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Volume 2 Issue 2, November 2007 |
Study Assesses Human Trafficking and the Law Enforcement Response in Two of Ohio's Largest Urban Areas
While many of us think of human trafficking—both sex and labor trafficking—as occurring mostly in foreign countries, it is a growing national problem, and one that often hits home in local communities. A new RAND Corporation study provides an evidence-based look at human trafficking in Ohio—in particular, Columbus and Toledo—to help inform and shape public discourse and practical responses to it. The study identified 15 cases of human trafficking in the two case-study sites over the study time period from January 2003 through June 2006 and interviewed law enforcement and social service providers, many of whom believe that fewer than one in three victims is ever identified. Also, the identification of cases may be growing, with the Toledo task force now investigating six cases involving 60 potential traffickers. The study also showed that the two sites had very different markets—child prostitution in Toledo and domestic servitude in Columbus. When it comes to the criminal justice response, Columbus and Toledo have considerably different responses. In Columbus, there is little awareness that human trafficking can involve juveniles in commercial sex transactions from which an adult benefits. This lack of awareness—coupled with lack of resources, lack of local and federal law enforcement collaboration, lack of dedicated staff or a dedicated unit to handle trafficking cases, and lack of systematic community–service provider partnerships—leads to handling potential human-trafficking victims as offenders (for example, arresting juveniles for prostitution when other people are benefiting from the commercial transactions), which may partly lead to the lack of identified human-trafficking cases in the jurisdiction. Read More » |
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RAND Quality Policing Highlights is distributed by the Center on Quality Policing, a part of RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment. Copyright © 2007 RAND Corporation. RAND® is a registered trademark. We respect your privacy. To subscribe or to stop receiving this newsletter, please email CQP@rand.org. We encourage you to forward this newsletter to colleagues and friends. The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND Corporation |