HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Trafficking in Human Beings (THB)



Trafficking in Human Beings (THB)

Introduction

United Kingdom law enforcement officials are the primary tool for the identification of human trafficking victims. However, scholarly research continues to question law enforcement responses to trafficking because victims remain severely under-identified. Law enforcement procedures continue to lack the necessary practices for proper human trafficking victim identification, classification, and protection despite the time and resources spent on anti-trafficking initiatives in the United Kingdom (Aghazarm & Laczko, 2008). The result is a misrepresentation of human trafficking estimates; the number of cases law enforcement reports and the number of cases agencies identify is vastly different (Farrell & Fahy, 2009). The basis of the United Kingdom trafficking problem is on law enforcement efforts that are an estimate at best.

Scholars Farrell (2010) and Dill (2011) contend research has made major strides in recognizing law enforcement as officials who are not fully prepared to identify trafficking victims. Since the enactment of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, researchers have aimed to enhance the flawed trafficking estimates by analyzing law enforcement responses to trafficking (Farrell & Fahy, 2009). However, scholarly efforts have yet to conceptualize or measure the implications of anti-trafficking policies such as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and state anti-trafficking legislation on law enforcement procedures and practices in the United Kingdom (Farrell & Fahy, 2009). Without research to measure responses to trafficking (guided by legislation), the severe problem of law enforcement's inability to identify trafficking victims will continue, as this study demonstrates.

Research has yet to measure the implications of anti-trafficking legislation on law enforcement responses to trafficking, but studies have suggested there is a relationship between law enforcement responses and human trafficking legislation. Newton, Mulcahy, and Martin (2008) found significance in the relationships among state laws, enforcement of laws, and law enforcement's knowledge of such laws in an analysis of state anti-trafficking legislation and law enforcement's readiness to respond to trafficking. In this analysis, 44% of law enforcement respondents reported they were not aware of having anti-trafficking legislation (Newton et al., 2008). This finding suggests an association among law enforcement's trafficking responses and presence of state trafficking statutes.

Discussion

Newton et al. (2008) analysis was limited in that they provide no evidence on the statistical difference between Kingdom that have trafficking legislation and Kingdom that do not regarding their enforcement officials' (a) knowledge of human trafficking, (b) identification of human trafficking incidents, and (c) familiarity with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act? This dissertation determined the difference to provide support for the benefit of having appropriate anti-trafficking legislation, and hopes to encourage Kingdom to adopt appropriate legislation. As this research will illustrate, state trafficking legislation (with education and training) leads to an increase in human trafficking victim identification and assistance by law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom.

In the United Kingdom, federal and state anti-trafficking legislation is the primary tool for protecting individuals from human trafficking. The likelihood of Kingdom adopting appropriate anti-trafficking legislation expects to increase as the federal government continues to rely on local law ...