Reforming the Criminal Justice Response to Human Trafficking Victims and Offenders: An Introduction

Human trafficking is a burgeoning crime, which is often inadequately measured by researchers and misunderstood by policy-makers and the public (Dottridge, 2017; Fedina, 2015; Guilbert, 2017). At the most basic level, human trafficking is a crime driven by motives of financial gain, and accomplished through exploitive mechanisms of force, fraud, or coercion. Severe consequences are endured by individuals, and by society, because of those who perpetrate and facilitate human trafficking (Kloer, 2010). Perpetrators of human trafficking conscript and exploit youth in criminal enterprises, whether as drug mules or sex workers, who are often paid in drugs, if they are paid at all (Windle et al., 2020). Human trafficking breeds corruption and generates billions of dollars a year for organized criminal networks, thereby undermining economic prosperity, and destroying the social fabric of communities (Okubo & Shelley, 2011; Shelley, 2010).

In addition to being considered a severe type of crime due its nature and consequences, human trafficking is also considered a crime with immense global reach. Estimates of the number of victims of human trafficking are precipitously increasing, with the latest estimates indicating that 50 million men, women, and children were victims of human trafficking or forced marriage in 2021 alone, an increase of 10 million from the same estimates in 2016 (International Labour Organization, 2022). No geographic area is exempt from human trafficking; it occurs in almost every country, every region, and every community (Shelley, 2010). Moreover, human trafficking is nonspecialized, meaning it takes many forms and victims are exploited in countless industries and trades. Victims are exploited by gangs funded by illegal drug sales and forced commercial sex, in the service businesses such as hotels or bars, in agriculture, production, construction, and mining. The annual profits from human trafficking are estimated at $99–150 billion from sex trafficking and $51 billion from labor trafficking (De Cock & Woode, 2014; May, 2017). By comparison, the popular store Target had a gross annual profit of just $31 billion in 2022.

As a result of the deleterious and widespread impacts of human trafficking, in the past two decades international protocols and national anti-trafficking laws have authorized and directed law enforcement to protect victims and prosecute traffickers (Reid, 2021). Despite the unanimous condemnation of human trafficking as a violation of human rights, debates have arisen and continue to persist today over the adoption of a predominantly criminal justice response to address the problem. Arguments have been made against the strengthening of crime control responses to human trafficking and the overprovision of anti-trafficking legislation. Many consider these responses as simply a smokescreen created by moral crusaders. Concerns have arisen concerning the possible criminalization of non-offenders and even victims of human trafficking – who often are maliciously drawn into criminal activities while being exploited or deceived. Others are concerned that prioritizing a criminal response to human trafficking deflects attention from the underlying root societal causes of human trafficking such as poverty, war, discrimination, and collapse of the social welfare net.

Despite these criticisms and concerns, criminal justice measures can be useful tools in the fight against human trafficking, but improvements in criminal justice responses are needed. With this special issue, we aim to respond to the criticisms of the criminal justice response to human trafficking by highlighting advances in criminal justice research, with the aims of informing and reforming how the criminal justice system responds to those who are victimized by human trafficking and those who perpetrate human trafficking. The eight articles in this special issue of Victims & Offenders demonstrate the progress that has been made in criminal justice research through advanced and innovative approaches to human trafficking data collection and analysis. Benefiting from innovation in research, three articles demonstrate how new approaches to research shed light on more effective ways to disrupt human trafficking. The second set of articles demonstrates the need to reform the ways we approach our responses to human trafficking and its victims. The last two articles of the special issue are invited essays, which critically examine the current policy debate regarding criminalization of the commercial sex industry.

Reforming research: using innovative approaches to data collection and analysis

The first three articles in this special issue feature groundbreaking human trafficking research. Branscum and Richards conduct the first study utilizing the newly available national child maltreatment data to examine the maltreatment histories of trafficked children and compare this with maltreated children without a history of trafficking. Branscum and Richards utilize individual/ontological-, microsystem-, and exosystem-level risk factors of child sex trafficking to create a profile of youth who have been identified as substantiated victims of sex trafficking. Although substantiated reports of child sex trafficking are identified in this data set as rare, Branscum and Richards are still able to identify a range of individual/ontological-, microsystem-, and exosystem-level factors that distinguish these youth from other maltreatment victims. Indeed, some of these factors are found to increase the risk of youth involvement in trafficking by 24 and 56 times, in comparison to other forms of maltreatment. Interestingly, nearly all these substantiated reports of trafficking were provided by a professional (i.e., teachers and doctors). Thus, this study provides a call-to-action for policies and practice to implement a broadened, easy-to-use unified screening tool to predict risk for child sex trafficking. In order to better understand the contextual factors that may put youth at risk for trafficking, the authors highlight the need for continued examination of this new child maltreatment data set to further explore those relationships and differences between youth exposed to maltreatment and those who have experienced trafficking.

Reid and colleagues focus on the use of crime script analysis based on case file research to inform prevention. This type of research has previously been used to inform prevention strategies to avert child sexual abuse but rarely have researchers used case file data to inform primary prevention efforts to address child sex trafficking. Much of the available research on human trafficking prevention is focused on intervention or preventing revictimization. Reid and colleagues seek to use patterns in trafficker tactics documented in cases of child sex trafficking to inform prevention – to prevent child sex trafficking before it occurs. Drawing from cases of child sex trafficking in Florida, Reid and colleagues identify seven distinct typologies of child sex traffickers who employ various tactics to find, groom, and exploit victims. Both shared and unique tactics are used by the various types of child sex traffickers. Through a crime scripting approach, strategies can be developed for multiple stages of the trafficking process. Based on these mixed-method findings, numerous prevention strategies are laid out in the article as well as a set of topics for human trafficking prevention education that could be made available for youth and/or for those who supervise youth.

Finally, it is well established that traumatic events, such as abuse and victimization, have heterogeneous negative effects based upon the age in which these events were experienced. This knowledge corresponds to recent efforts to tailor treatment and services to the mental, physical, and social health issues most commonly experienced by various individuals, rather than a “one size fits all” approach. As such, the last article in this part of the special issue examines the vital question of whether the negative health impacts of sex trafficking vary depending upon the age at which the victim was exploited. Using data from a national sample of young non-college educated women, Krushas and Kulig find that, unsurprisingly, women who were victims of sex trafficking reported substantially more physical, mental, and social health issues than non-sex-trafficked women, but the age at which the exploitation occurred played a role in the type and severity of these issues. For instance, it was very surprising to find that those trafficked during the childhood only were less likely to report mental health issues than those sex trafficking in adulthood only. It is possible that the resiliency of childhood or protective factors established with more time in recovery could explain this finding, but it nevertheless indicates that we cannot assume adults are better equipped to handle this type of extreme victimization without services and support. Overall, as the age of sexual exploitation appears relevant to the health issues that sex trafficking victims experience downstream, this knowledge can be used to better inform how researchers and response efforts can better target the needs of victims and become more effective at ameliorating the impact of this destructive victimization experience.

Reforming response: generating new approaches to disrupt human trafficking

In the second part of this special issue, three articles make a substantial contribution to pushing forward new approaches toward disrupting human trafficking. The first of these, by the interdisciplinary team of Childress, Farrell, Bhimani, and Maass addresses the critical but oft overlooked issue of labor trafficking in the agricultural sector and draws upon economic and supply chain theory to propose innovative and non-law enforcement interventions to this problematic offense. Specifically, Childress and colleagues begin by describing supply chain vulnerability theory and how it can be applied to labor trafficking supply networks, not just traditional supply chains in the commercial market. They then test the applicability of this theory by analyzing data from 12 federally prosecuted labor trafficking cases in the agricultural sector, and how multi-agent coordinated network interdiction models can be used to disrupt supply chains, even within trafficking operations. As there has been a withdrawal from the exclusive reliance on policing to address crime, including trafficking, this paper is both timely and novel. It outlines, and then tests, how market forces and those who operate within them can be used to successfully disrupt trafficking operations without police involvement. In addition to the important practical implications, this study substantially expands the concept of ‘disruption” beyond police and criminal justice interventions.

Next, Price and Bentele draw upon a mixed methods approach consisting of qualitative interviews and macro-level modeling to examine when, and why, state legislative bodies opt to enact policies to prevent criminalization of sexually exploited children in the United States. As before, this is a seemingly overlooked but massively important topic, given the long-term implications associated with both sex trafficking victimization and involvement in the justice system at any point, especially as a minor. Given the nature of sex trafficking and unease for politicians to decriminalize it in any way, this study explores what social, economic, and political factors contribute to whether sexually exploited children will be treated as criminals or victims. Fascinating interviews with state legislators, legislative aides, prosecutors, and anti-criminalization advocates suggest that economic conditions surprisingly play a major role in this legal decision-making, with structural inequality one of the primary themes identified as a contributing factor. Quantitative models using event history analyses support these findings, suggesting that concentrated disadvantage in a community corresponds to a greater likelihood of policies related to criminalization of sexually exploited youth. The major takeaway from this study is that economic conditions, not law enforcement action, play a massive role in the way we decide to intervene and ultimately protect youth from child sex trafficking and subsequent related harms. Using this important knowledge, we can develop market-based community interventions to help craft policy and practice that aims to prevent child sex trafficking victimization from occurring.

The final article in this section of the special issue presents novel research that addresses the concern of youth who are victims of sex trafficking being treated and viewed as an offender. Cain outlines the gendered differences in the characteristics and risk factors for juveniles who have been charged with prostitution among a nationally representative sample with information from the youth in custody. Although there have been many reauthorizations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and enaction of Safe Harbor laws, detailing that those under 18 and have experienced sexual exploitation are victims, some youths are still charged with prostitution when they come in contact with law enforcement. Risk factors and characteristics that are assessed in the study include prior victimization experiences, issues in schooling, learning disabilities, living situations, prior justice system involvement, as well as substance use and its impact on life functioning. This article also highlights that the role of involvement from said charges in the justice system can perpetuate youths’ level of risk to be re-victimized or their involvement in sexual exploitation. The author highlights the need for trauma-informed practices in all aspects of the juvenile justice arena, and the need and use of proper child sexual exploitation screening tools when certain risk factors are present to help better identify and serve youth victims of sexual exploitation.

Reforming policy: exploring inclusive ways forward

Finally, the two invited essays contribute to the often-argued policies surrounding commercial sex versus sex trafficking victimization globally. The first of these essays, by Burckley et al.,examines the validity of arguments used to justify the criminalization of sex work as a way to gauge the legitimacy of the policy around the globe. For instance, while the arguments against legalizing (or decriminalizing) sex work are often moral, political, normative, cultural, or otherwise value laden, some more testable arguments include that doing so will increase violence against those engaged in sex work, that sexually transmitted infections and other public health issues such as drug overdoses will rise in the community, and importantly to this issue, that rates of human trafficking will consequently escalate. This essay examines these arguments using research conducted to address each of these points, and outlines which concerns are valid, and which lack concrete evidence and data to support them. Overall, most research on these issues indicates that decriminalization of sex work in particular serves to reduce sexually transmitted infections and drug overdoses, lowers rates of physical and sexual violence committed against those employed in the sex work industry, and allows for more transparent and regulated behavior for an enterprise that will likely exist regardless of whether it is legal or not. However, when criminalized, sex work is hidden, unregulated, and therefore open to more problems and implications for society than what occurs once the threat of prosecution is removed. The one area where research is lacking is the impact of sex work legalization on human trafficking, primarily due to lack of quality research given the difficulty securing data to be analyzed for this purpose. In addition to objectively addressing myths surrounding this hot button issue, the essay also calls for more evaluative research on these topics, so the most effective and beneficial policies can be implemented on this issue.

The final essay by de Vries and colleagues highlights the drawbacks in the frameworks that are often discussed in how to regulate the commercial sex industry as a strategy to promote anti-trafficking and provides suggestions on how to best move forward. The authors add to the argument by outlining how it is not beneficial to take a binary stance on such a nuanced topic and that simplifying the issue will not raise true resolutions to the problem. For instance, the authors detail the delineations between implementing a policy and the actuality of its practice as well as the harms that may come from outright legalization. Further, the article details these challenges as the reasoning to change the debate on regulation of commercial sex avenues. The article serves to provide premises that can guide policy debates to be more nuanced and inclusive about the topic, rather than strictly following moral frameworks. For instance, including those involved in the commercial sex agency in the creation of policies. de Vries and colleagues provide a call-to-action for policy-makers to focus on the agencies of peoples, prioritization of health and safety, and suggest a reframing of attention to the governmental responsibility to protect against harm.

Taken together, this special issue illustrates the ways that criminal justice research can advance our understanding and response to human trafficking. Historically, human trafficking research has suffered from a lack of sufficient data and the use of innovative methods required to advance our understanding of the problem (Decker, 2015). This collection of studies provides examples of groundbreaking research featuring the utilization of newly available national datasets, the use of previously collected data to advance prevention, and the pioneering of national survey data collection on the topic of human trafficking. Most importantly, the issue highlights new approaches to human trafficking disruption and the need to move away from the common criminal justice approach of “arresting our way out of this problem” toward a more holistic response addressing the underlying causes of human trafficking. A victim-centered approach, which emphasizes prevention and protection, calls for new policies and approaches to disrupting human trafficking.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.