What Should We Do About Human Trafficking?: Public Attitudes Toward Victims and Opinions on Policy

• In Event: Innovative Data Collection Efforts on Human Trafficking

Abstract

From celebrities who testify to congress about the scourge of modern slavery, to social media warnings about the latest “strategies” of traffickers that spread like wildfire, to law enforcement units specially tasked with addressing trafficking, to localized grassroots organizations that provide services to trafficking victims—political rhetoric and public discourse are replete with claims about what we should do about human trafficking. Researchers have documented the various myths some Americans believe about trafficking and, as with any other social problem, what people believe to be true about trafficking will likely have implications for the degree to which they endorse different policies aimed at preventing or responding to these crimes. In the current study, we analyze data from a national survey of U.S. adults (N = 1,700) to describe the public’s attitudes toward trafficking victims, traffickers, and people who purchase sex, as well as the public’s opinion on a range of trafficking policies. Further multivariable analyses are pending. These findings have implications for efforts to prevent and address trafficking, including those which aim to provide services and resources to victims.

Authors

• Leah C. Butler, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Teresa C. Kulig, University of Nebraska at Omaha