Social Work Today E-Zine

A team of researchers at Northeastern University’s Institute on Race and Justice, in collaboration with Arizona State University and Sam Houston State University, has issued a report, titled “Understanding and Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Human Trafficking,” about the incidence of and response to human trafficking in the United States.

Lead by principal investigators Amy Farrell, PhD, an assistant professor and the associate director of the Institute on Race and Justice, and Jack McDevitt, associate dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Criminal Justice, the researchers conducted a random survey of law enforcement agencies throughout the United States to better understand how agencies identify and respond to suspected cases of human trafficking. This survey provides the first comprehensive national look at how local, state, and county law enforcement agencies respond to human trafficking.

The first part of the report details how law enforcement agencies perceive human trafficking and how they investigate such cases. The survey was sent to a random sample of approximately 3,000 state, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies in the United States. The results indicate that all types of law enforcement agencies have investigated at least one case of human trafficking, but local law enforcement agencies perceive human trafficking as rare or nonexistent in their jurisdiction. In addition, agencies in larger jurisdictions are more likely to distinguish human trafficking as a problem in their area, as evidenced by the fact that more than one half of the agencies serving large jurisdictions have investigated human trafficking cases.

The study also looked at the multiagency human trafficking task forces to better understand how the federal government is working to bring together federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies to combat human trafficking. There are currently 39 task forces functioning nationally with a focus on a victim-centered response. The study found that when a task force is involved, a case of human trafficking is more likely to be investigated, resulting in higher rates of arrests and federal charges than nontask force agency human trafficking reported cases.

The data show some common obstacles among multiagency task forces, including defining and identifying human trafficking victims and a lack of communication among task force group members. Other issues that arose were how to align common goals when certain members have other responsibilities, as well as the complexity and length of time that is involved with human trafficking cases.

— Source: Northeastern University