Culpability Continuum: Introducing a Typology of Women Prosecuted in Sex Trafficking Crimes

• In Event: Poster Session 1

Abstract

In the US Criminal Legal System, there is a strict binary between victim and offender. However, this expected division is not always true. This study asserts that women who have been victims of sex trafficking are compelled to harm other victims. This study introduces a typology system to classify defendants from low to high culpability. Shaped by a collaborator's personal experience with trafficking, this project aims to understand what percentage of adult women charged with sex trafficking can be classified as victim offenders. The study uses qualitative coding to classify every female defendant charged with sex trafficking since 2000 at the federal level (n=665) and finds that 53% of women in the dataset are considered victim offenders, meaning the majority of women charged with sex trafficking have been trafficked. Using regression modeling to evaluate the effect of case characteristics on the likelihood of being a victim-offender, analysis reveals that victim-offenders are more likely to be younger than 30, engage in online solicitation, and be either white or black when compared to non-victim offenders (p < .05 for all relationships). This study is a vital step toward improving the legal system.

Authors

• Vanessa Bouche, Allies Against Slavery

• Sarah Sowell Van Dyk, Vanderbilt University

• Ava Ann Kamden, Columbia University