Can anyone refer me to research exploring the nexus between missing persons reports/cases and human trafficking? Alternatively pointing me to researchers who are engaging with, or are interested in this question? Thanks so much!
Hi Marcel,
I would endorse the title of the article that Alexandros sent you. UK Children's Social Services have got very hung up on this with regard to Child Sexual Exploitation but have tended to confuse the two issues - essentially, a child that goes missing (or indeed an adult) is more vulnerable to being exploited / trafficked but it does not mean that they are being exploited or trafficked. However, children that are being exploited or trafficked often go missing for periods from home / care/ school etc.
Whilst there is therefore a correlation between missing incidents and trafficking, one does not necessarily cause the other. There are methodological difficulties in researching this area as there are no fixed variables and trafficking and modern slavery is highly adaptive and diverse.
Some victims of human trafficking are already homeless before being recruited by traffickers therefore may not be recorded as "missing"...they are rarely ever missed! Children that have been trafficked may not have had their births registered, may have been discharged from institutions etc. so regional characteristics and public policy may distort the figuers or who qualifies as a missing person.
Here in the UK we have inconsistencies regarding how missing incidents are recorded between Social Care agencies, Police and Schools which can give a very confusing picture and inconsistent responses,
Does that help at all?
Craig
Dear Alex,
Thanks again!
Dear Craig,
Valuable indeed. The challenges here in our beautiful South Africa remains significant. There are also multi-layered contextual issues and nuances which makes this a challenging issue to study. However, whilst investigating TIP cases and reviewing missing persons reports over the years, I have had to change a number of 'missing persons' reports to cases of kidnapping and some trafficking. Should you be interested, here is a link to a 2017 publication in which this issue is also explored:
https://www.amazon.com/Missing-Persons-Karen-Shalev-Greene/dp/140946802X
Best wishes Craig!
Glad to be of help Marcel,
My research concerns trafficking and criminal exploitation of children. My interest in this area is is both the characteristics of the individual offender and the dynamics of organised crime groups operating in this arena. I suspect we have some common interest here
Craig
Dear Craig,
Indeed common interests. I will surely be following your work and will appreciate you sending on any new discoveries to me. Best wishes Craig and thanks again!
Marcel
It is hard to find reliable (accurate) research on this topic, this is because most sex traffickers target troubled females with prior drug abuse, therefore, when they go missing most of their acquaintances don't suspect foul play and just assume (due to their flakey; unreliable nature) they jumped states, shacked up with some new boyfriend, or got involved in some other living situation, etc. and don't report their disappearance. Last seminar I attended it was said that the sex traffickers were waiting outside methadone clinics to lure females. I know as this area of crime evolves it gets harder to locate reliable data.
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