ABSTRACT

Since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act nearly 20 years ago, there have been relatively few human trafficking (labor or sex) arrests, charges, and convictions, which casts doubt among some on the magnitude of the problem. However, the absence of cases may not be because they do not exist, but rather because of the hidden nature of trafficking. In this study, we build on the existing literature on police awareness and understanding of sex trafficking by examining a random sample of law enforcement case files for prostitution and human trafficking-related offenses. We conducted descriptive quantitative and qualitative analyses to assess the extent and direction of law enforcement misidentification of sex trafficking cases as well as potential correlates. The results indicate that the misidentification of sex trafficking victims by law enforcement remains a challenge. Implications for policy and practice, as well as future research, are discussed.

摘要

自从近 20 年前通过《人口贩运受害者保护法》以来，人口贩运（劳工或性）被捕、指控和定罪的事件相对较少，这让一些人对问题的严重性产生了怀疑。然而，案件的缺失可能不是因为它们不存在，而是因为贩运的隐蔽性。在这项研究中，我们通过检查有关卖淫和人口贩运相关犯罪的执法案件档案的随机样本，以现有关于警察意识和理解性交易的文献为基础。我们进行了描述性的定量和定性分析，以评估执法部门错误识别性交易案件的程度和方向以及潜在的相关性。结果表明，执法部门对性交易受害者的错误识别仍然是一个挑战。讨论了对政策和实践以及未来研究的影响。