Dr. Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco’s first book—Hidden in Plain Sight: America’s Slaves of the New Millennium—was used by non-profit ERASE Child Trafficking to train law enforcement across the country from Miami to California. Pictures from some of the trainings are featured below.
Dr. Mehlman-Orozco regularly serves as a peer-reviewer for academic journals, as well as for scientific research proposals.
Most recently, Dr. Mehlman-Orozco served as a peer reviewer for the Office of Justice Programs’
(OJP), National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) FY 2022 Research and Evaluation on Trafficking in
Persons.
Dr. Mehlman-Orozco has completed eight review assignments for the Journal of Human Trafficking since 2015:
—Women and Child Trafficking in Nigeria: What Progress?
—Experiences of survivors of human trafficking of non-sexual purposes.
—Evaluation of a Curriculum for Healthcare Professional Training on Child Sex Trafficking.
—Preparedness to Serve Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC): An Integrative Review.
—Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Children in South East Asia: A Review of the Literature.
—Modern Slavery or Forced Labour? Mechanisms of power and the criminal family firm in the United Kingdom.
—Sex Trafficking Myths and Realities.
Dr. Mehlman-Orozco had a productive book talk, teaching the ladies of alpha Kappa Delta Phi at GMU on how to identify the red flags of human trafficking. Behind the headlines, the true life stories of human trafficking victimizations will beggar belief. #aKDPhi Sisters are now equipped with the fundamental knowledge needed to become a modern day abolitionist.
“Thank you so much for your presentation yesterday, we all learned a lot and are very happy we were able to meet you and hear more about your book.
I started reading your book last night and it was so hard to force myself to stop to go to sleep, I am really glad we have the break now so that I can spend more time reading it!”
Dr. Mehlman-Orozco’s human trafficking book is slated for release next week on October 31, 2017. Her first book talk/signing will be at Politics and Prose on Washington D.C. on November 4, 2017 at 1:00pm. The following weekend, she will be signing books at 2nd & Charles in Woodbridge, VA on Novemeber 11, 2017 at noon.
While other books may discuss the topic of human trafficking, there is no other that will take readers behind the headlines to the extent that Hidden in Plain Sight does. Dr. Mehlman-Orozco is sincerely looking forward to feedback from readers.
Win a free, signed copy of Dr. Mehlman-Orozco’s latest book— Hidden in Plain Sight: America’s Slaves of the New Millennium. The book will be released on October 31, 2017 and Dr. Mehlman-Orozco’s first signing/talk will be at Politics and Prose in Washington D.C. on November 4 at 1:00pm.
Giveaway ends December 01, 2017.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
The name Soroptimist was coined from the Latin term ‘soror’ meaning sister, and ‘optima’ meaning best. As such, Soroptimist is perhaps best interpreted as meaning “the best for women.”
Last night, Dr. Mehlman-Orozco was fortunate enough to present a former student, and survivor of child abuse in the foster care system, with a Soroptimist scholarship. Dr. Mehlman-Orozco nominated her student, writing in part: “In the face of adversity, (this student) has excelled and is on the road to becoming an accomplished, self reliant, empowered young woman.”
Next year, as newly elected President, Dr. Mehlman-Orozco will be donating 50% of her proceeds from her book, Hidden in Plain Sight: America’s Slaves of the New Millennium to Soroptimist International of Woodbridge for a scholarship for human trafficking survivors. Another portion of proceeds will go to graduates of TEAM SummerQuest-a diversion program for high-risk youth in Manassas City.
Dr. Mehlman-Orozco’s book, Hidden in Plain Sight: America’s Slaves of the New Millennium is available for pre-order on Amazon.
Pimp-controlled sex workers, exploited migrants, domestic servants, and sex trafficking of runaway
and homeless youth are just a few of the many forms of sex trafficking and labor trafficking going on all around the world—including in the United States. Hidden in Plain Sight: America’s Slaves of the New Millennium exposes both well-known and more obscure forms of human trafficking, documenting how these heinous crimes are encountered in our daily lives.
Slavery is not a thing of the past. In fact, there are more slaves today than at any other time in human history.
Hidden in Plain Sight: America’s Slaves of the New Millennium documents how human trafficking and its byproducts touch every community in America, from impoverished inner-city neighborhoods to middle-class suburbs and alcoves of wealthy estates. It presents information derived from narrative accounts of real-life trafficking cases, interviews with convicted human traffickers, empirical research, and criminal case files to expose the grim realities of human trafficking in America, perpetrated by Americans. Readers will grasp the origins, evolution, and extent of the problem; understand how trafficking plays an unrecognized role in our day-to-day lives; and see why advancements in awareness and anti-trafficking resources have not changed the status quo. The victims of trafficking continue to be criminalized by law enforcement, and the offenders continue to exploit and profit from new recruits.
Features
Over the winter, Dr. Mehlman-Orozco had the distinct honor of being invited as a featured panelist for a symposium on human trafficking at Liberty University School of Law.
Following the event, a law professor coordinator wrote:
“I just wanted to express my sincere thanks and gratitude for your participation in yesterday’s event. You were fantastic! I thought the panel did great in addressing so many critical issues in such a short time. We’ve heard very positive feedback and are looking forward to having you join us again sometime in the future.
Thank you for all that you are doing for children who have been forgotten and ignored by so many. Keep up the great work!”
Although there have been increases in anti-trafficking funding in recent years, a considerable proportion of that money is misused for duplicative or ineffective services, as well as unnecessary conferences or overhead expenses. As such, when possible, Dr. Mehlman-Orozco attempts to raise funds and resources that go directly to human trafficking survivors or juveniles at risk of sex trafficking.
Most recently, Dr. Mehlman-Orozco raised over $200 in gift cards for several at-risk youth in Manassas City. Although it was a small gesture, it went directly to these youth and Dr. Mehlman-Orozco spent the day discussing the risks and realities of human trafficking with them.
The event concluded with pizza and snacks, karaoke, and painting.
When making philanthropic donations to anti-trafficking organizations, it is important for you to promote accountability and ensure the resources are being used in ways that truly help prevent new crimes, protect and restore survivors, or facilitate the prosecution of offenders. Human trafficking is a crime because people value money over human life. This shouldn’t be the case for organizations responsible for combating this scourge.
This week concludes Dr. Mehlman-Orozco’s fall semester teaching for the Criminology, Law and Society Department at George Mason University. Her course, CRIM 308 Human Rights and Justice, included a unit on human trafficking. Students learned about methods of recruitment and control used by human traffickers and justice issues faced by survivors (e.g. erroneous criminalization and denial of services), as well as implementation gaps of anti-trafficking legislation.
The course instruction was well received, prompting messages of thanks from students:
Spring 2017, Dr. Mehlman-Orozco will be teaching CRIM 405 Law and Justice Around the World, which will include a unit on international human trafficking.