Reimagining Labor Trafficking: A Case Series on the Intersection of Forced Labor and Intimate Partner Violence

ABSTRACT

Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel a person into performing a commercial sex act or other labor services for a profit. Burgeoning research has shown perpetrators of labor trafficking (LT) can be anyone, including intimate partners. The current study utilized retrospective chart reviews of hospital patients who reported experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) and intimate partner-controlled LT between October 2017 and July 2022. Sixteen patients were identified. All but one patient identified as female and the average age was 38 years old (M = 38.06, SD = 10.67). Most patients were White/Caucasian (50%) or Hispanic (43.8%) and were born in the U.S. (68.8%). Suicidal ideation/suicide attempt was the most frequently cited presenting problems. Depression (37.5%) and bipolar disorder (31.3%) were the most common primary diagnoses, and most patients had a comorbid substance use disorder (62.5%). The majority of patients either lived in their own home (37.5%), or in a shelter or on the street (37.5%) prior to coming to the hospital. Five cases were selected to be highlighted in a case series to describe the complex experiences of these patients. Cases examined include LT within retail, domestic work, illicit activities, peddling and begging, and other labor settings. The findings from this study can help to inform screening and intervention approaches in the healthcare and community settings, as well as inform future research on IPV and LT.

KEYWORDS:

• Domestic violence
• human trafficking
• intimate partner violence
• labor exploitation
• labor trafficking

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical standards and informed consent

The Institutional Review Board for Human Subject Research for Baylor College of Medicine and Affiliated Hospitals (BCM IRB) approved the use of de-identified retrospective data for this research and did not require informed consent.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) under Grant 2019-VT-BW-0091 and Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) under Grant 2020-V2-GX-0004