Re-Conceptualizing Success: Investigating Specialized Units Responses to the Sexual Trafficking of Female Victim-Survivors. (December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ballucci, Dale; Stathakis, Felicia
• Is Part Of: Feminist criminology. Volume 17:Number 5(2022)
• Page Start: 661
• Page End: 683
• Publication Date: 2022-12
• Subjects: sex trafficking -- police response -- procedural justice -- distributive justice ' victim-survivor trauma; Feminist criminology -- Periodicals; Female offenders -- Periodicals; 364.37405
• DOI: 10.1177/15570851221114396
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1557-0851

Abstract

This paper explores police officers' experiences working in a specialized human trafficking unit in Canada to identify challenges, strategies, and responses to working with victim-survivors. Analyzing data from semi-structured interviews, we find that officers deploy victim-centered responses reflecting procedural justice outcomes due to their awareness that the criminal justice process often re-victimizes. Officers' deployment of procedural justice acknowledges the victim-survivor trauma, but also allows them to build a stronger case through evidence gathering, increasing the potential for charges and convictions, also known as distributive justice. We argue that this illustrates that these two approaches to justice are interdependent.