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Purpose – The present study provides information about the pervasiveness of human trafficking in local communities and the challenges law enforcement face identifying and responding to such problems. This chapter describes how often law enforcement agencies find cases of human trafficking and it examines the contextual and organizational factors affecting their ability to identify and respond to such cases.

Methodology – This analysis is based upon data from a national survey of local, state and county law enforcement agencies in the United States regarding human trafficking.

Findings – Law enforcement identification of trafficking cases is relatively rare, though agencies encounter victims more often than federal prosecution statistics suggest. Law enforcement is generally under-prepared to identify and respond to human trafficking, but when agencies train officers develop protocols and designate specialized personnel they are more likely to identify trafficking cases.

Implications – With the proper tools and support, local law enforcement can learn to more successfully identify and respond to human trafficking victimization.

Originality – This is the first national survey of American state and local police regarding their experiences in responding to the problems of human trafficking.

The chapter presents and discusses the development of a number of new transnational surveillance and information systems in Europe. It relates their development to the question of whether we here have an example of ‘law without a state’. Guenther Teubner's notion of a ‘lex mercatoria’, a system of global contract law developed by large law firms and international business lawyers, is paralleled by a ‘lex vigilatoria’, a system of global control in the making. The chapter provisionally concludes that the ties to the nation-state of an integrated surveillance system are increasingly diluted.

Since the European Union’s (EU) Charter of Fundamental Rights became binding in 2009, data protection has attained the status of a fundamental right (Article 8) throughout the EU. This chapter discusses the relevance of data protection in the context of security. It shows that data protection has been of particular relevance in the German context – not only against the backdrop of rapidly evolving information technology, but also of the historical experiences with political regimes collecting information in order to oppress citizens.

Purpose: This study explores the perspectives of data experts (DXs) and refugees on the algorithms used by law enforcement officers and focuses on emerging insecurities. The authors take police risk-scoring algorithms (PRSA) as a proxy to examine perceptions on algorithms that make/assist sensitive decisions affecting people’s lives.

Methodology/approach: In-depth interviews were conducted with DXs (24) in Estonia and refugees (19) in Estonia and Turkey. Using projective techniques, the interviewees were provided a simple definition of PRSA and a photo to encourage them to share their perspectives. The authors applied thematic analysis to the data combining manual and computer-aided techniques using the Maxqda software.

Findings: The study revealed that the perspectives on PRSA may change depending on the individual’s position relative to the double security paradox surrounding refugees. The use of algorithms for a sensitive matter such as security raises concerns about potential social outcomes, intentions of authorities and fairness of the algorithms. The algorithms are perceived to construct further social borders in society and justify extant ideas about marginalized groups.

Research limitations: The study made use of a small population sample and aimed at exploring perspectives of refugees and DXs by taking PRSA as the case without targeting representativeness.

Originality/value: The study is based on a double security paradox where refugees who escape their homelands due to security concerns are also considered to be national security threats. DXs, on the other hand, represent a group that takes an active role in decisions about who is at risk and who is risky. The study provides insights on two groups of people who are engaged with algorithms in different ways.

Videos of police abuse are often spread through technology, raising questions around how perceptions of police are impacted by these images, especially for 18–24-year-olds who are constantly “logged on.” Limited research investigates the impact of social media on attitudes toward police accounting for age and race. The present study utilizes 19 in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of urban college students who regularly use social media in order to understand how they have been impacted by this content. The findings suggest the necessity of using an intersectional framework to understand the impact of tech-witnessed violence. While no gender differences were uncovered, racial differences did surface. White participants described being minimally influenced by videos of police misconduct, rationalizing it as a “few bad apples.” In contrast, participants of color, except those with family members in law enforcement, described being negatively impacted. Viral content contributed to negative opinions of police, emotional distress, and fears of victimization. Ultimately, videos of police brutality do not impact young populations equally. Instead, they are comparatively more harmful to young people of color who spend more time on social media, can envision themselves as the victims, and experience feelings of fear, despair, and anger after watching these videos.

Over the last 40 years or so, the concepts of terror and terrorism have permeated and infused political, social, and economic thought and lexicon. Given the symbolism and obvious ways in which the terms become socially constructed, terror and terrorism appear as ripened enough concepts for interactionist scrutiny. In general, interactionists have stressed that concepts applied to terrorism become useful to elites for promoting a master narrative along the lines that “free nations” must coordinate efforts and spend resources to defend against terrorist threats. We wish to extend this interactionist analysis in the following pages to provide a perspective on terrorist threats as evolving and emergent concepts, sensitive to historical and social changes. Drawing from a small number of Government and commercial print and online sources in order to identify patterns that emerge from the language, we reference terrorism handbooks starting from the 1970s to current, post “9/11” handbooks. We propose evolutionary timeframes demarcated by substantive events and changes in how we define, understand, and respond to an abstract threat made tangible and concrete. In effect, we suggest that such publications provide insight into how the dynamics of credibility associated with government, media, and “expert” assertions have framed public understandings of threat and danger. These handbooks serve as a heuristic model to draw general patterns and themes that demarcate significant time periods in our understanding of terrorism and responses to terrorism.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to examine the ways in which human trafficking has been measured through the use of agency record data.

Approach – The authors review the state of previous research on human trafficking using agency record data and the challenges that are important to consider when using agency records in the study of human trafficking.

Findings – Researchers have used agency records in a wide variety of ways to measure human trafficking victimization, perpetration, and patterns or case characteristics. Agency data provide unique contributions to understand human trafficking including the scope of the problem, predictors of victimization, and public perceptions of this crime. The authors describe the efforts to use agency records to estimate the prevalence of human trafficking in a statewide study.

Value – This chapter provides an overview of how agency records have been used in human trafficking research in recent years. Furthermore, this chapter includes a case study and methodological reflection on the use of agency records in a statewide human trafficking prevalence study. The authors conclude with a methodological reflection and considerations moving forward for future use of agency data in human trafficking research.

The study focusses on the legal issues surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), which are being investigated and debated about several European Union initiatives to manage and regulate Information and Communication Technologies. The goal is to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of adopting AI technology and the ramifications for the articulations of law and politics in democratic constitutional countries. Thus, the study aims to identify socio-legal concerns and possible solutions to protect individuals’ interests. The exploratory study is based on statutes, rules, and committee reports. The study has used news pieces, reports issued by organisations and legal websites. The study revealed computer security vulnerabilities, unfairness, bias and discrimination, and legal personhood and intellectual property issues. Issues with privacy and data protection, liability for harm, and lack of accountability will all be discussed. The vulnerability framework is utilised in this chapter to strengthen comprehension of key areas of concern and to motivate risk and impact mitigation solutions to safeguard human welfare. Given the importance of AI’s effects on weak individuals and groups as well as their legal rights, this chapter contributes to the discourse, which is essential. The chapter advances the conversation while appreciating the legal work done in AI and the fact that this sector needs constant review and flexibility. As AI technology advances, new legal challenges, vulnerabilities, and implications for data privacy will inevitably arise, necessitating increased monitoring and research.

Purpose – This chapter will demonstrate the usefulness of mixed methods research in an understudied area of criminology and criminal justice, namely elder financial exploitation.

Methodology/approach – The data and research methodology described in this chapter come from a recently completed comprehensive case study of elder financial exploitation in Florida.

Findings – Elder financial exploitation is a growing social problem in the United States and there is little theoretical or empirical research available regarding the prevalence, risk factors, protective factors, and consequences. Given that the current status of the research literature is largely fragmented and discontinuous, conducting a survey aimed at validation was not possible. Through the mixed method case study involving a literature review, focus group discussions, and interview questions, the authors have developed a theoretical framework for elder financial exploitation that can be quantitatively validated.

Originality/value – This chapter provides justification for the expanded use of mixed methods research for other understudied topic areas within criminology and criminal justice and provides the foundation for the development of a comprehensive theoretical framework for explaining elder financial exploitation.