Slavery is defined as which of the following?

• A. The voluntary exchange of services.
• B. The ownership rights over a person asserted by another; the person is controlled by ownership.
• C. A form of employment based on mutual consent.
• D. The status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised.

Answer: (D)

Slavery is the state in which a person is treated as property of another, with the power to exercise ownership over that person—control over labor, movement, living conditions, and fundamental rights. This formal or practical ownership means the enslaved person cannot freely decide their own actions or leave, because the “owner” holds and can apply those ownership rights. The option describing voluntary exchange or mutual-consent employment would imply voluntary, legitimate work relationships, not the coercive, ownership-based control that defines slavery. In anti-trafficking and CTIP contexts, slavery is recognized as coercive exploitation where one person’s rights and freedoms are overridden by another’s ownership-like authority.