Association Between Anti-Human Trafficking Legislation Adherence and Prosecution Rates among 142 Countries from 2003-2011 Public

Durrani, Serena (Spring 2018)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/7s75dc40j?locale=fr
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Abstract

Abstract

Association Between Anti-Human Trafficking Legislation Adherence and Prosecution Rates among 142 Countries from 2003-2011

 

By Serena Durrani

 

PURPOSE: The objective of this study is to investigate how anti-human trafficking legislation, among other factors, affects the prosecution of trafficking offenders on a global scale.

 

METHODS: The Human Trafficking Indicators (HTI) Dataset and World Bank DataBank from the years 2003-2011 were utilized to explore the association between annual country-specific prosecution rates and risk factors such as anti-human trafficking legislation adherence (tier status as defined by the yearly Trafficking in Persons Reports from the United States Department of State) and socioeconomic status. A multivariate linear regression model with random intercepts was used to assess the impact of risk factors.

 

RESULTS: The overall mean prosecution rate was 50.2 per 10 million people, with a median rate of 17.6 per 10 million people. The odds of having a higher prosecution rate per 10 million people was 1.157 (95% CI 0.816, 1.64) times higher for countries in the Tier 2/Tier 2 Watch List and 0.996 (95% CI 0.552, 1.8) times higher for countries in Tier 3, as compared to countries in Tier 1 as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Among middle socioeconomic status (SES) countries, the odds of having a higher prosecution rate per 10 million people was 0.52 (95% CI 0.31, 0.9) higher, and the odds among low SES countries was 0.13 (95% CI 0.06, 0.29) higher, again, as compared to high SES countries.

 

DISCUSSION: Human trafficking affects millions of lives every year and is a gross violation of human rights. Prosecution rates increased overall with increasing years, but, contrary to expectations, socioeconomic status seemed to have more of an effect on the odds of prosecution rates than did tier level. This was surprising and aligns with what may be a common view of human trafficking, that countries with a higher socioeconomic status would have more resources to enforce legislation, while countries with a low socioeconomic status may have fewer resources for enforcement. Reliable data on human trafficking is rare, and this analysis is the first that we know of explores the evaluation of human trafficking prevention strategies over time on a global scale in a public health framework. The findings in this study are relevant for investigating human trafficking in a public health framework and could potentially be used to further research and action on the proposed priorities for public health research on human trafficking.

 

 

 

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1       Introduction…………………………...…………………………1

1.1  Definition and Scope…………………………...........……1

1.2  Human Trafficking as a Public Health Problem.….............2

1.3  Current Legislation against Human Trafficking…..............4

1.4  Statement of Purpose……………………………...............5

 

2       Methods………………………………………………………….6

2.1  Epidemiological Methods and Data Sources……...............6

2.2  Model Selection and Analyses………………….................7

2.3  Missing Data………………………………………............9

 

3       Results……………………..................…………….……….….10

 

4       Discussion……………….……..................……………………11

4.1  Limitations……………………………………….............11

4.2  Further Research……………………………............……13

 

Tables and Figures……………………………...………………….14 

References………………………………….....……………..….….18

 

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