What is it about?
This article evaluates the extent to which Taiwan's efforts to curtail human trafficking has been effective. It examines arrest, prosecution, and sentencing data to determine whether or not the Taiwanese model, successfully deters human trafficking within its borders. Overall, I find that this model, driven primarily by law enforcement efforts, is only moderately successful. While it does a good job of finding and punishing the most severe cases of sex trafficking, it is much less effective at deterring labor trafficking and less egregious forms of sex trafficking.
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Why is it important?
This article has importance far beyond the borders of Taiwan, because the Taiwanese approach to human trafficking is modeled closely on that fiercely advocated for by the US and the UN. In this sense, Taiwan is an emblematic case study, from which we can learn a great deal about the efficacy of global anti-trafficking approaches. The finding that this criminal justice-based approach is only moderately effective at deterring the largest sectors of human trafficking (labor trafficking), then, is quite alarming and should be cause for concern, if not motivation to re-assess the global human trafficking agenda more broadly.
Perspectives
This article is important because it demonstrates empirically the limitations of the criminal justice model to adequately address and deter human trafficking. Though it focuses on Taiwan as a representative case study, similar results are likely to be found in most other countries that follow the US and UN's law enforcement model. The big takeaway, is that this approach to human trafficking is insufficient. If we only understand and approach human trafficking as primarily a criminal justice issue, there will continue be little success in effectively reducing instances of human trafficking.
Ryan Goehrung
University of Washington System
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Evaluating the Criminal Justice Approach to Human Trafficking in Taiwan, Journal of Human Trafficking, July 2019, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/23322705.2019.1636192.
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