Policing and prosecutions ‘Enforcement of the Modern Slavery Act is important as a deterrent and to bring justice and reparations for victims.’ Dame Sara Thornton, in the 2020-1 annual IASC report 218 When considering the criminal justice response to modern slavery, there is a clear disparity between the number of children who are trafficked and the number of perpetrators bought to justice in the courts.219 Networks continue to proliferate and more and more children are exploited. Unfortunately, there is no published data on the number of cases, prosecutions and convictions under the Modern Slavery Act where the victim is a child.220 However, we do know that prosecutions involving modern slavery cases remain low.221 In 2020, 10,700 victims of modern slavery and human trafficking were identified but only 331 offences prosecuted under the Modern Slavery Act.222 Yet, without official data of cases involving child victims, it is difficult to monitor how effective the Modern Slavery Act is for child victims in the criminal justice system.223 Over the last year or so, however, there has been an increase in the identification of victims of county lines trafficking.224 Further attention has been given to the prosecution of modern slavery with the Sentencing Council launching updated guidelines225 in an attempt to provide better consistency226 across England and Wales for prosecuting cases of modern slavery. The impact of this will be seen after the guidelines come into effect in October 2021. Due to perpetrators often operating in OCGs or networks,227 a joined-up response is required at a national, regional and local level. Through a consultation between IASC Dame Sara Thornton and a number of police officers working in investigating cases of modern slavery, a number of barriers to prosecution were identified:
• ‘Victim vulnerabilities made engagement as witnesses
difficult; support structures were not well aligned with helping victims through the criminal justice process. The victim journey to recovery was badly understood and victims were asked to give evidence too early.
• Subject matter expertise in investigators cuts investigation lengths significantly and results in better evidence gathering. Models which rely on single officers in busy general crime departments owning investigations are not able to service the serious and complex nature of this offending.
• Prosecution files are greatly strengthened by including telecommunication and financial evidence to prove exploitation without relying on victim evidence.
• Investigators need access to specialist capabilities and
assistance from resources held at force and regional level, and prioritising modern slavery at strategic level assists with this.
• Investigator and First Responder training is effective, but
requires application in practice to embed confidence and skill. MSHTxviii experts and single points of contact can bolster the level of expertise in a force, but the workload on a few experts can be overwhelming.’ 228
The experience for victims of child sexual abuse and exploitation going through the criminal justice system is often long 229 and strenuous, and victims can often be left retraumatised by the process itself. In fact, some have reported that the court process can be more traumatic than the exploitation.230 Contrary to what some may assume, the UNICEF scoping report into child sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, found no evidence of the therapeutic benefit of prosecution of offenders for the recovery of child victims.231 Although investigations are highly important, there is a common misconception that a criminal justice process will result in closure for the victim.
xviii Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking
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