ABSTRACT
This chapter interrogates the criminal investigation process, drawing on the accounts offered by those working both within and outside the official processes, and those subject to these processes (unlawful migrants and/or exploited non-citizens). We argue that the trafficking mandate is unique because of the significant resources invested to find victims, unlike other areas of abuse that similarly rely on the victim as evidence; for example, intimate partner violence. Our findings suggest that this aspect of the policy response appears to be linked to the performative aspect of criminal justice processes: at the international level, particularly through the TIP Report, there is a focus on criminal justice outcomes, but also a concern to assess the efforts of nations to provide victim support. What this translates into, however, is that victims remain within this system as ‘tools’ for the prosecution, and ongoing support is linked to the criminal justice process. As we demonstrate in this chapter, victims’ needs and their identity (in many cases as migrant labourers), remain peripheral to the process.
