Naming, Blaming, and Claiming: Understanding Human Trafficking Victims’ Nondisclosure and Non-Reporting Behavior

ABSTRACT

Despite efforts to combat human trafficking, most instances remain unacknowledged and unidentified. Through in-depth interviews with human trafficking survivors, this research uses a naming, blaming, and claiming framework to provide a comprehensive understanding of why human trafficking victims often do not disclose their victimization. Consistent with this framework, the interviews reveal that human trafficking victims face barriers in naming their victimization, blaming the offender, and making claims of victimization. The current study provides policy and practical implications for better identifying and responding to cases of human trafficking.

KEYWORDS:

• Human trafficking
• reporting
• disclosure
• victimization

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the survivors who shared their experiences and perspectives with us for this project. We would also like to thank the non-profit organization that helped facilitate this research. Without their support, this research would not have been possible. We are also grateful for The Citadel Foundation’s support of this research.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ We use the terms victim, survivor, and victim-survivor interchangeably throughout depending on the context in which they are used. For example, the term “victim” is used when referring to the participants’ perceptions of their victimization, while “survivor” is used when discussing their current experiences and insights.

² The IRB approval number for this research is IRB #2021–01 with Addendums 1–3.

³ The term “service providers” includes case managers and counselors throughout.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime under Grant 2019-VT-BX-0112. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice.