Successful Criminal Prosecutions of Sex Trafficking and Sexual Abuse of Minors: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Despite increased awareness of sex trafficking of minors in the U.S., prosecution of traffickers remains difficult, in part because of victim uncooperativeness. There are questions about how that uncooperativeness is expressed, whether it is evident in successfully prosecuted cases, and whether it is unique to trafficked minors or it emerges in similar age victims of sexual abuse. To provide insight relevant to these questions, we compared appellate opinions in two types of successfully prosecuted criminal cases: sex trafficking and sexual abuse of adolescent victims. In the trafficking opinions, victims were rarely described as disclosing on their own or as knowing their trafficker before the victimization. The opinions also often alluded to the trafficking victims’ uncooperativeness and delinquency history, and frequently mentioned electronic evidence and prosecution experts. The sexual abuse opinions, in contrast, tended to suggest that victims’ own disclosures initiated the case, perpetrators were known and trusted adults, and caregiver support during the case was common. Finally, the sexual abuse opinions never explicitly mentioned victim uncooperativeness or electronic evidence and rarely mentioned expert testimony or delinquency. The different characterizations of the two case types highlight the need for improved education concerning effective prosecution of sex crimes against minors.

Improving the value of school professionals as partners in efforts to enhance recognition of and responses to youth sex trafficking

“…Each vignette contained six cues to trafficking. Cues were based on details in prior trafficking or pandering criminal cases involving youth victims prosecuted in California (Quas et al, 2022), and the vignettes are highly similar to those used in prior studies of healthcare professionals' ability to recognize trafficking of minors (Winks et al, 2023), but were adapted for school settings. The cues in the first vignette were more ambiguous than the cues in the second, so the order was standardized.…”

Frontline Medical Professionals' Ability to Recognize and Respond to Suspected Youth Sex Trafficking

“…Each vignette included at least four cues to trafficking, taken from criminally prosecuted legal cases in California. 11 Participants read the vignettes and indicated how they would proceed, and when, what, and where would they ask of the youth/adults.…”

“…Vignettes varied the victim's gender (female/male), described the youth as “teenage-looking” and the trafficker or purveyor as being “much older” and male. Each vignette included at least four cues to trafficking, taken from criminally prosecuted legal cases in California 11 . Participants read the vignettes and indicated how they would proceed, and when, what, and where would they ask of the youth/adults.…”

Building Rapport in Interviews with Adolescent Trafficking Victims

“…Second, trafficking victims' prior experiences may also have led to multiple encounters with law enforcement, including because of suspected engagement in delinquency or crime (Wilson & Dalton, 2008) or prostitution (Farrell et al, 2010). As a result, victims may be interrogated as suspects and possibly detained, with knowledge of their trafficking emerging only later (Halter, 2010; Love et al, 2018), meaning that, unlike victims of sexual abuse, who tend to come to the attention of authorities because they voluntarily disclosed abuse, the trafficking victims have often been questioned against their will, and are thus unlikely to be initially cooperative (Quas et al, 2023).…”

“…Although commercial sexual exploitation, or sex trafficking, affects thousands of minor victims in the United States each year, prosecution of perpetrators remains difficult (Lavoie et al, 2019), often as a result of victims' lack of disclosures (Farrell et al, 2019). That is, rather than victims coming forward and disclosing, trafficking victims tend to be identified by law enforcement indirectly, often through the course of other investigations (Farrell et al, 2019), sting operations or suspected criminal activity by the victims (Halter, 2010; Love et al, 2018; Quas et al, 2023). Negative encounters with the authorities, combined with victims' trauma histories and relationship to their trafficker all increase their reluctance to disclose their experiences to authorities (e.g.…”