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This study aims to examine whether country of residence, sex trafficking attitudes, complainant gender, juror gender and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) influenced juror decision-making within a sex trafficking case.

Jury-eligible participants from the USA and the UK participated in an online juror experiment in which an independent group design was used to manipulate the complainant’s gender. Participants completed the juror decision scale, the sex trafficking attitudes scale and the RWA scale.

Sex trafficking attitudes predicted the believability of both the defendant and complainant. Greater negative beliefs about victims predicted greater defendant believability and lower complainant believability. US jurors reported greater believability of both the complainant and defendant, and RWA was associated with greater defendant believability. However, none of the other factors, including complainant and juror gender, predicted participants’ verdicts. The findings suggest juror verdicts in sex trafficking cases may be less influenced by extra-legal factors, although further research is needed, especially with a more ambiguous case.

This is one of the few cross-cultural comparison studies in the area of jury decision-making, specifically regarding sex trafficking cases. The findings indicated that US participants held more problematic attitudes about sex trafficking than their UK counterparts, although all participants held problematic attitudes about sex trafficking. However, those attitudes did not affect verdict formation about either a male or female complainant. Participants who were more knowledgeable about sex trafficking reported greater complainant believability, suggesting that educational interventions may provide greater support for victims in court.

The purpose of this study is to explore the life of the victim’s parents in Karnataka and to gain a better understanding of the consequences or impact of sex trafficking on them.

A narrative research design was used in the study. Applying the method of narrative inquiry and the concept of three common spaces, the study explored the actual life situations and experiences of the victim’s parents. The study covered three pairs of parents as participants from two cities, i.e. Mysore and Bangalore in the state of Karnataka. Data was collected through in-depth face-to-face interview, informal conversations, photographs and field notes.

The study found that the victims’ parents are living an isolated or socially alienated life with potential symptoms of behavioural, cognitive and emotional disorders. The study also found that the victim’s parents fundamental right to live with dignity and respect have been violated. A significant finding in the study was that the parents did not cite or refer to any substantial efforts undertaken by non-governmental organisations in reintegrating the victim’s families within their communities. There are many rehabilitative services available for the victims. Unfortunately, the victim’s parents mostly remain unnoticed and unattended by therapists, social work practitioners and policymakers. An appeal is made to therapists, social workers, policymakers and individuals to support the victim’s parents.

All forms of human trafficking, especially sex trafficking has drawn considerable interest from researchers, policymakers, charities and non-government agencies. However, very little is known about the living conditions of the victim’s parents, especially the psycho-social status in their families and neighbourhood. Therefore, it was pertinent to explore the life of the victim’s parents including violation of their human rights. It highlights the importance of support from the society in reintegrating the victim’s families with their communities. This paper contributes to the qualitative literature by providing narrative evidence, which will lead to better policymaking and designing effective support services for the victim’s parents.

Research on human trafficking largely focuses on large, urban areas, yet it is a problem in small, rural areas. Police in these areas must have the training to identify human trafficking and resources to combat the issue – both of which may be lacking in small, rural areas. The purpose of this project is to explore police chiefs' perspectives on human trafficking in small, rural areas.

A mixed-methods approach was used to assess Pennsylvania police chiefs' understanding of human trafficking and their perspective of the extent of the problem in their area. First, 349 police chiefs completed an online survey during the summer of 2020. Follow-up in-depth interviews were conducted with 52 police chiefs.

Most chiefs believed human trafficking is a problem in Pennsylvania (81%) or in their local area (12%). Logistic regression analysis indicated chief experience, department budget and the number of employees affect small and rural police chief perceptions of human trafficking. Qualitative analyses identified three themes of police chief perceptions of human trafficking: conflation with prostitution, definitional debates and competing beliefs about prevalence. Training on identifying human trafficking would benefit small and rural police departments. Chiefs recommended outside assistance investigating human trafficking cases and other state-level resources would be helpful.

Scant research exists on small and rural police departments in the United States, especially in regards to human trafficking. This study contributes to the literature by addressing this gap with a mixed-methods approach.

Using a qualitative approach, this cross-disciplinary study integrating modern slavery, tourism and marketing expertise outlines Chinese outbound tourists' perceptions of and reactions to issues related to child sex tourism.

In total, 27 in-depth interviews were conducted, and data were analysed. Manual coding was chosen as an efficient method to process qualitative interview data given the relatively small sample size in this study.

Three main themes emerged from analysis: (1) tourists' negative perceptions of child sex tourism; (2) tourist boycotts against child sex tourism destinations and activities as reactions to this socially deviant and illegal phenomenon and (3) tourist advocacy to enhance public awareness of child sex tourism. These themes suggest that tourists, as key tourism stakeholders, have difficulty accepting that child sex tourism occurs and would like to identify solutions to end illegal activities. Tourist boycotts would positively affect sustainable tourism development by eliminating illegal businesses, including those involving child prostitution, from the tourism industry. The qualitative method is applied here to develop a conceptual framework explaining tourists' perceptions of and reactions to child sex tourism.

A conceptual framework of Chinese individuals' perceptions of and reactions to child sex tourism has been devised using a qualitative approach. Although this framework takes child sex tourism as its focus, it can also be applied to better understand tourists' perspectives of other socially deviant or illegal behaviours within the tourism industry. The findings of this study provide valuable implications for various tourism stakeholders.

The current study makes significant theoretical and practical contributions to an under-researched topic – child sex tourism. A conceptual framework of Chinese individuals' perceptions of and reactions to child sex tourism has been devised using a qualitative approach. Findings from this study may inspire campaigns to protect children from being drawn into sex tourism. Efforts should also be undertaken to rescue children who have already been victimised by illegal businesses.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychological consequences of human trafficking and to reveal the importance of appropriate post-trafficking psychological interventions. Specifically, this study provides a detailed analysis of human trafficking categories, as well as the characteristics of victims and traffickers’ motives. More recent data in the literature show that trauma-coerced attachments and complex post-traumatic stress disorder are also observed among trafficking survivors.

Each of the mentioned mental disorders is presented separately, and results are discussed throughout this study. Consequently, psychological interventions are proposed in accordance with the human trafficking category, survivors’ characteristics and needs and with the relevant personal risk factors determined among victims.

Sex trafficking can have a severe effect on a victim’s mental health, and mental health disorders are substantially higher in human trafficking victims compared to non-trafficked victims or general psychiatric population. Limitations, implications and future recommendations are discussed.

A limited number of past studies evaluated the mental health consequences and identified that survivors have a higher prevalence of anxiety disorders, depression disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.

This paper aims to explore the factors leading to the phenomenon of child trafficking in Egypt, how deeply it runs through the Egyptian society and evaluate the state’s efforts to combat it.

This research paper uses a case study method applied to the phenomenon of child trafficking in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and how the State is fighting it. The general policy approach is also used to clarify the State’s plans, programs and legislation in addressing the phenomenon of child trafficking, evaluate those policies and analyze the international documents.

The research paper concluded that child trafficking in Egypt represents a serious phenomenon, which stems from social, economic and cultural reasons. Even though the Egyptian Government exerts relentless efforts to fight this crime, all attempts have proven insufficient due to the lack of coordination between the concerned parties and low funds, in addition to the feeble services offered to the victims.

This study sheds light on a very perilous phenomenon in the Egyptian society; an international one with intricate magnitudes, upon which the State must concentrate more and eradicate it.

The study contributes to drawing the attention of decision makers in Egypt to the dangers of this phenomenon, and to the points of strength and weaknesses of the government’s efforts against it.

Trafficking¹ in human beings is gross.² It constitutes one of the most egregious violations of human rights.³ The vile nature of human trafficking is also hinged on the fact that it commodifies human beings. Hence its categorisation is modern slavery.⁴ So much of trafficking activities follow the pathways5 of other transnational forms of organised crimes and irregular cross-border movement of people.6 In response to this egregious crime, several international, regional and country laws and instruments have been used or proposed for combatting human trafficking.7 These instruments forbid trafficking in human persons and provide several preventive measures, prosecution of perpetrators and protection of victims of human trafficking.8 The number of state parties to the United Nations Protocol to prevent suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the Palermo Protocol), demonstrates the global commitment to combatting human trafficking. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on legal systems, and the capacity of both state and private institutions to combat human trafficking, has added a knotty twist to the global problem of human trafficking. This essay looks at the trends of human trafficking in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlights international law and policy approaches that state parties and civil society organisations should adopt to counteract the changes and sustain the fight against human trafficking. Thus, the essay contributes to updating the legal and policy approaches to combat human trafficking in this era.

This paper aims to explore the role of family members in human trafficking and how their roles impact and are perceived by their children and wards.

This paper uses data collected through a longitudinal, cross-country study. The study was conducted among 31 female, Nigerian victims of trafficking in Italy.

The authors argue that family members play important, howbeit diverse roles across space and time, in the different stages of the trafficking process, echoing a relational approach of their geographies.

This paper discusses the under-researched role of how family members may (wilfully or unknowingly) facilitate and aid the trafficking of their dependents and the consequences of their involvement on their children and wards.

This study aims to examine the factors that influence hotel/motel employees’ helping behavior toward the victims of human trafficking.

Using a survey-based quantitative method, this study examines and compares two models of helping behavior based on egoism and altruism theories to measure the helping tendencies of lodging employees toward victims of human trafficking.

The study results show that perceived intrinsic rewards of helping and empathy with the victims are the major antecedents of employees’ likelihood to help the victims.

The study contributed to the egoism school of thought and the Cost-Reward Model by showing that only perceived intrinsic rewards drive individuals’ intention to help in risky covert situations, such as human trafficking, while perceived extrinsic rewards may demotivate people to help in these situations.

Previous studies overlooked the role of the lodging industry in human trafficking. This study focuses on service employees as potential helpers of the victims as they notice in hotels/motels.

Limited evidence exists on bacha bazi, Afghanistan's steadily revived practice involving transgenerational same-sex relationships, despite its frequent association with violence towards young males, known as bacha bereesh. This paper aims to fill this critical gap.

The author conducted an integrative literature review using qualitative and quantitative secondary data. An ecological framework for violence was applied to the findings.

The findings offer a comprehensive overview of bacha bazi in its modern form, including the unique health needs, sexual practices, and gender identities and orientations of bacha bereesh. The author reveals how Afghan masculine identities and male-male sexual activity occur in relation to power structures and notions of honor. Numerous risk factors increasing bacha bereesh vulnerability for violence and socio-legal barriers constraining access to crucial services are also discussed.

Afghanistan's shame-based culture limits accurate data collection by obscuring the practice and stigmatizing bacha bereesh who serve in feminized roles.

The research highlights the inadequacies of applying Western gender-binary frameworks to bacha bazi. It contributes to our understanding of sexuality, gender, masculinity, and male-directed sexual violence within Afghan culture. These insights will help us better address the health needs of this underserved population.

The lack of evidence addressing these topics highlights our paper's originality, while the literature firmly linking violence to poor physical and psychological health outcomes emphasizes the importance of its contribution.