1]  Within these national backgrounds are a host of further ethnic divisions. For example, within the British Pakistani Muslim population there are Kashmiris, Punjabis, Sindhis and Pathans (Dahya, 2004: 77). Even further, many differentiate themselves based on Biraderi or clan, so that within the British Paksitani-Kashmiri Muslim population, there are Chaudaries, Rajputs, Kumars, Mistries and others. Such divisions based on Biraderi can heavily inform day to day rela tionships, marital and business partnerships as well as political allegiances (Shaw, 2000: 137). Within the wider framework of the British Muslim population there are strong denominational differences. There are the more widely known differences between Sunni and Shia Islam and the classical differences between the Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki and Hanbali Sunni schools of law. Then there are relatively recent denominational sects such as the Wahabi, the Deobandi, the Barelwi, the Ahl-e-Hadith as well as various Sufi brands of Islam (Raza 1993). Amongst British Muslims there are newly arrived immigrants, second and third generation immigrants whose parents and grandparents were born in the UK as well as indigenous converts to Islam whose ancestors came to the UK hundreds of years ago. On top of all these wide ranging attributes we must include the full spectrum of practicing and non-practicing Muslims, beginning with the very practicing for whom Islam is a complete way of life that informs every decision he/she makes, and ending with those for whom Islam is a mere relic of an ancient heritage, no longer important in contemporary life. In addition, socio-economic status can play a decisive role in the formation of identity within Muslim communities. Ansari notes that middle and upper-middle class Jordanians, Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians appear to possess more multiplex relations with each other than with their own working-class compatriots (Ansari, 2004: 3). With all of these multifaceted differences it is clear that the term British-Muslim is one that is extremely complex and any accurate picture of the typical British-Muslim must be absent of colour, ethnicity, nationality, socio-economic status, political or denominational affiliation. However, one may then wonder, that despite such disparate and potentially conflicting sub-identities, how this term British-Muslim he come to be used so commonly among social scientists, academics, policy makers and the mass me dia. The next part of the essay discusses how, to a significant degree, many Muslims in the UK have overcome these internal differences and increasingly represent themselves as a united group of British-Muslims. Over the past few decades there has been heightened awareness and a greater level of self-representation of a British-Muslim identity among all sectors of Muslims in Britain. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, despite the vast array of varying cultures from which Muslims in the UK descend, Islam as a religion has inculcated a high degree of cultural uniformity across all regions in which it has spread. In the Development of Islamic Ritual, nineteen authors explore different aspects of Islamic ritual that are observed and performed through the Islamic world including the ritual performance of prayer 5 times a day, pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.  [2]  Many Muslims learn Arabic as a common language, share common names, use the same form of greeting and have the same dietary prohibitions. In recent years, the wearing of the Islamic headscarf has been adopted by females from a diverse range of ethnic and national background s as a powerful and expressive form of Muslim identity. In Why the French Dont like Headscarves, Bowen argues that for many Muslim women, the wearing of the Islamic headscarf is a conscious and deliberate display of Muslim identity that promotes social solidarity and community consciousness amongst the Muslim population. Thus, despite wide variances in the way Muslims from different backgrounds dress, there are numerous outward markers of Islamic identity that bind together disparate groups, whether they be in the performance of Islamic rituals or the wearing of Islamic clothing. Secondly, there has been a consistent drive from leaders amongst Muslims in the UK to form organisations representing Muslims at a national and international level. Mandaville (2003) argues that the media plays a key role in the development of British-Muslim identity, catering to second and third generation Muslims in the UK creating a public space in which issues relating to citizenship and belonging can be discussed. In Imagined Communities, Anderson argues that the invention of the printing press and the subsequent production of literature in vernacular languages across different regions of Europe helped to solidify nationalist sentiments by creating a sense of imagined community amongst those of the same linguistic background. Similarly, the growing British-Muslim media industry promotes a greater consciousness of Muslims from different backgrounds within the UK. The satellite TV channels named above cut across cultural, national and ethnic boundaries and serve as a unifying plat form of dialogue, news coverage and religious transmission heightening a sense of imagined community amongst Muslims in the UK.   ADD STUFF FROM MANDAVILLE and CESSARI Thirdly, despite the differences between the range of backgrounds from which Muslims in the UK originate, there are certain common interests which have brought together disparate groups of Muslims to lobby the government at a local and national level. For example, in 1994, Muslims in the UK launched the Halal Food Authority, an organisation to monitor and authenticate the halal meat and poultry trade in the UK, a service pushed for by Muslims from all backgrounds. Several arbitration tribunals, such as the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, have been set up around to provide Muslims in the UK with legally binding dispute resolution mechanisms based on Islamic Sharia principles on family matters, inheritance and various commercial and debt disputes. During the outbreak of the Iraq War in 2003, much of the frustration felt by Muslims in the UK towards the government was channelled through peaceful protest facilitated by organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain and Muslims of all b ackgrounds galvanised to speak with a louder and more unified Muslim voice. Such initiatives have required cross-cultural co-operation to achieve common aspirations amongst Muslims in the UK. Furthermore, Muslims in the UK have rallied together to show solidarity against perceived threats towards their community both nationally and worldwide. Samad (1996) and Saeed (1999) view the mobilisation of a British-Muslim identity as a response to the public devaluation and disparagement of Muslims that has lead to increased in-group solidarity. According to Ansari, the publication of the Satanic Verses (1988) and the first Gulf-War (1991) meant Muslims, more than ever, came to be imagined as outsiders, excluded from the essential notions of Britishness which, steeped in nostalgia, continued to be perceived as homogenous, Christian, white and rooted in past centuries (Ansari, 2004: 1). Such feelings of exclusion strengthened during the conflict in Boznia-Herzegovina (1993-1996), the War on Afghanistan (2001 to present), the War on Iraq (2003 to present), the publication of the cartoons depicted the prophet Mohammed (2005), EU immigration, asylum, race and security polices, includi ng the Terrorism Act 2006, which target Europes Muslim communities (Fekete 2009), the continuous demonization of Muslims in the media (Poole 2002, Gottschalk 2007) as well as Islamaphobia on a street level, which have all contributed towards a defensiveness among Muslims in the UK and a sense of common hardship. Ballard (1996) argues that that the increasing self-identification of second and third generation Pakistanis as Muslim is a reaction to their external rejection by the White majority and it is religion rather than ethnicity that takes prominence because it is the Muslim aspect of their identity which they feel is under attack. Thus, the increased ascendency of the Muslim aspect of a highly complex individual identity among some Muslims in the UK can be partly explained as a defensive reaction to perceived external threats. Moreover, Archer (2001) and Hopkins (2006) have argued that the transcendence of a British-Muslim identity above an ethnic or national based identity among young Muslims in the UK can be partly explained through an analysis of gender stereotypes and the performance of masculinity and femininity. Archer (2001) argues that young men construct a strong Muslim identity to counteract stereotypes of a weaker passive Pakistani or Bangladeshi identity and that talk of violence, action and hardness through religious idealism and martyrdom, drawing inspiration from ancient tales of Islamic conquest and bravery, can be seen as evoking a particular form of Muslim masculinity. Further, Archer argues that Islam provides a channel, whether scripturally legitimate or not, for men to discuss and define female behaviours as un-Islamic and thus an Islamic identity is expedient for the control and domination of women. Conversely, Akram-Nadwi demonstrates in Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam, t hat Islam has for many generations, provided an avenue for female empowerment as an escape from the culture-bound patriarchy.  [3]  In Women and Islam: Images and Realities, Moghissi (ed.) expound upon the highly complex multifaceted realities of Islam, gender and female empowerment, revealing how both women and men selectively appropriate elements of Islamic doctrine in order to maximise their own empowerment within the scope of their circumstances. The politics of gender has made at least some contribution to the ascendency of a Muslim identity above ethnic or national identity for the UKs Muslim population. Finally, Muslim identity is used as an act of empowerment and to promote sense of belonging to an international body of people. Glynns study of Bengali Muslims in London (2002) shows that Islam provides young Muslims a positive alternative to the drug-culture to which they are exposed to within inner-cities. He writes the growing polarity between the drug culture and Islam is often remarked on. Islamic brotherhood is a potent antidote to alienationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Islam is something to be proud of, with a great history and international presence as well as religious promises of future glory, which can all transport its followers from the grey confines of the inner city (Glynn, 2002: 975). Through Islam, many Muslims obtain a sense of purpose, direction, history and belonging to a community broader than the narrowly restricted confines of their own neighbourhoods. Islam has also been used as a tool for empowerment within the family context. Macey (1999) suggests that Islamic prohibitio n on forced marriage is used by young Pakistanis in the UK to challenge parental pressures. Further, Islam is used to justify inter-racial marital relationships and to challenge the emphasis placed on colour, caste and ethnicity found in many cultural practices. Through Islam, many young Muslims in the UK find internal empowerment and tools to challenge parents and communities. For all of these reasons, a British-Muslim identity has emerged to unite disparate groups of people from a wide range of ethnic and national backgrounds. That there are Muslims in the UK is a fact, but the idea of a strong British-Muslim identity has only relatively recently come in to fruition and begun to assert itself. However, while many Muslims in the UK increasingly subscribe to this identity, it is not yet clear what it means to be a British-Muslim. We are now entering into the period in which the definitional boundaries of the British-Muslim identity are being constructed. In this period, competing fo rces, both internal and external to the British Muslim population, are actively contesting the details of the identity, pushing forward varying images of what a British-Muslim is supposed to be. A key arena in which this contest is taking place is in relation to radical extremism.    In light of these discussions, the next part of the essay will focus on radical extremism and the British-Muslim identity. In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and the 7/7 bombing in London, much work has gone in to identifying the root causes of how a Muslim, born and raised in the UK, could be brought to take his own life and the lives of others with the sole aim of creating maximum devastation within his home country. Rather than limiting research to the exploration of the potential psychopathic tendencies of those individuals responsible for the terror atrocities, much research has suggested that the terror attacks were symptoms of deep rooted nation-wide problems with British-Muslim identity as a whole. It is alleged that such problems are responsible for the creation of radical extremist mentalities, broadly regarded as mentalities that foster violent hostility towards aspects of the British state. It is within this context that efforts by the UK Government t o prevent violent extremism operate. In order to better understand this context, it is necessary to explore how the perceived problems with British-Muslim identity have come to be associated with radical extremism. In Radical Islam Rising: Muslim Extremism in the West, Wiktorowicz provides a detailed study of Al-Muhajiroun, a UK based organisation aspiring towards the re-establishment of an Islamic Caliphate through both non-violent and violent means.  [4]  Al-Muhajiroun are a banned organisations in the UK under the Terrorism Act 2006 for glorification of terrorism. Wiktorowicz argues that Muslims in the UK who join this group are initially inspired by a cognitive opening which provides individuals with a willingness to expose them to the ethos of the organisation. This cognitive opening takes the form of an internal identity crisis that causes the individual to question what it means to be a Muslim in a non-Muslim society. Wiktorowicz suggests that one of the key triggers to this type of identity crisis is an individuals perception that Muslims are not accepted by British society. It would follow therefore that perceptions of discrimination would precipitate feelings of not belonging to B ritish society and leave an individual vulnerable to the message and ideology of organisations such as Al-Muhajiroun. Maxwells study of the 2003 Home Office Citizenship Survey revealed that according to the survey, there was no significant relationship between an individuals socio-economic well being and their perceptions of being discriminated against on the whole. However, the analysis showed that young university students were more likely than others to perceive that they were being discriminated against, despite being socially and economically better off than those who either could not afford or were otherwise unable to attend university. Wiktorowicz writes the experience of both racial and religious discrimination has prompted some young Muslims to think about their identity and how they fit into British society. This is particularly true of young university students who suffer from a sense of blocked social mobility (Wiktorowicz, 2005 :56).   According to this theory, it is frustration at being unable to accomplish what the individual perceives as being rightfully theirs that results in a heightened sense of alienation. This alienation provides some individuals with the cognitive opening necessary for joining organisations such as Al-Muhajiroun. An alternative theory suggests that young university students are more likely to perceive greater levels of discrimination due to knowledge acquired within the university environment. Taji-Fourakis work on Hizb-at-Tahrir (1996), another organisation aiming towards the establishment of an Islamic caliphate, suggests that the main appeal of Hizb-at-Tahrir for young university students is the organisations intellectual sophistication. University environments provide young Muslims the tools to research and debate issues relating to injustices of European colonisation and the partitions of the current Islamic world, giving some individuals the impetus to question their own place within the wider framework of interna tional political identities. Fouraki suggests that Hizb-at-Tahrir are able to capitalise on such thought processes and provide an avenue for such individuals to channel their grievances in a way that provides them with an opportunity to be a part of the supposed re-assertion of superiority of the Islamic world. According to these analyses, issues of identity play in to some individuals feelings of inferiority and rejection by the dominant host society. Such feelings provoke hostility, particularly among young highly educated Muslims, and lead to individuals wanting to become part of a greater force capable of retaliation towards the UK Government and institutions.  Ã‚   Herriots (2007) work on social identity theory suggests that people join groups and internalise the groups identity for two main reasons. The first reason is to fulfil the human need for self-esteem. Herriot suggests that many of those attracted to organisations such as Al-Muhajiroun and Hizb-at-Tahrir are those potentially lacking in a sense of dignity, acceptance or approval from the wider society. As such, some individuals substitute a divine power in place of society as the source of their self-esteem, finding dignity and validation in the performance of that which is understood to be gods will. The second reason is to fulfil the human need for certainty. Again, such organisations provide members with defined beliefs, values and norms, with the weight and authority of ancient and sacred texts that provide clear guidelines on what should and should not be done. Further, Herriot argues that the process of internalising a groups identity leads to the loss of an individual sense of s elf in favour of acting in accordance with the definition of identity provided by the category to which they belong. He writes individuals then behave as group members. Their actions are those of, for example, a radical Muslim or a born-again Christian. They are no longer those of Mohammed Atta or Howard Ahmanson as unique individuals with personal identities, but rather those same persons as members of categories to which they perceive themselves to belong (Herriot, 2007: 30). The individual is then less concerned about the elevation of the ego and more concerned about the advancement of the organisation as a whole. From this perspective, it is perhaps easier to understand why the actions of some members belonging to such organisations may seem self-deprecating or counterproductive to the individuals status or security, or even, as was the case with the 7/7 bombers, suicidal. Such explanations of the processes by which individuals join radical extremist organisations attribute blame to problems associated with British-Muslim identity. It is suggested that many Muslims in the UK struggle to find a social identity among the mainstream population in which they feel a sense of dignity, self-esteem and belonging and therefore resort to a competing identity which defines itself in opposition to the mainstream. It is within this context that the UK Governments policy directive towards preventing violent extremism finds justification for direct intervention in to the construction of British-Muslim identity. The rationale of such intervention supposes that violent extremism is caused by deep-rooted issues with the way in which Muslims in the UK conceptualise their belonging to British society. As such, the prevention of violent extremism requires intervention to neutralise such complications and promote a greater sense of belonging to British values, beliefs and p ractices among British Muslims. The manifestation of the UK Governments decision to intervene in the construction of British-Muslim identity is the PVE Fund. Chapter One analysed the construction of a British-Muslim identity, identifying the process by which a hugely diverse range of people from different backgrounds increasingly subscribe to this identity. The perceived problems associated with this identity provided a pretext for government intervention in to the British-Muslim identity through the PVE Fund and related measures to prevent violent extremism

Assignment of Personal Sport

Last year, after summer vacation, I went into my student soccer team kind of sad, my past captain, the person who I had really admired, had moved to another team. I did not really feel down though, because there were many of my friends that were playing with me this year. The greatest thing I had learned about soccer is â€Å"Team Spirit†, which I thought my team was full of. Day by day, we played together, joked in the yard, hung out after tired matches, I was so happy to have them as teammate. In my city, there were many rival teams, and they were always trying to pull pranks on each other. Sometimes nothing really happened, but sometimes something really terrible happened. I remembered the time our team did not have any uniforms because someone has painted them. Luckily, we could have a new uniform which I thought were better, but we also had to pay a lot of money for them. This season was not just like any season before. We had a new captain and we were also playing competitive soccer, which was a lot different than our normal soccer. Instead of playing with other local teams, we got to play in big tournaments and against strange teams from other cities. The game was also more vivid; I remember the first game, against a team from Hue City-the city next to my city. The game we called â€Å"Derby Game†, it was totally different than anything I had seen, we were getting to play at a university, and against a highly ranked team. We had started the game, and man the other team was wild, they played with violence. After the first half with surprise and anger, we started to strike back, and I was sure the referee would hate to be in his position. Whenever he made a decision, he got a lot of bad word from players; it did not matter if he was right or wrong. That game finished with a loss for us, but the biggest disappointment was that two of my teammates were injured. We soon learned to live with this violence, and the funny thing is, we even participated in it more than other teams. After we gained enough points, we entered to the next stage of the tournament, which was called â€Å"Knock Out Stage†. This meant we could be kicked out of the tournament as soon as we lost a game. The tournament was held in Ho Chi Minh City, the biggest city in my country. We stayed in a hotel with three other teams. At the first sight I looked at them, I realized that the rumors about them were true; teams that qualified to this stage were really beasts, they were stronger, faster and even dirtier (in the way they play). We had about two days to practice and get used to the yard. The yard there was much prettier than in our city. The grass was greener, and there was more space for supporters. In the first day of the tournament, we had a game against Thu Do, a team from Hanoi City- our capital city. That team played really well, they ran all around the yard and I never saw any of them stop running. Our goalie was taking a lot of their shots; he looked really exhausted just after 20 minutes. Then as we saw that they were too strong for us, we changed the tactic to â€Å"counterattack†, which was much safer and did not waste as much energy. I had to be withdrawn from the yard because of the change in tactic. At that time, I felt so disappointed but I could contain it. The change in tactic seemed to be good and gave us a positive effect. Thu Do still attacked very hard, they flowed into our yard part like a huge flood, but it was less dangerous than before. Our defense did a very good job; they kept the enemies far away from the goalie as much as they could, they also tried to block every shot from the enemies. I was sitting on the sideline for a bit and my coach asked me how I felt, I said good and asked if I could get back in, he said, â€Å"Sure, but in a bit. † So I started do some exercises to keep my body warm and be ready. A bit later, the referee blew the whistle and the first half came to an end. The result was still 0-0 and we could not expect more. Our team went into the rest room and discussed a lot. My coach told me that I would have a part in second half; nervous thought crossed my mind for a second but was soon gone. At the beginning of the second half, things were not much different from the first one; Thu Do still tried hard to attack and score a goal, but our defense line was really concentrated on to the game. Whenever Thu Do’s player got the ball, there were always two or maybe three of our players standing around him and were able to win the ball back. They kept attacking hard and we kept defending well. After 20 minutes, Thu Do players were starting to get tired, I could see how heavy and exhausted in their running, and you know, that was the time we had been waiting for. The coach told me to pop in. We started to attack them back, and can anyone believe it? We scored at our very first chance; I was the one who crossed the final ball to Vu – our player, and with a genius header, the Thu Do’s net vibrated with our happiness and cheers from our supporters. We had been waiting for this time and it had come. I remembered a saying from a well-known coach that goes: â€Å"If you keep attacking but could not score, then you will be scored. It was true this time. I could not tell you how Thu Do player’s faces looked at that time. It was some kind of disappointed, angry or maybe even shameful. After having a goal, we got back to defense style. The time left was still plenty, Thu Do’ player attacked in hopelessness, and for their honor. But that was it, the referee blew full time whistle and we won that game, a very tough game. We also paid a very expensive price because of that winning moment; our players were exhausted and did not have good form on the next game. We lost on our second game. Although that was not something that really surprised us, we were still. I thought the main reason for our loss was that we were not really ready for this kind of tournament. We were determined to get back to our city and train harder and hope for a successful next year. That was also a lesson for me and my team, so that in next tournaments, we could have a better preparation in health and mental, and could avoid unnecessary injures. Until now, that soccer experience is something that I never forget in my life; that was not only my first soccer tournament, but also the most impressive tournament I have ever had.

Human Trafficking is Modern Day Slavery Essay

Through the years, terrible battles have been fought and many lives lost to eliminate slavery in this country, yet it still exists in the form of human trafficking. Globalization, competing economic markets and the population boom have created an environment that is ripe for modern day slavery. It was reported in a recent article in the European Journal of Criminology, all countries in the modernized world, whether it is the United States, Canada, New Zealand or the United Kingdom, can be shown to be active participators in the global market of human flesh, either as a country of origin – that is, countries people are trafficked out of; a country of destination – that is, countries where trafficked persons end up; or a country of transit – that is, countries through which trafficked per ­sons are moved en route to their final destination. (Winterdyk, Reichel). Trafficking in human flesh is a 32 billion dollar industry worldwide with an inventory of approximately 1 million victims in the United States alone and the number of victims is steadily on the rise (Feingold). Forced labor, domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation are the most prevalent forms of human trafficking in this country, adding nearly 80 thousand victims annually, with children making up 50% of these statistics. Local and federal officials need to do more to bring traffickers to justice and eliminate human trafficking in this country. When asked to consider what human trafficking or slavery means, most people might think back to the era of slave trading. They might picture ships, full of passengers forcibly taken from their villages, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to America, only to become slaves working on plantations, in the cotton fields, under a grueling sun. Today, those slave ships have become different types of transportation that can contain and move human cargo without easy detection and the people inside the containers have not been forcibly taken. These people are looking forward to a better way of life and believe that they are being helped to reach it. What they don’t know is that they are headed from bad to worse. George Palermo, M. D at University of Nevada School of Medicine and Medical College of Wisconsin, believes that victims are drawn into the tentacles of human trafficking because of their desire for a better future, to escape social discrimination, or they are searching for honest work to better themselves. â€Å"The dream of a better future pulls them from their home. However, they too often find themselves disillusioned and entrapped in a very debasing situation, and their dreams are shattered† (Palermo 671). With their hopes of that new life dashed to pieces, the passengers begin that new life as modern day slaves, in a strange place, without knowing the language. These individuals will become the newest victims of forced labor, domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation. They will be forced into laboring in places such as sweatshops, farms, and construction sites. They will also be forced into working very long hours, in terrible conditions. These modern day slaves will be forced to reside in places known as hot bunks, with single sleeping quarters, which will be used by rotating shift workers. Victims will face constant verbal abuse and threats of physical violence. They will be compelled to hand over most, if not all, of their earnings to the traffickers. Although most victims may wish to flee, but their fear of physical violence, lack of energy, feelings of guilt, and an overall sense of hopelessness will keep them invisibly shackled to their traffickers. Often times, female victims will find themselves forced into domestic servitude, acting as maids, cooks, or nannies. These victims will lead lives of isolation, having little or no unsupervised freedom, completely cut off from the rest of the world. There will be no privacy provided. Personal comfort will be nonexistent, and they will be forced to sleep on nothing more than a rug or bare mattress in an open area or hallway (Diaz et al. ). Such is the case of a Filipina woman recently rescued from a Maryland couple who forced her into domestic servitude. The couple has been arrested and charged with human trafficking and other immigration violations. According to the indictment, the couple from Maryland enticed the victim to come to the United States to work as their domestic servant. The defendants lured the victim, an impoverished, uneducated, mother of eight children, using false promises of a salary that would support her children in the Philippines. The defendants procured a fraudulent visa to allow the victim to enter the United States; confiscated the victim’s documents after she arrived; and compelled her labor for 18 hours a day over a period of 10 years, using a scheme of threats, assaults, withholding of documents, withholding of pay and a peonage contract to coerce the victim’s continued service (â€Å"Maryland Couple Charged†). Although the numbers of victims of forced labor and domestic servitude are on the rise, sexual exploitation remains the most prevalent form of human trafficking. Sexual exploitation is considered to be non-consensual or abusive sexual acts performed without a victim’s permission. This includes but is not limited to prostitution, escort work and pornography. Women, men and children of both sexes can be victims. Most disturbing is the number of children that are victims of sexual exploitation. In one report, it is estimated that at least seventy percent of the women involved in prostitution are victims of human trafficking and were introduced to the commercial sex trade before they were eighteen years of age. (Kotrla). Quite often children are abducted and forced into prostitution or pornography and never heard from again. Shauna Newell was one of the lucky ones. At the time of her abduction, she was a typical 16 year old who loved to hang out with friends, so when a new friend invited her to spend the night she was very excited and convinced her mother to allow her to do so. After she did not return home, Shauna’s mother called police who took the approach that the girl had run away and took no immediate action. Shauna’s family initiated their own search and just by chance on the third day she was spotted in the back seat of a car by her brother at a convenience store. Shauna was rescued but her abductors escaped. As it turns out, the girl’s â€Å"father† was really a convicted felon, and the girl, who had a record of prostitution in Texas, was an accomplice in the abduction. For three days Shauna was beaten and raped. She also contracted an STD. Her abductor told her he had sold her over the internet for $300,000. Fortunately, Shauna was rescued before the deal could take place. Many times the victims of human trafficking come in contact with local law enforcement, but because of a lack of training, the modern day slaves are not recognized as victims but viewed as perpetrators instead. The fear of reprisal against themselves or their family members keeps the victims from speaking out against traffickers. Consequently, they are willing to face arrest and jail time rather than the trafficker’s anger. Health care providers also come in contact with modern day slaves seeking treatment for injuries inflicted by the trafficker, labor induced injuries, or possibly an STD’s, yet will not recognize the patient as a victim of human trafficking because they are not trained to look for the appropriate signals. If more local law enforcement and health care providers receive proper training in identifying victims of human trafficking it would be easier to provide the right care and assistance as was the case for one 16 year old girl trafficked from Mexico. In one recently reported incident, a sixteen year old Mexican girl was found to have been trafficked across the US border. Doctors noticed the heavily pregnant girl showed clear signs of physical abuse when she was brought into a hospital in Dayton to give birth. The police were called but the couple who had brought her had already fled. When the girl’s story emerged, it became clear she had been kept against her will in the nearby city of Springfield and used for labor and sex. â€Å"I thought slavery ended a few centuries ago. But here it is alive and well,† said Springfield’s sheriff, Gene Kelly (Harris). During the late 1990’s the public’s interest in human trafficking issues grew and demands for stricter laws against it followed. In response to public demand, the United States government enacted the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in the year 2000. This legislation was introduced to prevent trafficking, identify and protect victims, and prosecute offenders. Since 2000, forty two states have enacted their own anti-trafficking laws, yet the expected numbers of arrests and prosecutions not been met whether locally or on a federal level. Miriam Potocki, Director of the National Social Workers Association wrote an article in which she claims that since the date of enactment VTVPA, there has been little transparency or accountability in policy implementation; only a small number of immigrant victims have been identified, and there is almost no evidence regarding effectiveness of victim services, and prosecution is highly problematic. Fundamentally, because there is no rational approach to the policy implementation, public funds are wasted (Potocky). In conclusion, human trafficking violates a person’s inalienable right to freedom yet there are more victims today than 150 years ago and the United States is not doing enough to eliminate it. Stronger penalties are needed to deter individuals or groups from continuing to exploit victims and force them into slavery, either through forced labor, domestic servitude or sexual exploitation. Local law enforcement agencies as well as health care providers need to be better informed regarding human trafficking issues so they can readily spot victims as well as the traffickers. By providing better rescue and assistance programs for human trafficking victim the Unites States can set the standard for eliminating modern day slavery. President Barack Obama said it best, during his speech at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2012 when he said, â€Å"Nations must speak with one voice– that our people and our children are not for sale† (â€Å"Obama†). (1645) Works Cited Diaz, Muriel et. al. â€Å"Globalization and Human Trafficking†. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare. 34. 2 (June 2007): p107. Academic OneFile. Web. 12 April, 2013 Feingold, David A. , â€Å"Human Trafficking†. Foreign Policy. No. 150. Newsweek Interactive (Sept. -Oct. , 2005), 26-30, 32. Web. Apr. 12, 2013 Harris, Paul. â€Å"Forced Labour and Rape, The New Face Of Slavery In America†. The Observer. 21 Nov. 2009. Academic OneFile Web. 12 April, 2013 Kotrla, K. â€Å"Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking In the United States† Social Work 55. 2 (2010): 181-187. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. â€Å"Maryland Couple Charged With Domestic Servitude Of Filipina Woman† States News Service 8 June 2011. Academic OneFile. Web. 20 Apr. 2013 Megumi, Makisaka, â€Å"Human Trafficking: A Brief Overview†. WorldBank. org. No. 122/. December 2009. Academic OneFile. Web. Apr. 12, 2013. â€Å"Obama Calls Human Trafficking ‘Slavery,’ Announces New Measure†. StatesNewsService. 25 Sept. 2012. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 Apr. 2013. Palermo, George B. , â€Å"From Bad To Worse, A Note On Human Trafficking†, International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology, August, 2012, Vol. 56(5), p. 671-672, Web, Apr. 12, 2013. http://ijo. sagepub. com/ Potocki, Miriam. â€Å"The Travesty of Human Trafficking: A Decade Of Failed U. S. Policy†. Oxford University Press. Social Work. 55. 4 (Oct. 2010): p373. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. Winterdyk, John, Philip, Reichel. â€Å"Introduction to Special Issue – Human Trafficking: Issues and Perspectives†. European Journal of Criminology. January 2010 vol. 7 no. 1 5-10. Web. April 12, 2013.

The Incarceration Of The Correctional System - 910 Words

The correctional system in America is an umbrella term referring to a range of mandates that entails the management, supervision, and rehabilitation of convicted offenders. These mandates are often carried out through incarceration, probation, or parole, while prisons are the most popular correctional agency in America. Prisons in America were among some of the first public buildings established in the New World. Early prisons were not considered â€Å"houses of punishment,† but were rather referred to as temporary holding cells. The history of U.S. prisons from the late 1700s to the late 1800s was marked by a shift from a penitentiary system primarily concerned with rehabilitation to one concerned more with warehousing prisoners. The failure of reform minded wardens to justify rehabilitation caused state legislatures to set economic profitability as the new goal for prisons. The first prisons in the United States were established as penitentiaries to denote their prisoners as religious penitents. Early penitentiaries gained global attention for their goals of perfecting society. Despite their high moral aims, the facilities soon became overcrowded, dirty, and dangerous. Maintaining the behavior and control of the inmates became their primary focus. It was after the American Revolution that imprisonment as a form of criminal punishment became a widespread in the United States. The Jackson Administration use rehabilitative labor as a penalty during the American Civil War.Show MoreRelatedThe Incarceration Of The Correctional System939 Words   |  4 Pages The prison system has been in the US for decades now and leads the race with the most incarcerated people. Over time our correctional system changed immaculately and with so many changes, issues continue to rise. 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