ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the fundamental characteristics of the people, processes and places involved in internal (domestic) trafficking for child sexual exploitation. It presents a content analysis of extensive police investigative files and prosecution records from six major cases, including the notorious Rochdale ‘grooming’ case. It provides much needed insights into the scale, nature and duration of internal child sex trafficking and the characteristics of offenders and victims. The six unconnected cases are shown to be very similar in most of the areas addressed. The results reveal a vast and sprawling system of abuse, stretching far beyond the 55 offenders, 43 victims and 400-plus abuses on which the book focuses. Although the offenders belonged to quintessential ‘Asian sex gangs’, many other stereotypes are undermined by the results. For example, despite their atrocities the offenders fail to match up to the myth of sophisticated criminal masterminds. Other key findings include victims’ vulnerability and the importance of peer relations as a pathway to involvement in trafficking. Important in its own right, this chapter also lays the groundwork for subsequent analyses of other aspects of these human trafficking networks and criminal justice responses to them.
