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Texas Matters: A Grim Look At Sex Trafficking

There are more than 300,000 victims of human trafficking in Texas including, almost 80,000 minors and youth victims, according to a study by the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault at the University of Texas.

Human sex trafficking is a multibillion dollar business that has made use of the open internet for marketing and recruiting of victims. This is a look at how sex is sold online, efforts to shut down those online sites, and how the traffickers adapt.

Listener warning: This program is going to be rough to listen to but this is an important glimpse into the horrific world of sex trafficking. Some of the most disturbing and graphic descriptions of events have been edited out – but this is real, and what remains is still grim. There are accounts of sexual violence that are not suitable for all listeners.

David Martin Davies can be reached at dmdavies@tpr.org and on Twitter at @DavidMartinDavi