Female Offenders in Human Trafficking: Roles and tasks in a Spanish Sample

• In Event: Criminology of Mobility. Panel 7. Victims and perpetrators of trafficking in human beings

Abstract

The involvement of women in criminal activities varies according to the type of crime. Trafficking in human beings involves an extremely high percentage of women, especially when the purpose of trafficking is the sexual exploitation of victims (Kleemans et al., 2014; Requena et al., 2014). Data from the most recent international reports (UNODC, 2023) show that 40% of those convicted of trafficking in persons (including sex, labour and other forms of exploitation) worldwide are women, 58% are men and 2% are minors. Previous studies have sought to explain the dynamics of the illegal sex market and the coercion experienced by victims during the process of exploitation and exit. This presentation show the results of an analysis of the content of 58 judicial decisions involving a sample of 148 women convicted of trafficking in Spain between 2017 and 2024. The countries of origin of these women can be grouped into three main geographical areas: Africa (mainly Nigeria and Guinea), Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay and Colombia, and Eastern European countries such as Romania and Bulgaria. Two main dimensions are studied: the criminal organisations that carry out the sexual exploitation phase in Spain, and the characteristics, positions and roles of trafficked women within the criminal organisations. Half of the sample occupy leadership positions, while the other half are supporters, especially in larger trafficking networks. The rest are supporters and partners in crime, who are at higher risk of coercion due to the nature of their roles or partnerships.

Authors

• Andrea Gimenez-Salinas, Universidad Pontificia Comillas

• Myrian Cabrera, Universidad Pontificia Comillas