Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

During the pandemic, human trafficking has been on the rise, and services to help victims are less widely available. In recognition of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day on January 11, 2021, the Harris County Law Library has assembled a list of resources and links to organizations that work to disrupt supply chains and provide relief and aftercare for victims.

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Latest & Greatest – Human Trafficking: A Systemwide Public Safety and Community Approach

By Jeffrey W. Goltz, Roberto H. Potter, Joseph A. Cocchiarella, and Michael T. Gibson

Published by West Academic Publishing

KF HQ 281 .H828 2017

Photo credit: Jessica King

Continuing with the Law Library’s recognition of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention month, we would like to focus on one of our most recent acquisitions. A Florida crime summit highlighting human trafficking provided the motivation for Human Trafficking: A Systemwide Public Safety and Community Approach, a book that strives to analyze all aspects of the response to the crime of human trafficking from the points of view of those in the public justice system and demonstrate a systematic approach to human trafficking. Authors include law enforcement officers, social service and medical professionals, prosecutors, judges, and educators. Designed as an educational tool, each chapter of this book begins with a discussion of a particular topic and ends with a list of references and chapter learning objectives. The conclusion of each chapter also leads the reader to the next chapter and provides a hint of what will be discussed in the following section. 

The book begins with an explanation of what human trafficking is and a description of who the traffickers, facilitators, and victims are. It stresses the need for awareness and education for law enforcement officers, especially training that identifies the common characteristics of the victims of human trafficking. The subsequent chapter addresses the investigation of human trafficking, including investigative methods and techniques and the task force approach. 

From a social services perspective, the book explains the role of social services in managing and fostering the victims of human trafficking, including rescue, recovery, and reintegration. Another important aspect in assisting victims is the professional’s need for understanding trauma and its effects on the victim. This trauma-informed approach is discussed at length in Chapter 3. From a medical standpoint, the book uses the “Sequential Intercept Model” as a guide to explaining the roles that health care professionals play in the criminal justice system in general. The authors then focus on the first intercept, “best clinical practices,” to explain the health care professional’s role in identifying victims of human trafficking. 

From a legal point of view, Human Trafficking: A Systemwide Public Safety and Community Approach provides an extensive discussion of the prosecution of human trafficking and some of the challenges faced by prosecutors in these cases. Also, the book talks about the role that the judiciary can play in the intervention for victims of human trafficking and offers some suggestions for establishing a human trafficking court project. 

Human Trafficking: A Systemwide Public Safety and Community Approach clearly demonstrates the need for local agencies from every sector to collaborate in their response to human trafficking, not only in terms of prevention but also in the care and treatment of its victims.