ABSTRACT
Trafficking in persons presents a unique challenge to police due largely to the complexity of trafficking cases and the intense political pressure to secure convictions as an indicator of the success of national efforts to address trafficking. Following the identification of potential victims of trafficking, the formal apparatus of the criminal justice system is activated whereby police are responsible for undertaking investigations in order to determine whether there is a case, and then to decide which cases will be recommended for prosecution and which will be abandoned. At this point in the progress of trafficking cases there are two processes operating concurrently: the criminal justice investigation and the welfare process involving the provision of support to potential victims. As this chapter will demonstrate, these two aspects of the policy response are essentially two sides of the same coin: they are intimately connected and both are conducted primarily to enable and enhance the number of cases moving from investigation to prosecution. For the purposes of exploring each aspect of this policy process, we examine each in turn. Therefore, this chapter is focused on the identification process in terms of its design and implementation as stipulated by authorities, and on the accounts offered by both those working outside the official processes and those subject to these processes, migrant women and victims of trafficking. The investigation process determines whether women will be offered/granted the status of victim within the criminal justice system. This chapter outlines the investigation process,
focusing in particular on why and how the investigation of cases is undertaken and on the ways in which victims of trafficking are engaged in and impacted by this process.
