The law of human trafficking

The crime of human trafficking is perpetrated all over the world and has been for a long time. The creation of law criminalizing trafficking, however, is a relatively new phenomenon. Do you know what the definition of human trafficking is? Do you know that the crime of human trafficking changes depending where you are in the world? This chapter will introduce you to the international law concerning human trafficking as well as the criminalization of this crime under U.S. federal law. Then these codifications will be compared with codifications from other parts of the world in an attempt to understand the legal confines of this offense (see Bussey-Garza, Dempsey, Martin and Rhodes, Chapter 5, this volume).

Learning Objectives

At the end of the chapter, readers will be able to:

Identify and understand the primary source of international law addressing trafficking in persons and the duty placed on States Parties with respect to domestic criminalization of this offense;

Understand the elements of the crime of “trafficking in persons” as defined under international law;

Understand the elements of the crime of “trafficking in persons” as defined under U.S. federal law; and

Compare and analyze the similarities and differences between the international definition of “trafficking in persons” and various national codifications of this offense.