Assisting with Positive Community Impact

Phone

(678) 938-5799

Address

P.O. Box 1957
Conyers, GA 30012

MARCHMAN TO SERVE ON GEORGIA’S 2023 HUMAN TRAFFICKING TASK FORCE

CONYERS, GA— In December, Derek Marchman learned he was nominated and selected to serve on Georgia’s 2023 Human Trafficking Task Force (HTTF). The HTTF is attached to the Governor’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC). The mission of the HTTF is to protect the citizens of Georgia from perpetrators and systems of exploitation. Also, while concurrently supporting the recovery of adults and victims of all forms of exploitation to ensure that they are ready for college, work, and a successful future.

Under this continuum, the Task Force functions based on nine key objectives: Community Awareness and Education; Youth Aware and Safe; Deterring Traffickers and Buyers; Keeping At-Risk Youth Safe; Apprehending, Investigating, and Prosecuting; Foreign-Born and Labor Trafficking; Survivors Supported And Protected; Survivors Recovering and Thriving; and Examining Domestic Adult Sex Trafficking. Nine work groups are operating under the HTTF umbrella. Marchman will work in his area of expertise associated with Work Group 1: Community Awareness and Education.

Marchman stated that it is a privilege to be selected to serve on a task force addressing a problem turning into an epidemic. Reports indicated in 2021, approximately 27.6 million people were in forced labor worldwide. Nationally, the Department of Health and Human Services estimated the number between 240,000 and 325,000. The State of Georgia ranked 15th in the nation for the number of new cases in 2019 and 11th for the number of active cases.

Human trafficking victims can be of any age, race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, immigration status, cultural background, religion, socio-economic class, and education attainment level. In the United States, individuals vulnerable to human trafficking include children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, including foster care; runaway and homeless youth; unaccompanied foreign national children without lawful immigration status; individuals seeking asylum, particularly women and girls; individuals with substance use issues; racial or ethnic minorities; migrant laborers, including undocumented workers and participants in visa programs for temporary workers; foreign national domestic workers in diplomatic households; persons with limited English proficiency; persons with disabilities; LGBTQI+ individuals; and victims of intimate partner violence or other forms of domestic violence.

Some of the ways females are sex trafficked include pimp-controlled trafficking, in which a single person controls the victim physically, psychologically, or emotionally. Gang trafficking is in control of a victim who may be abused by the gang members or prostituted by the gang. Survival sex is where the victim feels they are not able to escape and must perform sex acts to survive. Domestic trafficking is where the victim is abused and controlled by their family members; and forced marriages.

Sex trafficking can be found in a variety of places including, but not limited to:
● Hotels and motels
● Residential brothels
● Brothels disguised as other venues such as massage parlors
● Nightclubs
● Casinos
● Online escort services
● Online classified advertisement sites like Craigslist
● Social Media sites like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat
● Strip clubs
● Street prostitution
● Drug houses
● Farms

To report suspected human trafficking in Georgia, call the Statewide 24-Hour Human Trafficking Hotline at (866) 363-4842. If you believe a victim is in imminent danger, call 911 or your local law enforcement agency to file a report.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline is a toll-free hotline, 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-888-373-7888 to speak with a specially trained Anti-Trafficking Hotline Advocate or email [email protected] for help.

Marchman Consulting helps communities make an impact with data analysis, grant development, implementation, and evaluation for sustainability efforts for a variety of programs. An example is the alcohol risk management (ARM) measures, such as Marchman’s award-winning RASS training program. Validation of his success, Marchman was the recipient of the Office of Victims of Crime 2022 Victims’ Rights Award presented by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on the Washington Mall. More information of his services is available at www.marchmanconsulting.com.