Identifying and Studying Human Traffickers in the Federal Criminal Justice System

• In Event: Using United States Sentencing Commission Data and Presentence Investigation Reports for Research on Transnational Organized Crime and Human Trafficking

Abstract

This study was designed to examine typologies and structures of human trafficking organizations, describe how their operations are facilitated by others, and understand more about individuals convicted for committing these offenses. To do this, the study explored the utility of federal sentencing data and Pre-Sentence Investigation Reports (PSRs) maintained by the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) for research in the public realm. More than 2,600 persons convicted of human trafficking and related offenses between 2006 and 2013 were identified in USSC records. PSRs were reviewed and coded for a sample of over 700 convicted offenders and co-defendants, who were found to have been involved in almost 300 trafficking conspiracies. We found the USSC data and PSRs to be useful sources of information about human traffickers, criminal enterprises, and facilitators. While these sources are restricted to the narrow spectrum of offenders who are detected, prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced in the US federal system, they offer a unique combination of both breadth (i.e., a systematically collected, ongoing data stream with full, national coverage) and depth (i.e., richly detailed narrative case summaries as well as information about offenders, co-conspirators, and victims) of information about both individuals and organizations involved in human trafficking.

Authors

• Kamala Smith, Abt Associates Inc.

• Michael Shively, Abt Associates Inc.

• Sarah Jalbert, Abt Associates Inc.

• Omri Drucker, Abt Associates Inc.