Agency Records as a Method for Examining Human Trafficking

• Date: 26 August 2019
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1521-613620190000024015
• Pages: 165-178
• Published date: 26 August 2019
• Author: Valerie R. Anderson,Teresa C. Kulig,Christopher J. Sullivan

165

CHAPTER 10

AGENCY RECORDS AS A METHOD

FOR EXAMINING HUMAN

TRAFFICKING

Valerie R. Anderson, Teresa C. Kulig and

Christopher J. Sullivan

ABSTRACT

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to examine the ways in which human

trafcking has been measured through the use of agency record data.

Approach – The authors review the state of previous research on human traf-

cking using agency record data and the challenges that are important to con-

sider when using agency records in the study of human trafcking.

Findings – Researchers have used agency records in a wide variety of ways to

measure human trafcking victimization, perpetration, and patterns or case

characteristics. Agency data provide unique contributions to understand human

trafcking 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 trafcking in a statewide study.

Value – This chapter provides an overview of how agency records have been

used in human trafcking research in recent years. Furthermore, this chapter

includes a case study and methodological reection on the use of agency records

in a statewide human trafcking prevalence study. The authors conclude with a

methodological reection and considerations moving forward for future use of

agency data in human trafcking research.

Keywords: Human trafcking; agency records; existing data; measurement;

victimization; prevalence

Methods of Criminology and Criminal Justice Research

Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Volume 24, 165–178

Copyright © 2019 by Emerald Publishing Limited

All rights of reproduction in any form reserved

ISSN: 1521-6136/doi:10.1108/S1521-613620190000024015