ABSTRACT
The purpose of feminist analysis is to examine the patriarchy/criminal justice system nexus to build understanding within criminological and criminal justice literature concerning how patriarchy impacts the criminal justice system's response to human trafficking. In effect, this analysis discusses the influence of patriarchy on criminal justice system policy development and practices and postulates that such influence ultimately undermines the system's anti-human trafficking efforts. This chapter provides a general overview of the issue of human trafficking and explores human trafficking as a gender-based phenomenon. It follows with an analysis of the interface between a patriarchal criminal justice system and the system's response to human trafficking. Preoccupation with the issue of morality, sexual propriety, and appropriate gender roles was present in early US criminal justice responses to human trafficking, evidenced by the White Slave Traffic act of 1910. Finally, the chapter discusses implications for future human trafficking public policy and research.
