Prosecution and Partnership In the United States, investigation of human trafficking violations is undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the federal level and by numerous police agencies at the state and local levels. The FBI’s Civil Rights Unit handles human traf-
Responding to Trafficking of Women and Girls
In an unpublished study of 91 successful prosecutions of human trafficking involving juveniles, three or more interviews were needed to establish the necessary rapport for a victim to disclose her abuse (T. D. Patterson, 2012). Traffickers often create, encourage, and exploit this distrust of law enforcement to keep victims from seeking assistance.
ficking investigations involving forced labor and adult sexual
Systemwide factors can also impede the investigation and pros-
exploitation, while its Crimes Against Children Unit manages
ecution of trafficking cases—in particular, ignorance of human
cases involving the sex trafficking of children (FBI, 2012). ICE’s
trafficking, lack of collaboration across sectors, and misidenti-
human trafficking efforts include enforcing border security,
fication of victims as criminals. Lack of knowledge and the need
training for law enforcement, and interagency partnerships and
for training about human trafficking on the part of law enforce-
collaboration (ICE, 2012).
ment, especially at the state and local levels, were identified in
Perhaps the single most common law enforcement strategy in response to trafficking is to form and rely on joint task forces. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice
Traffickers often create, encourage, and exploit this distrust of law enforcement to keep victims from seeking assistance.
several studies and self-identified within the law enforcement community (Clawson, Dutch, & Cummings, 2006; Kara, 2007; Moossy, 2008; Reid, 2010; Zhang, 2011). The complexity of human trafficking investigations, which may include a variety of criminal activities such as drug trafficking, organized crime, and sexual assault, makes collaboration and coordination among a variety of entities and jurisdictions necessary (Farrell et al., 2008, 2012; Venkatraman, 2003). Parties must be aware of each other’s respective roles and work closely together. Unfortunately, the literature suggests this may
Assistance began funding task forces dedicated to the investi-
not always happen. For instance, Clawson, Dutch, and Cummings
gation of human trafficking. These task forces, while federally
(2006) found that most local law enforcement respondents were
funded, are administered by state and local policing agencies
unaware of the role of their federal law enforcement counter-
and typically form partnerships with state, local, and federal
parts in human trafficking investigations, and many were not
agencies, including law enforcement, social service providers,
accustomed to dealing with victims, even when assigned to
mental health providers, and others (Farrell et al., 2012).
a specialized unit. Psychological research on work-team and
In a recent study of law enforcement officers investigating human trafficking violations (n = 121), 45% reported that victim distrust was the biggest challenge to identification of and response to victims (Clawson, Dutch, & Cummings, 2006). The officers believed that victims’ distrust was due primarily to fear of deportation, fear of retaliation from the traffickers (toward the victim or the victim’s family), and a general “lack of trust
multidisciplinary team performance (e.g., Salas, Cooke, & Rosen, 2008) could potentially contribute to more effective collaboration among joint task force members. Reid (2010) also suggested that the differences in terminology can hinder cross-jurisdictional partnership. For example, agents investigating pornography involving minors may not collaborate with agents who investigate other forms of CSEC.
in the U.S. criminal justice system” (p. 38). Similarly, Farrell,
Law enforcement agencies’ failure to recognize and distin-
McDevitt, and Fahy (2008) reported that lack of victim cooper-
guish trafficking victims from criminals derives in part from
ation was the most commonly cited challenge to investigating
the tendency to rely on traditional law enforcement tactics and
human trafficking cases, with fear of retaliation and lack of trust
strategies. Conflicts between state laws and the TVPA also
in the criminal justice system as the top two reasons believed
contribute to this failure. For example, in a majority of the 50
to cause noncooperation. Interestingly, Farrell et al. (2008) also
states, a minor’s selling of him- or herself for sex is a criminal
noted that 81% of respondents reported a victim’s fear and lack
offense. This contrasts with the TVPA, which considers all minors
of cooperation as a key indicator of potential human trafficking.
engaged in commercial sex acts as trafficking victims. Further,
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