The Trafficking of People with Disabilities: Perceptions of Victim and Offender Culpability

• In Event: Unusual Actors in Human Trafficking

Abstract

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 established that human trafficking occurs when a person involuntarily engages in sex or labor under the duress of force, fraud and/or coercion. While law enforcement actors increasingly understand how to look for cases involving force and fraud, a significant barrier to the successful identification of human trafficking cases is the inability of law enforcement agents to recognize and understand the concept of coercion. This study seeks to understand whether it is easier to recognize psychological coercion in a trafficking scenario in which the victim has a developmental disability. Utilizing surveys among a sample of college students, this study explores whether perceptions of victim and offender blameworthiness differ if the human trafficking victim has a developmental disability.

Authors

• Rebecca Pfeffer, University of Houston - Downtown

• Amy Farrell, Northeastern University