Children trafficked for their labor often work in public view in restaurants, laundromats, agricultural fields and water parks, but little has been known about their plight. A new study co-authored by Northeastern University professor Amy Farrell provides insights about these children, those who traffic them and what makes children vulnerable to dangerous work — and conditions that too often rob them of a chance for an education, and leave them exhausted, hungry and sometimes injured.
Farrell, the director of Northeastern’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, answered questions from Northeastern Global News about what researchers discovered in their investigation of 132 victims, as well as their recommendations for a better future for trafficked children.
The research says the average age of victims you studied was 14. Where do trafficked children work?
It’s shocking how many different industries where we found children trafficked for their labor. They are all around us. They are on our roofs, they are in our gardens doing landscaping.
