Identifying Challenges to Improve the Investigation and Prosecution of State and Local Human Trafficking Cases Executive Summary SUBMITTED BY: April 2012 Amy Farrell, Ph.D. Jack McDevitt, Ph.D. Rebecca Pfeffer, M.A. Stephanie Fahy, M.A. NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE ON RACE AND JUSTICE SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE Colleen Owens Meredith Dank, Ph.D. William Adams, M.P.P.URBAN INSTITUTE JUSTICE POLICY CENTER SUBMITTED TO: National Institute of Justice 810 Seventh Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20531 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Over the past two decades, the American public has become increasingly concerned about the problem of human trafficking. In response, federal and state legislatures have passed laws to promote the identification of and assistance to victims, and to support the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking perpetrators. In 2000, the federal government passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA). This law defined a new set of crimes related to human trafficking and enhanced penalties for existing offenses, such as slavery, peonage, and involuntary servitude. Since passage of the TVPA, 49 states have enacted legislation criminalizing human trafficking. Despite the attention and resources directed at combating this crime, reports indicate that fewer cases of human trafficking have been identified and prosecuted than would be expected based on estimates of the problem, causing speculation that the provisions of federal and state anti-human trafficking laws are not being enforced by government officials and that law enforcement agencies are not working together to confront the problem. Still others suggest that the incidence of human trafficking is grossly overestimated. Previous research has documented the challenges that state and local law enforcement faces in identifying human trafficking cases,1 but we do not yet know which practices would improve the ability of local agencies to identify, investigate, and successfully prosecute human trafficking cases. This study seeks to fill these gaps. Using a multi-method approach to examining the way local and state police, prosecutors, and courts investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases, we discuss challenges to the identification and investigation of these difficult cases, and propose strategies for overcoming the barriers to investigation and prosecution of human trafficking cases in the U.S. Research Questions and Methodology We used multiple methodologies to answer focal research questions and related sub-questions. These methodologies, which are described in more detail in Chapter Two of this report, include:  Analysis of quantitative data from the records of 140 closed federal and state human trafficking cases. Case records were collected and analyzed to help us identify which characteristics of human trafficking cases attract the attention of local law enforcement and which factors predict different types of adjudicatory outcomes. 1 See “Where Are All the Victims? Understanding the Determinants of Official Identification of Human Trafficking Incidents,” by Amy Farrell, Jack McDevitt and Stephanie Fahy, 2010, Criminology and Public Policy, 9(2), 201-233, and Finding Victims of Human Trafficking, by Phyllis Newton, Timothy Mulcahy, and Susan Martin, 2008, Bethesda, MD: National Opinion Research Center. Focal research questions 1. What are the characteristics of local human trafficking investigations and prosecutions? 2. Do certain types of human trafficking offenses or features of the offense predict prosecution under new human trafficking laws or other criminal offenses? 3. What are the organizational, structural, or cultural factors that inhibit or facilitate the prosecution of human trafficking cases? 2  Descriptive analysis of information from incidents that were not classified as human trafficking but that may contain elements of human trafficking, in order to understand how often local agencies misidentify potential cases of human trafficking.  Analysis of qualitative data from interviews with 166 law enforcement officers, prosecutors, victim services representatives, and other criminal justice system stakeholders. Stakeholder interviews were used to help understand the challenges and barriers that local communities face in identifying, investigating, and prosecuting cases of human trafficking. We collected data at twelve study sites. To select these sites, we utilized a multi-stage sampling approach