Torture Tactics of Pimps

• In Event: Human Trafficking Tactics and Networks

Abstract

The similarities between military interrogation and torture tactics and the methods pimps use to “control” victims is astounding. The physical, psychological and sexual abuses endured by victims being trafficked are horrific and unfortunately commonplace. The word torture is often associated with military tactics, however it is simply defined as inflicting pain or punishment upon someone to force compliance and is not exclusive to war situations. Pimps and traffickers have perfected these techniques to force victims to continue to submit. This research utilizes qualitative methods and a content analysis of news articles from the past five years from multiple sources across the United States. Using a list of the top cities for human trafficking, news articles were pulled from major media sources and an initial open code was conducted to create a coding scheme. This coding scheme was then applied to hundreds of stories reported in the media. The coding scheme generated will also be compared to torture literature. The types and frequencies of abuse will also be reported. These types of abuses will be analyzed across the themes of physical, psychological, and sexual torture tactics, as well as the psychological tactics used to lure victims into human trafficking.

Authors

• Kelly R. Stout, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• M. Alexis Kennedy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas