Human Trafficking Law & Legal Definition

Human trafficking or Trafficking in persons is the crime of displacing people with a view to exploiting them. People are lured, moved to a totally new place and used for crimes like prostitution, drug peddling, slavery, and even removal of organs. It involves recruiting, transporting, transferring of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion.

Tex. Penal Code § 20A.01 (2) defines Trafficking as transporting, enticing, recruiting, harboring, providing, or otherwise obtaining another person by any means.

The Texas statute dealing with human trafficking reads as follows:

Tex. Penal Code § 20A.02 (2009)

§ 20A.02. Trafficking of Persons

(a) A person commits an offense if the person:

(1) knowingly traffics another person with the intent or knowledge that the trafficked person will engage in forced labor or services; or

(2) intentionally or knowingly benefits from participating in a venture that involves an activity described by Subdivision (1), including by receiving labor or services the person knows are forced labor or services.

(b) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, an offense under this section is a felony of the second degree. An offense under this section is a felony of the first degree if:

(1) the applicable conduct constitutes an offense under Section 43.02 and the person who is trafficked is younger than 18 years of age at the time of the offense; or

(2) the commission of the offense results in the death of the person who is trafficked.

(c) If conduct constituting an offense under this section also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the actor may be prosecuted under either section or under both sections.