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Regular reminder that “human trafficking stings” are little more than coercive interventions. Arresting sex workers and/or victims of trafficking is the opposite of victim centered. Go tell a friend.
Also - most of the criticism related to stings usually falls on law enforcement BUT there are a lot of other stakeholders that help perpetuate this sort of response.
Example: public awareness efforts. Lots of jurisdictions do this, but it’s mostly done from a criminal justice framework, as a single issue effort, as if trafficking exists in a silo.
When we do this we center the criminal justice system as the end goal/success (prosecution!), while also perpetuating rescue narratives. This incentivized stings/sweeps on both a practical level and policy level - aka the public thinks we are doing something and supports it.
Public awareness that is just a brochure with indicators, legal definitions, and some hotline numbers is not enough anymore. Community awareness presentations that are just a quick ppt of definitions, indicators, trauma, and a few survivor stories are not enough anymore.
If you’ve been to these awareness events you know what I’m talking about. They are all largely the same, and they aren’t enough. They completely ignore systemic issues. The closest you’ll get is someone mentioning the child welfare system being broken.
AND SO - because the education we are putting into the community ignores systemic issues and centers the criminal justice response, the community walks away thinking about arresting the bad guys, and the outcome is: stings.
(Disclaimer: there ARE good trainings and awareness efforts out there, but what I’m referring to is the majority in my experience. The ones that still use foreboding imagery and sensational stories and numbers. They are still all too common)
More thoughts later, maybe.
