Doctoral Dissertation Research: How Frontline Work Identifies and Categorizes Human Trafficking

University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

This project explores how frontline workers identify and assist vulnerable, exploited, andtrafficked persons in the U.S. As anti-trafficking efforts and legislation increase, service providers increasingly face a growing client base that includes trafficked persons. The medical, legal, law enforcement, and social service sectors must disseminate services while also navigating competing understandings of human trafficking. In particular, human trafficking is frequently mobilized in binaries: victims or criminals, survivors or perpetrators, moral or immoral. This project seeks to understand how service providers use these frames -- specifically, concepts of "deserving" or "undeserving" trafficked persons -- to navigate their workloads and interact with their clients. While much scholarship has focused on both the importance of frontline workers and domestic human trafficking efforts, little has been done to bring these two fields together. This project links street-level bureaucracy theory to the study of human trafficking in Midwestern and rural communities, honing in on the role of frontline workers in anti-trafficking efforts. In order to address the unique perspectives of service providers, this project uses both surveys and semi-structured interviews. Surveys will provide the scope of how anti-trafficking efforts manifest, while semi-structured interviews provide a broader space for service providers? own narratives of their work.