ABSTRACT
Trafficking in persons,1 particularly the trafficking of women into sexual servitude (sex trafficking), has generated much attention over the past decade (Tollefson 2006; Agustin 2005). It has captured the interest of academics and policy makers and gained considerable traction within the wider community domestically and internationally. This chapter reviews the research landscape of sex trafficking to which the narratives of trafficked women, women’s advocates, policy makers and criminal justice officials will be brought to bear in the coming chapters. It examines the international and national frameworks developed to respond to this issue – focused on both the design of policy responses and their implementation. It concludes by outlining the concerns for how some feminist activism has catalysed increased state control, expanded the crime control apparatus and diminished an appropriately complex understanding and approach to sex trafficking.
