Prosecution and Partnership

Responding to Trafficking of Women and Girls

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 trafficking investigations involving forced labor and adult sexual exploitation, while its Crimes Against Children Unit manages cases involving the sex trafficking of children (FBI, 2012). ICE’s human trafficking efforts include enforcing border security, training for law enforcement, and interagency partnerships and collaboration (ICE, 2012).

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

Assistance began funding task forces dedicated to the investigation of human trafficking. These task forces, while federally funded, are administered by state and local policing agencies and typically form partnerships with state, local, and federal agencies, including law enforcement, social service providers, mental health providers, and others (Farrell et al., 2012).

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 in the U.S. criminal justice system” (p. 38). Similarly, Farrell, McDevitt, and Fahy (2008) reported that lack of victim cooperation was the most commonly cited challenge to investigating human trafficking cases, with fear of retaliation and lack of trust in the criminal justice system as the top two reasons believed to cause noncooperation. Interestingly, Farrell et al. (2008) also noted that 81% of respondents reported a victim’s fear and lack of cooperation as a key indicator of potential human trafficking.

Traffickers often create, encourage, and exploit this distrust of law enforcement to keep victims from seeking assistance.

In an unpublished study of 91 successful prosecutions of human trafficking involving juveniles, three or more interviews were needed to establish the necessary rapport for a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.

Systemwide factors can also impede the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases—in particular, ignorance of human trafficking, lack of collaboration across sectors, and misidentification of victims as criminals. Lack of knowledge and the need for training about human trafficking on the part of law enforcement, especially at the state and local levels, were identified in 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 not always happen. For instance, Clawson, Dutch, and Cummings (2006) found that most local law enforcement respondents were unaware of the role of their federal law enforcement counterparts in human trafficking investigations, and many were not accustomed to dealing with victims, even when assigned to a specialized unit. Psychological research on work-team and 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.

Law enforcement agencies’ failure to recognize and distinguish trafficking victims from criminals derives in part from the tendency to rely on traditional law enforcement tactics and strategies. Conflicts between state laws and the TVPA also contribute to this failure. For example, in a majority of the 50 states, a minor’s selling of him- or herself for sex is a criminal offense. This contrasts with the TVPA, which considers all minors engaged in commercial sex acts as trafficking victims. Further,