Cyber technologies have presented human traffickers with several new tools to exploit the victims of human trafficking on a national and international level. However, victims of cybertrafficking of humans are often a population that scholarship fails to explore in-depth. This chapter will first describe what cybertrafficking of humans is and why it is essential to study. Secondly, the chapter will discuss cybertrafficking of humans with a specific focus on the vulnerability of the victims and, thirdly, describe and discuss the barriers of getting accurate statistics, stigmatization of victim, and the lack of victim visibility. The aims of the chapter to identify barriers victims face and critically discuss the two existing bodies of literature on human trafficking and cyber victimization can contribute to future research of victims of cybertrafficking of humans.
TopIntroduction
With technologies developing, crimes such as human trafficking are becoming more sophisticated, utilizing the ever-evolving technology to solicit crimes. Cybertrafficking of humans refers to human trafficking facilitated by online services, such as the internet (Greiman & Bain, 2013). Cyber technologies have presented traffickers with several new tools to exploit the victims of human trafficking on a national and international level (Latonero, 2011).
Existing scholarship has generated a robust foundation of knowledge related to human trafficking and cyber victimization. For example, scholars have explored the different modalities of human trafficking occur and the challenges these types of crimes present to both scholars and authorities due to the hidden nature of the operations under which traffickers maneuver (Lee, 2013; Logan, Walker, & Hunt, 2009; Shelley, 2010). Scholars have during the last two decades begun to explore cybercrimes (Anderson et al., 2013; Gordon & Ford, 2006; Wall, 2007) and cyber victimization (Clevenger et al., 2018; Mitchell et al., 2007; Wolak et al., 2006), highlighting the significant influences technologies have on the development and experiences related to crime and victimization. Although there are studies that address cybertrafficking of humans (Burbano & Hernandez-Alvarez, 2017; Dixon, 2013; Fraser, 2016; Papadouka et al., 2016), few studies are devoted explicitly to discussing victims of cybertrafficking of humans. Thus, scholarship has neglected notions such as victims' experiences during and after the victimization and reactions to victims of cybertrafficking of humans.
It is essential to study victims' experiences for many reasons. For example, by understanding more about victims and their victimization, knowledge can be generated about victims’ perceptions of the criminal justice system, the barriers victims may experience when seeking help, and society's reactions towards victims and their victimizations (Fohring, 2018; Kennedy & Prock, 2018). By explicitly learning more about victims of cybertrafficking of humans, we can begin to further engage scholars, practitioners, and society at large to learn more about the barriers inhibiting the visibility of victims who experience crimes that are less frequently discussed in society. Specifically, knowledge about cybertrafficking of humans can begin to break down the barriers for victims' visibility by highlighting notions such as the accuracy of measures, definitions of crimes, the global and transnational nature of cybertrafficking, and the challenges of claiming victim labels and stigmatization, which victims may experience.
Thus, this chapter will aim to shed light on the barriers that victims of cybertrafficking of humans face due to the hidden nature of their victimization, discuss trends in the current literature and understand how this literature can inform future efforts in generating knowledge about victims of cybertrafficking of humans. To further discuss these notions, this chapter will first describe what cybertrafficking of humans is and describe why it is essential to study. Secondly, the chapter will discuss cybertrafficking of humans with a specific focus on the vulnerability of these victims. Thirdly, describe and discuss the barriers to getting accurate statistics, and fourth, discuss the stigma attached to victimization and the lack of visibility for certain types of victims. The goals of this chapter are to highlight the vulnerability of victims of cybertrafficking of humans by identifying and discussing the barriers of visibility, describe the two existing bodies of literature on human trafficking and cyber victimization, and critically discuss how these bodies of literature can inform future research on cybertrafficking of humans.