Help Drafting Assignment

1

11

Preliminary Applied Research Proposal

Unit 1 Assignment

Renee C. Bridgeman

Purdue University Global

CJ598: Applied Research Project Capstone

Doctor Mary Lannon

January 7, 2022

Unit 6 Assignment

Renee C. Bridgeman

Purdue University Global

CJ525: Applied Research in Criminal Justice

Professor Carolee Larsen

November 1, 2021

Preliminary Applied ResearchApplied Research Proposal

Introduction

Human trafficking has become a major concern today, which entails the illegal trade of individuals and for exploitation or commercial gain. It can be considered modern-day slavery where force, fraud, or coercion obtain an individual for labor or commercial sex. As a result of these concerns, the United States of America established human trafficking taskforces to help address this issue. Human trafficking task forces are multidisciplinary teams that have been created to provide numerous services and resources to victims. These taskforces have the responsibility of investigating and prosecuting persons who engage in human trafficking. Phoenix, a city located in Arizona, has its own human trafficking task force, which aids in the fight against human trafficking. This task force 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 (Fordyce, 2012). Although they have numerous successes, this task force has to deal with several challenges in their line of work.

Problem Statement

The Human Trafficking Task Force in Phoenix, Arizona, has had numerous successes fighting against human trafficking. However, this task force has to deal with numerous challenges, making it difficult to fight human trafficking effectively and efficiently (Fordyce, 2012). The study subjects will be members of the human trafficking task force in Phoenix, Arizona, and the study aims to start from January 2022 to July 2022. The data will be collected from the headquarters of the Human Trafficking Task Force in Phoenix to identify the challenges which these members face. This study is important because it will identify the challenges the task force is dealing with to establish the strategies and resources needed to overcome these challenges. Therefore it is important to identify these challenges and provide recommendations on how to address them.

Literature Review

Introduction

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 Ccity 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 Hhuman Ttrafficking Ttask Fforce 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 studystudy's first hypothesis 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 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.

Bales & Lize (2013) discuss challenges that the human trafficking task force deal with in their fight against human trafficking. One of the challenges they have identified is that the task force is often required to work in settings where they have not familiarized themselves. The second challenge is that majority of the communities in which they are required to work distrust law enforcement authorities, especially those from ethnic backgrounds. The other challenge they have identified is the victims' reluctance to share information because of shame and stigmatization.

Jones, J., & Winterdyk (2018) also identify two challenges encountered in the fight against human trafficking. The first challenge which they have identified is the data gathering procedure. The authors argue that data gathering focuses on obtaining information for prosecution instead of the entire human trafficking process. This data gathering method has failed to account for the full range of offenses and identification of human trafficking offenders. The second challenge is that human trafficking victims have limited choices or opportunities in the countries from which they originate, resulting in high cases of human trafficking. It has made it difficult for human trafficking victims to identify other means to secure a viable economic future, failing to report their cases to human trafficking taskforces.

Europol Operations Directorate (2020) argues that one of the challenges the fight against human trafficking deals with is modern communication technologies. These technologies have made it easier for human traffickers to recruit victims without face-to-face interaction, which has reduced the ability of human trafficking taskforces to identify and take action against them. Modern technologies have also made it difficult for human trafficking taskforces to identify human traffickers because they provide a passive recruitment approach.

Parsons et al. (2014) identify different challenges encountered in the fight against trafficking. The first challenge that they have identified is that majority of the state and law enforcement agencies do not have sufficient training on identifying trafficking victims resulting in high trafficking cases being unrecognizable or reported. The second challenge is that human trafficking victims often fail to identify or report themselves to law enforcement agencies. These victims fail to identify themselves because they do not view themselves as human trafficking victims who are reinforced by the refusal of law enforcement to view them as human trafficking victims.

Clawson & Dutch (2012) also discuss the challenges involved in identifying human trafficking victims. The first challenge which the authors have discussed is the nature of the crime where it is hidden, difficult to identify, and the lack of the victims aware of their rights. The second challenge is the lack of awareness of human trafficking crime by law enforcement agencies and the general public. The last challenge is that most human trafficking victims are not aware that they are victims or failure from them to report to law enforcement agencies.

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 in the fight against human traffickingfight against human trafficking challenges. 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. Aronowitz (2012) and Waria et al. (2015) have no identifiable weaknesses and strengths.

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.

Summary and Conclusion

The literature review highlighted several challenges that law enforcement agencies that fight against human traffickingstrafficking’s, 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?

Research Design

Research Purpose

The purpose of the study is to identify the challenges that the Arizona Human Trafficking Task Force faces. It also aims to provide recommendations for establishing policies that will help address the task force's challenges. The last purpose of this research is to identify the successes of the Arizona Human Trafficking Task Force

Study Variables and Conceptual Definitions

The study's independent variables include tasks including communication between the task force members, allocated resources, coordination between security agencies, interviewing techniques, the willingness of victims to provide details, and lack of public education in identifying human trafficking victims. The dependent variable for the study is the success of the human trafficking task force in prosecuting, investigating, and identifying victims and perpetrators of human trafficking and the challenges that the Phoenix Human Trafficking Taskforce is facing (Farrell et al., 2019).

Research Hypothesis

There are two hypotheses that have been identified for this study. The first hypothesis of the study is that human trafficking challenges are caused by insufficient funding and resources. The second hypothesis is that the challenges faced result from the lack of willingness of human trafficking victims to provide details.

Research Goals

The first goal of the research is to identify the challenges that the Arizona human task force is dealing with within seven months. The second goal is to identify the successes that the Arizona Human Trafficking Task Force has had within seven months

Data Approach

The research method that I will use for my study is qualitative research. Qualitative research entails collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data that is non-numerical such as videos or texts, to understand a phenomenon, the opinions of people, or their experiences. I will use this approach in my research because it will give me an in-depth insight into the challenges that the Arizona Human Trafficking Taskforce is facing and the successes that they have had in the fight against human trafficking. The qualitative research approach will also help me generate new research ideas. I will obtain data for my study through interviews, surveys, group discussions, and observations, which will help me meet the research goals (Lim et al., 2019). The qualitative approach will allow me to understand the experiences of the Arizona human trafficking task force members in their day-to-day lives. The qualitative research will also entail a systematic review of articles highlighting the challenges facing human trafficking taskforces. The research articles used in the study will be qualitative studies that have been obtained from the past five years. I will use the systematic qualitative review because it brings together research evidence that I will use to meet my study's aim and find the answers to my research questions. The systematic review will help uncover a new understanding of the findings of the surveys, interviews, group discussions, and observations. I will use qualitative research because it savesto save money, and data can be collected quickly. The other reason I selected this research method is that it is flexible. It will allow me to follow up on any answers to the research question to generate the depth and complexity of the data I will collect. The depth and complexity of the data will increase the validity and reliability of the study results. The qualitative research method will allow me to collect detail-oriented data, which will provide sufficient details to meet the aim of the study and address the study's research questions.

Ethical Considerations

Several ethical considerations will take into place when conducting my research. I will ensure that my research is carried out ethically by ensuring that the participants are not subjected to any harm in any way. Secondly, I will ensure that I respect the dignity of the participants of the study. I will also ensure that I have obtained informed consent before they participate in the study and that the privacy and confidentiality of the participants are maintained (Resnik, 2018). I will also ensure that the study is ethical by avoiding any exaggerations and deception about the study's aims and objectives. I will also ensure that any conflicts that might exist in the study are declared. I will ensure that the human subjects in my study are not harmed by ensuring their privacy and confidentiality. If their identity is identified, their lives will be at risk because the human traffickers will want to silence them. I will ensure confidentiality by keeping the clients confidential and ensuring that their identity is not revealed. I will also protect personally identifiable information in a secured database and ensure the persons who access this data have obtained informed consent from the participants.

The Phoenix Human Trafficking Task Force Organization

The principle which characterizes the organizational behavior of the Arizona Human Trafficking Task Force is that of centralization. It has a centralized organization because the head makes the activities that entail planning and decision-making within the task force's organization. The lower-ranking officers must follow and adhere to the direction made by the task force head since all the authority is concentrated at the top leadership (Kucharska & Bedford, 2020). The organizational culture in the Arizona Human Trafficking Taskforce is hierarchy culture. This structure is based on the structure, procedures established by the United States government legislators, and different levels of authority from leadership, management to individuals. The organizational task force members know where they fit in the chain of command and the accountable to them. The task force members also know the persons they are supposed to report to and the rules and regulations they are supposed to adhere to. The goals of the Phoenix Human Trafficking Taskforce include preventing, identifying, disrupting, and prosecuting human trafficking crimes, dismantling criminal organizations that are involved in human trafficking, and coordinating victim services. The other goals include carrying out outreach and awareness activities and promoting a coordinated approach to ensure that human trafficking victims can access services at the federal and state level. These organizational cultures might negatively t impact my proposed data collection process where the task force members may fail to disclose information due to lack of permission from the task force's head.

Issues Related to Organizational Behavior and Day to Day Management

There are several issues that are related to organizational behavior and daily operations in the Human Trafficking Task Force, which is located in Phoenix, Arizona. The first issue is the absence of a clear direction. This issue is present because the leadership of this task force fails to discuss and chart a direction and strategy for the task force's future. The leadership has also failed to communicate effectively and coherently about the strategy used to the task force members. This issue needs to be addressed for the task force to execute and align itself with its main goal of preventing and stopping human trafficking. The second issue that this task force is dealing with are difficulties in combining person with different personalities into a cohesive and unified team. It is an issue of concern because the Arizona Human Trafficking Task Force members come from diverse backgrounds and have different opinions, views, and experiences that have caused challenges in the task force fulfilling its goals. The third issue is that majority of the task force members have failed to develop key competencies and behaviors, especially the leadership of the task force. The last issue is lack of awareness in the task force leadership where the leaders focus on operation distraction resulting in them ignoring the taskforce team members. The result of this is that communication and feedback issues have increased within the task force.

Conclusion

This study is exploratory research that aims to explore the successes of the Phoenixthe Phoenix Human Trafficking Taskforce and the challenges the task force is dealing with when investigating and prosecuting cases of human trafficking. The study's aim and purpose will be achieved through the use ofusing the qualitative research approach. I will use this approach in my research because it will give me an in-depth insight into the challenges that the Arizona Human Trafficking Taskforce is facing and the successes that they have had in the fight against human trafficking. The research is important because it will identify the challenges that human trafficking taskforces have to deal with in their pursuit of justice for human trafficking victims and bring the culprits to justice. Suppose the purpose of the study is accomplished. In that case, it will help develop recommendations that will inform the united statesUnited States, federal, and state governments on how they can address these challenges, which will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these task forces.

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.

Bales, K., & Lize, S. (2013). Investigating human trafficking: challenges, lessons learned and best practices [Ebook]. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from.

Clawson, H. J., & Dutch, N. (2012). Identifying victims of human trafficking: Inherent challenges and promising strategies from the field. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Europol Operations Directorate. (2020). The challenges of countering human trafficking in the digital era [Ebook]. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from.

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.

Jones, J., & Winterdyk, J. (2018). Human trafficking: Challenges and opportunities for the 21st century. Outcomes and proposals. Outcomes and Proposals (January 8, 2018). Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 8(1).

Kucharska, W., & Bedford, D. A. (2020, December). The Power of Mistakes: Constant Learning Culture and Hierarchy. In ECKM 2020 21st European Conference on Knowledge Management (p. 441). Academic Conferences International Limited.

Lim, S., Smith, C. A., Costello, M. F., MacMillan, F., Moran, L., & Ee, C. (2019). Barriers and facilitators to weight management in overweight and obese women living in Australia with PCOS: a qualitative study. BMC endocrine disorders, 19(1), 1-9.

Parsons, C., Cray, A., Saar, M. S., & Vafa, Y. (2014). Key Challenges in Combating the Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States. Center for American Progress

Resnik, D. B. (2018). The ethics of research with human subjects: Protecting people, advancing science, promoting trust (Vol. 74). Springer.

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