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Sex trafficking is one type of human trafficking, which involves scenarios where individuals are not paid and are forced to engage in forced sex, forced prostitution, and sexual slavery. Online advertising is increasingly used by traffickers as an anonymous and efficient method to exploit victims. Large sporting events have been linked to increases in sex trafficking, although there is limited empirical evidence to support this claim. The goal of this study is to answer the following question: What is the relationship between Super Bowls and potential online sex trafficking? Using time series Poisson analysis of secondary data on online sexual service advertisements in Florida during the 2020 and 2021 Super Bowls, which took place in Miami and Tampa, Florida, respectively, the result indicates an increase in online advertisements that exhibit indicators of sex trafficking during the two Super Bowls. The paper concludes by providing recommendations for federal, state, and local law enforcement for improving sex trafficking responses during large sporting events and outlines a future research agenda on the relationship between large sporting events and sex trafficking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identifies the presence of human trafficking indicators in a UK-based sample of sex workers who advertise their services online. To this end, we developed a crawling and scraping software that enabled the collection of information from 17, 362 advertisements for female sex workers posted on the largest dedicated platform for sex work services in the UK. We then established a set of 10 indicators of human trafficking and a transparent and replicable methodology through which to detect their presence in our sample. Most of the advertisements (58.3%) contained only one indicator, while 3,694 of the advertisements (21.3%) presented 2 indicators of human trafficking. Only 1.7% of the advertisements reported three or more indicators, while there were no advertisements that featured more than four. 3, 255 advertisements (19.0%) did not contain any indicators of human trafficking. Based on this analysis, we propose that this approach constitutes an effective screening process for quickly identifying suspicious cases, which can then be examined by more comprehensive and accurate tools to identify if human trafficking is occurring. We conclude by calling for more empirical research into human trafficking indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation and modern slavery have experienced an unprecedented boom over the past decade due to the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly in digital and networked environments. These developments have created new opportunities for human exploitation and illegal profiteering. Adult Services Websites (ASWs), online platforms on which sex workers post profiles advertising their services, are a key conduit for human traffickers to exploit their victims. Alongside profiles of independent sex workers, traffickers are posting false ASW profiles, advertising the forced services of their victims and camouflaging these false profiles amongst legitimate adverts. In response, police practitioners are proactively investigating ASWs to identify suspect profiles. A key obstacle for practitioners, however, is to distinguish between ASW profiles posted by independent, consenting sex workers advertising their services, and those posted by traffickers exploiting their victims. The exploratory study presented in this paper seeks to address this particular challenge. Working with a British police force, the researchers in this study gathered existing knowledge on the traffickers' use of ASW profiles to create a bespoke tool of analysis, the Sexual Trafficking Identification Matrix (STIM). The aim of this tool has been to identify 'risk indicators' on ASW profiles and to flag these for potential police investigation. This paper presents the results of this exploratory study and its four stages. Furthermore, more broadly, it reflects on the use of evidence-based tools by law enforcement to tackle complex domains of offending such as those of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This correction notice is for an article titled "Exploring the relationship between super bowls and potential online sex trafficking" published in Trends in Organized Crime. The authors have identified mistakes in the original article and provided corrections. The corrections include replacing "XXX" with "DeliverFund" in the methodology section and inserting an acknowledgement for DeliverFund's data sharing. The original article has been corrected. The publisher, Springer Nature, remains neutral in terms of jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. The authors of the article are Xi Huang, Brianna R. Yoder, Alexis Tsoukalas, Rebecca M. Entress, and Abdul-Akeem Sadiq. [Extracted from the article]

This qualitative inquiry examines human trafficker identities through stories from convicted offenders. Thematic findings suggest that the projected-identity of sex traffickers may be different from their true self-identity. Identity regulation to produce the appropriate individual by situation facilitates both improvisational and patterned methods of victim recruitment. Sex traffickers exercise their coercive power predominately through the use of deception and fraud, projecting themselves as "honest heroes" and "lovers" of their victims. Rather than using force to perpetually repress victims, sex traffickers more frequently gain compliance by building a trauma bond with their victims, who are also typically found at the margins of society. Recruitment into a commercial sexually exploitive victimization involves the perceived fulfillment of physiological and emotional needs, as well as strategic infusion of counterculture virtues. For tenured sex traffickers, force is normally only intermittently exercised to punish recalcitrant victims in a way that maintains the longevity of control through trauma bonding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite new mandates to identify and respond to labor trafficking crimes, US law enforcement struggles to integrate labor trafficking enforcement with traditional policing routines and roles. As a result, human trafficking enforcement has primarily focused on sex trafficking and few labor trafficking cases have been identified and prosecuted. This study utilizes data from 86 qualitative interviews with municipal, state, county and federal law enforcement, victim service providers and labor trafficking victims in four US communities to inform our understanding of police responses to labor trafficking in local communities. Through the coding of these interviews across a series of themes, we identify three major challenges that impact police identification and response to labor trafficking crimes. These include lack of clarity about the definition of labor trafficking, lack of institutional readiness to address labor trafficking, and routines of police work that undermine police responsiveness to labor trafficking in local communities. Considering these challenges, we explore strategies law enforcement can take to improve identification, including developing non-traditional partnerships with labor inspection and local regulatory agencies. Additionally, interview data suggest a role for the police in ensuring labor trafficking victims are safe and their needs are met, regardless of the outcomes of the criminal justice process. This is the first study to examine police responses to labor trafficking from the perspective of police, service providers and victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human trafficking has been identified as a growing concern across the globe, however, little is known regarding the attitudes of criminal justice actors, notably prosecutors. To address this gap, prosecutors from Bosnia and Herzegovina were surveyed to gain an understanding of their experiences and attitudes related to sex trafficking. Findings suggest that over half of the prosecutors surveyed had worked with sex trafficking victims. Results also indicate a small portion of prosecutors held punitive attitudes for victims, but a significant majority held them for traffickers and customers. In addition to the presentation of findings related to training and knowledge held by prosecutors, limitations and implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex trafficking is one type of human trafficking, which involves scenarios where individuals are not paid and are forced to engage in forced sex, forced prostitution, and sexual slavery. Online advertising is increasingly used by traffickers as an anonymous and efficient method to exploit victims. Large sporting events have been linked to increases in sex trafficking, although there is limited empirical evidence to support this claim. The goal of this study is to answer the following question: What is the relationship between Super Bowls and potential online sex trafficking? Using time series Poisson analysis of secondary data on online sexual service advertisements in Florida during the 2020 and 2021 Super Bowls, which took place in Miami and Tampa, Florida, respectively, the result indicates an increase in online advertisements that exhibit indicators of sex trafficking during the two Super Bowls. The paper concludes by providing recommendations for federal, state, and local law enforcement for improving sex trafficking responses during large sporting events and outlines a future research agenda on the relationship between large sporting events and sex trafficking., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThere are no conflicts of interest involved in the conceptualization, writing, and completion of this research. , (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

This article applies social network analysis to a case study to analyze the role of madams in an Nigerian sex trafficking network. Using relational data on telephone conversations, the main centrality measures are calculated. They are interrelated with the roles of all the members of the network. The analysis confirms the importance of madams already highlighted by many academics, but surprisingly it also shows that not all madams are equally central in terms of their brokerage positions. Indeed, two different groups of madams are identified according to their betweenness centrality, which is the measure that best reveals the strategic positioning of the nodes within a network. The content analysis and description of the madams' ego networks demonstrate that the main requirements for occupying a brokerage role are (i) being able to operate also outside Italian borders, and (ii) being at the same time part of relational systems involving 'transnational' people whose action extends beyond national borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Often the criminal activities, especially organized criminal groups are aimed at generating large amounts of money in a short period of time. However, the criminal organizations differ in their approach to revenue management. This article focuses on the management of proceeds acquired from human trafficking and presents the results of an empirical study on the topic. This study is based on 152 semi-structured interviews conducted with sex workers, traffickers, law-enforcement representatives, and prosecutors. The article explores the movement of money within the criminal organizations, the methods of bookkeeping and accounting, and the basic techniques for laundering the proceeds acquired from sex trafficking from Bulgaria to Western Europe. By describing how the criminals engaged in human trafficking for sexual exploitation manage the money generated from this type of criminal activity, a better understanding of the criminal phenomenon itself can be attained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human trafficking is a complex global and national crime problem harming victims physically, psychologically, and financially. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), Pub. La 106-386, and subsequent reauthorizations, provide assistance and benefits to foreign born victims of labor or sexual human trafficking who are here in the United States. The strategies used to encourage victims to come forward were modeled on those used in the anti- domestic violence (DV) and child protection movements. These include initiatives alerting the public to domestic violence situations through awareness campaigns to increase tips as well as calls for service to police. Other public service initiatives urge victims themselves to self-identify by calling 1-800 numbers. While these techniques have shown success in reducing incidences of domestic violence and providing help to victims, their use to combat sex trafficking has not produced the same level of results. This note explores the challenges for immigrant women victims to self-identify as trafficking victims and urges that evidence-based research is needed to determine the efficacy of a national call center approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the research methodology of an exploratory study interviewing human traffickers. Utilizing open-ended, semi-structured qualitative interviews with traffickers, exploratory research was conducted in 2003. With an overall goal of understanding the human trafficking phenomenon from the standpoint of those individuals who support, reproduce, and actively work to sustain it, our research questions focused on how traffickers make sense of their position within the illegal market of sex trafficking. Other thematic questions included characteristics and personal dimensions of the traffickers, reasons they entered the business, their perceptions of the business, and their opinions of those they traffic. For the purpose of this paper, we will address the difficulty and simplicity of conducting interviews with human traffickers. Information about the research project in general, methods used, ethical considerations, and thematic scope will also be addressed with a final discussion section highlighting advantages and disadvantages of methods used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]