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Human Trafficking: Definitions, Epidemiology, and Shifting Ground

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Medical Perspectives on Human Trafficking in Adolescents

Abstract

This chapter will review the definitions of human trafficking, trafficking epidemiology, and current trends in anti-trafficking approaches. Human trafficking definitions encompass an array of human rights violations which span multiple arenas including labor, commercial sex, involuntary servitude, and removal of organs for sale. We will review the US federal definition of trafficking, its origin, and describe some state-to-state variations of human trafficking definitions. In addition, we will review current knowledge on the epidemiology of adolescent trafficking, including limitations of current data. Finally, we will conclude with a discussion of positive trends in anti-trafficking work and directions for future research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Adapted from US Department of Health and Human Services: Administration for Children and Families [37]

    Primary prevention stops violence or a problem before it occurs. Strategies focus on strengthening and creating healthy relationships, reducing risks in an individual’s environment, rectifying systemic structures that contribute to the problem, and increasing buffers to violence or the problem.

    Secondary prevention provides an immediate response to violence or a problem as it happens. This includes basic services and emergency or medical care that address short-term sequelae.

    Tertiary prevention practices are long-term responses that occur after violence or a problem occurs, including rehabilitative services (e.g., long-term housing, job training, behavioral counseling, and other supportive services) that seek to prevent or mitigate long-term sequelae and recurrence of the negative experience.

  2. 2.

    Harm reduction offers people practical means to engage in healthier and/or safer behaviors. Traditionally it has been applied to substance use populations but can be used with those with a trafficking experience too. Harm reduction strategies among trafficked youth can be shared to promote healthy decision-making processes, including how to make risky behaviors less risky (adapted from Hickel and Hallett). For example, for a patient not ready to leave a trafficking situation, regular health appointments for preventive and early intervention healthcare can facilitate continued access to asthma and anti-seizure medications and grow the patient-clinician relationship.

  3. 3.

    Use of the term “cis” before a gender denotes the person’s present gender identity is the same as the gender that was assigned to them at birth.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Patric Gibbons

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Makini Chisolm-Straker

  3. Department of Emergency Medicine Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Hanni Stoklosa

Authors
  1. Patric Gibbons
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  2. Makini Chisolm-Straker
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  3. Hanni Stoklosa
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego and Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, CA, USA

    Kanani E. Titchen

  2. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Elizabeth Miller

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Gibbons, P., Chisolm-Straker, M., Stoklosa, H. (2020). Human Trafficking: Definitions, Epidemiology, and Shifting Ground. In: Titchen, K., Miller, E. (eds) Medical Perspectives on Human Trafficking in Adolescents. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43367-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43367-3_1

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