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Literature Review

Unit 4 Assignment

Renee C. Bridgeman

Purdue University Global

CJ525: Applied Research in Criminal Justice

Professor Carolee Larsen

October 17, 2021

Literature Review

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery where individuals coerce or compel individuals to provide labor services or engage in commercial sex activities. Human trafficking has become a major concern where millions of men, women, and children are trafficked globally. The United States is one of the countries which has several reported cases of human trafficking. The human trafficking task force was established in the United States to help investigate and stop incidents of human trafficking and ensure justice for human trafficking victims. Human trafficking task forces are multidisciplinary teams that have been created to provide numerous services and resources to victims. The human trafficking task force is also responsible for investigating and prosecuting the individuals who participate in human trafficking. The city of Phoenix has its own human trafficking task force, which aids in the fight against human trafficking. Like all task forces in different states, it has had several success stories on the issue of human trafficking, where they have saved numerous victims and prosecuted a large number of individuals who participate in human trafficking. Although they have numerous successes, this task force has to deal with several challenges in their line of work. The purpose of this study is to determine the challenges that the Arizona human trafficking task force is dealing with in the fight against human trafficking and the successes of this task force. This essay aims to carry out a literature review of studies that have been carried out on the challenges facing human trafficking.

Theoretical Considerations

Several assumptions are related to the challenges that the human trafficking task force has to deal with during its fight against human trafficking. The first assumption of the challenges that this task force has to deal with is insufficient funding to acquire the resources they need to succeed in their fight against human trafficking. The first hypothesis of the study is that human trafficking challenges are caused by insufficient funding and resources. The second assumption is that the challenges faced result from the lack of willingness of human trafficking victims to provide details on the perpetrators. The other assumptions made are poor investigation procedures, broad ambiguity concerning human trafficking, and poor coordination between the human trafficking agencies. The theory which will be used to explain the challenges that the human task force is dealing with is the critical theory. This theory focuses on reflective assessment and critique of the society and culture to identify the challenges that exist within that society.

Literature Review

Major Themes

Farrell et al.(2019) argue that one of the challenges that human trafficking taskforces have to deal with is the unwillingness of human trafficking victims to report their victimization or provide detail on their encounters with human trafficking. The majority of the human trafficking victims do not report their encounters, and the families of these victims also remain silent. The lack of cooperation from these makes it difficult for the human trafficking task force to identify the perpetrators of these crimes and hinders the investigation process. The argument is supported by the research conducted by Farrell & Pfeffer (2014). The authors argue that the victims of human trafficking are reluctant to provide details of their human trafficking encounters because they fear the police and their trafficker. Fordyce (2012) also agrees with the two research articles on the unwillingness of the victims to provide details about their encounters. Fordyce argues that it is difficult for the human trafficking task forces and other security agencies to identify human trafficking incidents because these victims are unlikely to identify themselves or provide details regarding their traffickers. Aronowitz (2010) argues that victims are unwilling to provide details about their victimization or cooperate with law enforcement officials if they have been identified or rescued

Lack of training is the other challenge that the human trafficking task force face. Farell et al. (2019) argue that officers lack the training to identify the incidents which involve human trafficking. Fordyce (2012) also argues that the lack of training is a human trafficking task force's challenge. Fordyce argues that local and state law enforcement agencies require training on the laws governing human trafficking, the techniques they can use to identify human trafficking cases, and effective interviewing methods. However, to ensure that the training is successful, there must be coordination between law enforcement agencies, non-governmental organizations, and prosecutors.

Fordyce (2012) argues that the other challenges that these task forces have to deal with are where victims are mistakenly identified as illegal immigrants and prostitutes, resulting in them being treated as criminal offenders instead of victims. Farrell & Pfeffer (2014) also argue that arresting human trafficking victims due to mistaken identity as immigrants or prostitutes has made it challenging to identify human trafficking victims.

The other challenge that taskforces have to deal with in their fight against human trafficking is the lack of resources. Fordyce (2012) argues that the lack of resources, such s the lack of officers to investigate human trafficking incidents or providers to provide victim assistance, is one of the challenges faced by these taskforces. Farell et al. (2019) also argue that the lack of outreach and partnerships to providers who offer their services to migrant persons or vulnerable communities has made it difficult for the human trafficking taskforces to identify victims of human trafficking. Outreaches and partnerships with the migrants and vulnerable communities are essential for these taskforces since it allows them to build cases of human trafficking and carry out the required investigations.

The research by Farrell & Pfeffer (2014) argues that one of the challenges that the human trafficking task force has to deal with is broad public ambiguity concerning human trafficking. The study carried out in twelve counties in the United States determined that the local enforcement agencies are confused about what human trafficking is. The barriers can lead to unclear directions between lawmakers, the public, and the police leadership. The author also argues that the lack of investigative culture and an institutional structure that would allow the investigation of human trafficking is one of the challenges that human trafficking taskforces have to deal with during their investigation of human trafficking incidents. Warria et al.(2015) also argue that the challenge faced in the fight against human trafficking is the lack of clear definition in national legislation regarding identifying human trafficking victims.

Comparison and Contrast

The strength of the research article by Farell et al. (2019) is that the data was obtained from human trafficking incidents and conduction interviews. This approach made it possible for the authors to determine the challenges that arise in the fight against human trafficking. There are no weaknesses in the methods used in the study by Farell et al. (2019). The strength of the methods by Farrell & Pfeffer (2014) is that it used data from the National Institute of Justice to determine challenges faced in the fight gains human trafficking. The weakness of the methods is that the authors used a limited sample data sample which can invalidate the research findings. There are no identifiable weaknesses and strengths of Aronowitz (2012) and Waria et al. (2015).

Key Findings

The key findings by Farell et al., 2019 on the challenges facing the fight on human trafficking include the unwillingness of the human trafficking survivors to provide details, poor coordination among human trafficking agencies, and the challenge of differentiating individuals in sex work perpetrators from human trafficking victims. Farrell & Pfeffer's (2014) findings are that the challenges faced include broad public ambiguity concerning human trafficking and the lack of investigative culture and institutional and institutional structure that would allow the investigation of human trafficking. The key finding of Fordyce, 2012 on challenges faced are mistaken identity, inadequate resources to handle human trafficking issues properly, and poor interviewing procedures used during investigations with human trafficking victims. The key findings of the article by Warria et al. (2015) include a lack of clear definition and unwillingness to share information. The article's findings by Aronowitz, A. A. (2010) is that law enforcement officials mistake human trafficking victims for immigrants or prostitutes, resulting in them being treated as criminals. The articles by Farrell & Pfeffer (2014), Fordyce (2012), and Aronowitz (2010) have similar key findings on how the unwillingness of the victims to provide detail about their encounters is one of the challenges which human trafficking enforcement agencies have to deal with. The other similarity in key findings is the article by Farell et al. (2019) and Fordyce (2012), where both agree that the lack of training is one of the challenges that need to be addressed.

The literature review highlighted several challenges that law enforcement agencies that fight against human trafficking, such as the human trafficking task force, have to deal with. These challenges include the unwillingness of the victims to self-report or provide details about their incident, lack of training, ambiguous definition of human trafficking, lack of resources, and treating victims as criminals. What is not known from the literature review on my topic is the successes of the Arizona human trafficking taskforces. The literature review has only addressed the challenges facing these agencies. There are no controversies or conflicting findings in the reviewed literature. The drawn conclusion is that the unwillingness of the victims to provide details on their encounters is one of the leading challenges that the task force has to address. One of the questions that need to be addressed is; what strategies can the task force use to ensure the cooperation of the victims to provide details of their human trafficking encounters?

References

Aronowitz, A. A. (2010). Overcoming the challenges to accurately measuring the phenomenon of human trafficking. Revue internationale de droit pénal, 81(3), 493-511.

Farrell, A., Dank, M., de Vries, I., Kafafian, M., Hughes, A., & Lockwood, S. (2019). Failing victims? Challenges of the police response to human trafficking. Criminology & Public Policy, 18(3), 649-673.

Farrell, A., & Pfeffer, R. (2014). Policing human trafficking: Cultural blinders and organizational barriers. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 653(1), 46-64.

Fordyce, E. M. (2012). Identifying the unknown: Challenges and solutions to US human trafficking investigations. PublicINReview, 1(1), 23-32.

Warria, A., Nel, H., & Triegaardt, J. (2015). Challenges in identification of child victims of transnational trafficking. Practice, 27(5), 315-333.