IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v653y2014i1p46-64.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Policing Human Trafficking

Author

Listed:
  • Amy Farrell
  • Rebecca Pfeffer

Abstract

Since 2000, the federal government and all fifty states have passed laws that criminalize the trafficking of persons for labor and commercial sex. To date, relatively few human trafficking cases have been identified, investigated, and prosecuted by local criminal justice authorities. Using data from case records and qualitative interviews with police, prosecutors, and victim service providers in twelve counties, we discuss the challenges local police face in identifying cases of human trafficking. We find that the culture of local police agencies and the perceptions of police officials about human trafficking do not support the identification of a broad range of human trafficking cases. Since local definitions of human trafficking are still evolving, police focus on sex trafficking of minors, which they perceive to be the most serious problem facing their communities. Reluctance to differentiate between vice and sex trafficking minimizes the problem of human trafficking and makes labor trafficking seem largely nonexistent.

Suggested Citation

  • Amy Farrell & Rebecca Pfeffer, 2014. "Policing Human Trafficking," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 653(1), pages 46-64, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:653:y:2014:i:1:p:46-64
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716213515835
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716213515835
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716213515835?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:653:y:2014:i:1:p:46-64. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.