scholarly journals The Trafficking Continuum: Service Providers’ Perspectives on Vulnerability, Exploitation, and Trafficking

Affilia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne Schwarz ◽  
Daniel Alvord ◽  
Dorothy Daley ◽  
Megha Ramaswamy ◽  
Emily Rauscher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Kansas City ◽  
Risk Model ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Labor Exploitation ◽  
A Chain

Much of the research on human trafficking focuses on the prosecution of traffickers and protection of survivors after the crime has occurred. Less is known about the social disparities that make someone vulnerable to trafficking. This project examines human trafficking from a preventive focus, using data from a case study of service providers working with at-risk populations in the Kansas City, MO-KS area. The research team conducted 42 in-depth interviews with service providers working in the medical, educational, legal, and social services sectors from 2013 to 2016. Participants identified risk factors that could make someone vulnerable to labor or sexual exploitation. These factors clustered into four key areas: economic insecurity, housing insecurity, education, and migration. The research findings also suggest that human trafficking may be driven by an accumulation of risk factors that move vulnerable persons closer to labor exploitation and sex trafficking, fitting with a chain-of-risk model. We propose a model that reconceives of trafficking as a continuum that includes a range of vulnerabilities, violence, and traumas. In order to address human trafficking, policy makers and advocates need to focus on upstream prevention factors to address vulnerabilities that can lead to sex and labor exploitation.

Human Trafficking: Sex Trade

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Bergquist
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Labor Trafficking ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
To Receive

The definition of human trafficking generally includes the commercial exploitation of persons for labor or sex. Although the International Labour Organization estimated in 2012 that exploitation through forced labor trafficking is up to three times more prevalent than forced sexual exploitation, sex trafficking seems to receive greater media and public attention. This article provides a historical context for sex trafficking, some discussion about the political evolution of sex trafficking legislation, current knowledge, and practice.

Policing Human Trafficking

2014 ◽  
Vol 653 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Farrell ◽  
Rebecca Pfeffer
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Labor Trafficking ◽  
Local Police ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Using Data

Since 2000, the federal government and all fifty states have passed laws that criminalize the trafficking of persons for labor and commercial sex. To date, relatively few human trafficking cases have been identified, investigated, and prosecuted by local criminal justice authorities. Using data from case records and qualitative interviews with police, prosecutors, and victim service providers in twelve counties, we discuss the challenges local police face in identifying cases of human trafficking. We find that the culture of local police agencies and the perceptions of police officials about human trafficking do not support the identification of a broad range of human trafficking cases. Since local definitions of human trafficking are still evolving, police focus on sex trafficking of minors, which they perceive to be the most serious problem facing their communities. Reluctance to differentiate between vice and sex trafficking minimizes the problem of human trafficking and makes labor trafficking seem largely nonexistent.

scholarly journals Domestic Sex Trafficking of Aboriginal Girls in Canada: Issues and Implications

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupriya Sethi
Keyword(s):  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Grass Root ◽  
Domestic Sex Trafficking

The current discourses on human trafficking in Canada do not take into account domestic trafficking, especially of Aboriginal girls. Notwithstanding the alarmingly high number of missing, murdered and sexually exploited Aboriginal girls, the issue continues to be portrayed more as a problem of prostitution than of sexual exploitation or domestic trafficking. The focus of this study is to examine the issues in sexual exploitation of Aboriginal girls, as identified by the grass root agencies, and to contextualize them within the trafficking framework with the purpose of distinguishing sexual exploitation from sex work. In doing so, the paper will outline root causes that make Aboriginal girls vulnerable to domestic trafficking as well as draw implications for policy analysis.

scholarly journals The Economics of Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Jakobsson ◽  
Andreas Kotsadam
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Commercial Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Human Smuggling ◽  
Economic Literature ◽  
Economics Literature ◽  
International Human ◽  
Country People

This article analyzes the economics of international human trafficking of women for commercial sexual exploitation. It begins with a review of the economics literature on sex trafficking, with particular emphasis on factors that determines which type of country people are trafficked to and where people are trafficked from. It then describes the datasets that have been and can be used in studying trafficking. It also considers some economics papers that work toward integrating the analysis of trafficking to include both sending and receiving countries. It suggests that the economic literature on human smuggling is particularly promising and should be incorporated by economists studying trafficking. The article concludes by highlighting gaps in the economics trafficking literature and outlining possible areas of future research.

scholarly journals A Public Health Approach to Global Child Sex Trafficking

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 481-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Greenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Child Sex Trafficking

Human trafficking and child sex trafficking and sexual exploitation in particular are global public health issues with widespread, lasting impacts on children, families, and communities. Traditionally, human trafficking has been treated as a law enforcement problem with an emphasis on the arrest and prosecution of traffickers. However, use of a public health approach focuses efforts on those impacted by exploitation: trafficked persons, their families, and the population at large. It promotes strategies to build a solid scientific evidence base that allows development, implementation, and evaluation of prevention and intervention efforts, informs policy and program development, and guides international efforts at eradication. This article uses the public health approach to address human trafficking, with a focus on child sex trafficking and exploitation. Recommendations are made for public health professionals to contribute to antitrafficking efforts globally.

Human Trafficking 1: Epidemiology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Macias-Konstantopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Commercial Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Trafficking In Persons ◽  
Debt Bondage ◽  
Domestic Servitude

Trafficking in persons, or human trafficking, is the obtaining of persons by force, fraud, coercion, or other improper means, with the intention of exploiting them for financial gain. According to the US Department of State, the more prominent global forms of human trafficking include forced labor, bonded labor (or debt bondage), forced commercial sexual exploitation (or sex trafficking), involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, child sex trafficking, child soldiering, and organ trafficking. In the United States, the forced exploitation of persons in the labor industry (i.e., labor trafficking) and in the commercial sex industry (i.e., sex trafficking) account for the majority of human trafficking cases recognized, reported, investigated, and prosecuted. Women and girls account for 55% (11.4 million) of the global trafficked population, whereas men and boys comprise the difference. Three quarters of trafficked persons are adults, whereas children younger than 18 years represent 26% (5.5 million) of victims. Risk factors that have been associated with increased risk of human trafficking include but are not limited to a childhood history of abuse and neglect; financial insecurity; housing instability associated with homelessness, running away, or being thrown out of the home; kinship placements with distant family members, foster care, and other residential placements; intellectual and learning disabilities; identification as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ); racial and ethnic minority status; status as an immigrant, migrant worker, and refugee; and involvement in gangs or illicit substance use. Due to the inherently abusive and violent nature of this crime, human trafficking has profound negative implications for the health and well-being of affected persons. This review contains 2 figures, 4 tables and 53 references Key words: commercial sexual exploitation, debt bondage, domestic servitude, forced labor, forced substance use, HIV, modern-day slavery, posttraumatic stress disorder, trafficking in persons 

Addressing race, racism, and commercial sexual exploitation in practice through an action-based research partnership

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara B Gerassi ◽  
Amanda Colegrove ◽  
Deanna Kopriva McPherson
Keyword(s):  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Commercial Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Service Access ◽  
Adult Women ◽  
Social Service Organizations ◽  
Methodological Rigor

This paper analyzes the participatory research process stemming from a five-year transformative relationship between anti-trafficking coalition members (including service providers from multiple social service organizations), the coalition organizer, and a service provider who became a sex trafficking/commercial sexual exploitation researcher. We describe the collaborative process in the study design (including development of research questions, methodological and analytic planning, interview guide development, member checking, dissemination of findings, and creation of action steps) for one study, which sought to understand barriers and facilitators to service access and engagement among adult women involved in commercial sex. We analyze how our relationships enhanced methodological rigor and overall feasibility of the study, while creating a pathway to change in the community. Finally, we reflect on the role of our own diverse racial identities in collaborating on this research study, as well the implications for action.

scholarly journals Recruitment and Entrapment Pathways of Minors into Sex Trafficking in Canada and the United States: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 152483802110252
Author(s):  
Kyla Baird ◽  
Jennifer Connolly
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
English Language ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Prevention And Intervention ◽  
The Us

The domestic sex trafficking of minors is occurring across Canada and the United States. Understanding the routes into sex trafficking, including the way traffickers target, recruit and enmesh youth in the sex trade is invaluable information for service providers and law makers developing prevention and intervention initiatives. This review synthesized research on the exploitation processes and tactics employed by traffickers in the sex trafficking of domestic minors in Canada and the US. The authors comprehensively and systematically searched five electronic databases and obtained additional publications and grey literature through a backward search of the references cited in articles reviewed for inclusion.  Inclusionary criteria included: Studies published in the English language between January 1990 and June 2020 containing original research with quantitative or qualitative data on the recruitment or pathways into sex trafficking for minors trafficked within the US and Canada. The search yielded 23 eligible studies. The synthesis of the studies in the review converged on the notion of sexual exploitation occurring on a continuum comprising of three components; the recruitment context, entrapment strategies utilized by traffickers, and enmeshment tactics used to prolong exploitation. Findings highlight the significant physical, psychological and emotional hurdles faced by youth victims of sex trafficking and point to the importance of comprehensive and holistic approaches to prevention and intervention practices.

scholarly journals Queering the Support for Trafficked Persons: LGBTQ Communities and Human Trafficking in the Heartland

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne Schwarz ◽  
Hannah E. Britton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Kansas City ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Public Health Model ◽  
Opt Out ◽  
Use Of Services ◽  
Self Assessments ◽  
Health Model ◽  
Individual Justice

Human trafficking justice centers on the “Three Ps” model of prevention, protection, and prosecution. While protection and prosecution efforts have been moderately successful, prevention remains elusive, as “upstream” structural fac-tors—class, gender, and sexuality inequalities—remain difficult to target. Individuals who are affected by these factors are not fully served within linear service frameworks. Based on a 12-month study in Kansas City, we find that service providers recognize the limitations of a “one-size-fits all” approach. Using a public health model, our research team con-ducted a public health surveillance, explored risk and protective factors, and facilitated organizational self-assessments of services. Our findings support a prevention approach that supports a survivor-centered model, which creates new, non-linear or queered avenues of agency and community for trafficking survivors. This model allows survivors to make use of services in moments of vulnerability and opt out of others in moments of resilience. Given the systematic cuts in funding that have affected service providers, this research contends that prevention is cheaper, more effective, and more ethical than relying on prosecutions to curb trafficking. Developing a model that fosters survivor empowerment is a key step toward individual justice and survivor resilience for vulnerable and marginalized populations.

scholarly journals Human Trafficking of People with a Disability: An Analysis of State and Federal Cases

2022 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Nichols ◽  
◽  
Erin Heil ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Sex Education ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Small Body ◽  
State Level ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Labor Trafficking

The current academic discourse examining human trafficking is lacking in focus on survivors with a disability. The increased likelihood of abuse experienced by people with a disability is well documented in the research literature, and a small body of research indicates heightened sex trafficking victimization of minor girls with a disability. Yet, very little research specifically examines sex and/or labor trafficking of people with a disability, and no systematic research analyzes prosecuted cases of trafficking with disability as the focal point of analysis. Drawing from a content analysis of 18 federal and 17 state cases of human trafficking, the current study specifically aimed to increase our understandings of sex and labor trafficking involving survivors with a disability. The findings revealed the following patterns and themes: 1) the type of trafficking experienced (sex, labor, or both), 2) whether state level or federal cases 3) the types of disabilities identified among trafficking survivors, 4) the nature of the relationship between traffickers and survivors, 5) methods of recruitment, 6) case outcomes; and 7) demographic characteristics of traffickers and survivors (e.g., gender/citizenship). Implications include prevention efforts in the form of developmentally grounded sex education and healthy relationships curriculum for survivors with an intellectual disability, as well as specialized anti-trafficking training for those in legal, healthcare, and social services that is inclusive of people with a disability.

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