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Abstract
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Response to ATR Debate Proposition: 'Prosecuting trafficking deflects attention from much more important responses and is anyway a waste of time and money'
Common calls to action around human trafficking continue to urge greater law enforcement attention, increased arrests of traffickers, and more prosecutions. While prosecution of traffickers is not a waste of time or money in every instance, problems arise when anti-trafficking resources are predominantly directed to law enforcement. This approach, which we see all too often, ties efforts to a criminal justice system that is mired in dysfunction. In many instances, the prosecution-based model reveals itself as antithetical to principles of human and civil rights, ignores the reality that many trafficking survivors confront, and redirects the conversation away from important critique and reform. By prioritising prosecution above all else, this approach distances itself from contemporary efforts to build inclusive racial, economic and gender justice movements centred around broader criminal justice reform.
As attorneys on a team that defends nearly all of the people arrested for prostitution throughout New York City, and survivors of trafficking who are subject to arrest and prosecution in myriad other ways, we have witnessed firsthand the over reliance on prosecution centred models--and the way this negatively impacts both our clients and larger anti-trafficking efforts. We have observed wave after wave of policies, legislation, and media campaigns that prioritise a law enforcement approach to the issue of human trafficking and measure success only in the number of arrests made,1 regardless of the quality of the arrests, the sustainability of the ensuing prosecutions, or whether victims view the process as a good thing. As the net widens, arrests follow, often of those who may only be tangentially involved in the trafficking, or may even be trafficked themselves. This 'all or nothing' paradigm misses the mark.
Many, but not all, of our clients have experienced the levels of force, fraud or coercion that would allow them to be considered 'trafficking victims' under the law. Though originally conceived as an anti-trafficking project, framing our work in terms of trafficking has become increasingly problematic as many of our clients' trafficking experiences--while brutal--pale in comparison to the systemic failures and violence they have endured for far longer. The majority are hindered by these daunting obstacles related to their marginalisation, even once no longer trafficked...
Language: en |