1. 11/10/2015 FBI — FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin
A Victim-CenteredApproach
to Sex Trafficking Cases
By LarryAlvarez, antrocelyn Canas-Moreira
Byfocusing on the needs and concerns ofsex trafficking victims,lawenforcementofficers
can makethem morereceptiveto agencies'efforts and better preparethemto break
fromthecycleofcontrol.
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2. 11/10/2015 FBI — A Victim-Centered Approach to SexTrafficliang Cases
A Victim-Centered Approach to Sex Trafficking Cases
By LarryAlvarez,M.S.,and Jocelyn Cahas-Moreira
11/9/2015
A 17-year-old girl was lured bysomeone she thought was an older boyfriend.She ran awayfrom home to be with him,
becoming isolated and estranged from her middle-class parents.With meagerfunds and no education or work experience,
the girl was told to use her body.Almostimmediately,she began dancing ata strip club and having sexfor money.Her body
was sold on the Internetand in classified ads,at strip clubs and private parties,and on the streets,sometimes as often as
20 times per day.Years ofemotional,physical,sexual,and psychological abuse and manipulation replaced her dreams of
going to college and becoming a nurse.Over time,she even forgot her name;instead,she bore tattoos of her pimp's name
so she would know thatshe forever was his property.Control over her emotions,behavior,thoughts,and life disappeared
as she was trafficked from one hotel to the next,between cities,and across differentstates.
Cycle of Control
As this scenario illustrates, prostitutes often are victims ofsextrafficking.Smuggling individuals for
sexand forced labor is a worldwide criminal enterprise with an estimated annual revenue of$32
billion—surpassed only bythe illegal drug trade.[1]
Law enforcementagencies usuallycombat prostitution with traditional vice enforcementfocused on the street-level sex
trade.Prostitutes frequentlyare arrested,treated as nuisance offenders bythe criminaljustice system,and returned to the
streets shortlythereafter,propagating an ongoing series ofevents.While theyare criminalized,the true predatoryoffenders
—pimps and traffickers—are empowered to continue manipulating,controlling,and forcing girls into sexual servitude.
Prosecution for pimping often is difficultdue to the lack ofcredibilityof prostitutes.Their
high-risk,transientlifestyle—occasionallyinvolving narcotics—as well as exposure to
a cycle ofabuse and violence,renders the bestefforts ofpolice departments and
prosecutors futile. Traditional law enforcementapproaches generate large arrest
numbers,buttypicallyare unsuccessful in identifying victims or providing them with the
resources necessaryto break the cycle ofcontrol.
Nonjudgmental Approach
Victims'testimonies are crucial to law enforcementinvestigations and successful
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...prostitutes often
are victims ofsex
trafficking.
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3. 11/10/2015 FBI — A Victim-Centered Approach to SexTrafficking Cases
centered approach provides a systematicfocus on the individual's needs and
concerns to ensure compassionate and sensitive deliveryofservices in a
nonjudgmental manner.[2]
Identifying,notcriminalizing,victims is the firststep in adopting a victim-centered
strategy.To achieve this goal,officers mustbe committed to helping victims feel safe,
secure,and stable.Theyshould use available resources,such as social services and victim assistance programs.
Nongovernmental organizations(NGOs)also are valuable during the recovery process.Consistentwith a growing trend in
current public policy,supportand protection ofvictims should be provided regardless oftheir active cooperation with an
ongoing investigation.[3]
Avictim-centered approach to sextrafficking investigations is Useful in breaking the cycle ofviolence and control.Law
enforcementofficers can build relationships with potential sources to expose and dismantle sex-trade networks.
Investigators should targettraffickers and pimps and identifyand rescue additional exploited victims who continue to be
manipulated.
BITE Model
Close quotes
Undue influence—mind control,thought reform,and psychological power—often is endured bytrafficked victims.[4]The
BITE(Behavior,Information,Thoughts,and Emotions)Model of Human Trafficking centers on this process.[5]Itfocuses
extensivelyon traffickers'and pimps'capacityto control victims by undermining their abilityto think and actindependently.
Figure 1 — The Human Trafficking BITE Model
Behavior
• Regulating an individual's physical reality
Dictating where,how,and with whom a victim lives and associates
• Manipulating,exploiting,and controlling a person's sexuality
• Controlling permissible types and colors ofclothing and hairstyles
• Regulating one's diet—withholding food or drink as punishment
• Confiscating passports or other vital documents
• Depriving individuals ofsleep or manipulating theirsleep cycle
• Introducing drugs to induce dependency(sometimes withoutinformed consent)
Exploiting, manipulating,and causing financial dependency
• Restricting leisure,entertainment,and access to schooling and jobs
• Spending extensive time on grooming and indoctrination
• Requiring permission for decisions
O Forcing victims to reportthe thoughts,feelings,and activities ofthemselves and
others
• Modifying behaviors through punishment
• Discouraging individualism
• Imposing rigid rules and regulations
• Threatening harm to a person's familyorfriends
• Providing little or no medical treatmentor mental health support
• Instilling obedience and dependency
Information
• Deceiving victims
• Deliberatelywithholding information
• Distorting information to make itacceptable
• Systematicallylying
• Minimizing or discouraging access to competing sources ofinformation
• Discouraging individual thoughtand investigation through constanttasking
• Controlling a victim's movements through texting, phone calls,and Internettracking
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4. 11/10/2015 FBI —A Victim-Centered Approach to SexTraffickng Cases
- ,-11.111 Ewa'Li I CI 11.WILJI II 111/4/11 ICILIVI JP /LW ViAlO IVO] VO• 1°/1-1C1
• Encouraging spying on other victims to reportdeviantthoughts,feelings,and actions
• Ensuring individual behavior is monitored bya trafficker or trafficking network
• Extensively using protrafficking propaganda around victims
• Using information aboutan individual's pastto disruptor dissolve identity
boundaries and instigate manipulation and control
Thoughts
• Requiring internalization ofa trafficker's doctrine as truth
• Deciding whatis goodorevilfor a victim
• Forcing an us vs.themmentality
• Changing a person's name and identity
• Using loaded language to constrict knowledge,rather than expand it
• Using hypnotic techniques to alter mentalstate
• Manipulating a victim's memories and creating false ones
• Applying thought-stopping techniques
• Promoting denial,rationalization,justification,and wishful thinking
• Rejecting rational analysis,orificel thinking,and constructive criticism
• Viewing alternative beliefsystems as illegitimate,evil,or not useful
Emotions
• Manipulating and narrowing a victim's range offeelings—exploiting desire for love or
work
• Numbing or stopping emotions—blocking feelings of homesickness,anger,and
doubts
• Making the victim feel that problems always are their own fault
• Using excessive identity,social,and historical guilt
• Instilling excessive fear,including fear ofdeath
• Praising the victim,then stating theyare unworthy
M Inculcating irrational fears aboutleaving or questioning the trafficker's authority
M Threatening
• Coercing victims to harm themselves or others
• Sharing information with an individual's familyor others to embarrass or dishonor
them
• Turning a victim over to law enforcement,possiblyleading to their incarceration
Source. Dr.Steven A. Hassan excerptfrom Steven Hassan's Human Trafficking BITE Model,Freedom of
Mind Resource Center,
https://www.freedompfm'nd.corninfo/Hurnan%20Trafficking/HurnanTraffickingBITEModel.php
Traffic Jam
Traffickers have capitalized on the popularityand accessibilityofthe Internetto advertise their victims via classified
websites.To combatthis exploitation,a universitycomputerscience lab developed Traffic Jam,a large-scale analytical
system designed for law enforcementto provide an accurate,high-level,efficientanalysis ofonline sexads to identify
traffickers and victims.[6]
After a userenters a phone number into the search field,Traffic Jam explores Internetclassified sites to determine where
and when that particular number has been used,displays trails ofad movement,and pinpoints interstate tracks to which a
victim or numbercan be linked.The system recognizes thattelephone numbers can be switched and applies techniques
thatenable investigators to spotalternate numbers associated with an individual.Because phones often are swapped,the
system also can identifyadditional victims tied to a particular number.These results provide investigators real-time
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5. 11/10/2015 FBI —A Victim-Centered Approach to SexTrafficWng Cases
StrategyImplementation
Like manyenterprises,escortservices require regulated and monitored police department permits to conduct business.
However,these services have been suspected as fronts for prostitution rings.Department personnel tasked with issuing
permits can work with officers assigned to vice,gangs,narcotics,and organized crime—as well as other local,state,and
federal agencies—to prevent prostitution and,thereby,sextrafficking from becoming legitimatized within theirjurisdictions.
One permitenforcementteam recentlyconducted an escortsting operation focused on permit violations and prostitution
activity.To identifyand arrestindividuals engaged in pimping,the team took a victim-centered approach to the investigation.
Detectives working from a local hotel contacted an in-call escortfrom an online adultclassified ad.When undercover
officers encountered a prostitution violation,the escortwas taken to a secondaryroom used for interviewing and booking.
The room was staffed byexperienced detectives and advocates from a human trafficking NGO.
Prostitutes often are trained on whatto saywhen confronted by police officers,
sometimes resorting to a prearranged script.Knowing this,detectives used Traffic
Jam during the interview to learn which cities the escort recently had visited,thus,
identifying potential prostitution tracks and networks.The investigators applied this
information to weaken the escort's predetermined scriptand dismantle an alibi.As the
woman's story unraveled,NGO advocates provided intervention techniques to
ascertain whethershe was a sextrafficking victim and begin breaking the cycle of
violence and control.The escort's resultantconfession enabled detectives to capture
statements,phone data,and digital photos and identifyadditional victims.
Two weeks afterthe interview,the victim contacted law enforcementfor help. Her pimp
kidnapped her child and forced her to continue prostituting.Previously,she had no one
to turn to; however,the victim-centered approach used by police resulted in the
woman's trust.Police mobilized resources,and within hours her pimp,a longtime
gang member on probation for pimping,was in jail.The victim and her child were
recovered and placed in an emergencyshelter.The pimp's arrestgenerated leads for
additional investigations bythe regional human trafficking taskforce.Two months
later,the victim wrote police a letter ofappreciation indicating she had returned to herfamilydrug free and escaped the
cycle ofabuse she endured from her traffickers.
Conclusion
Traffickers have
capitalized on
the popularity and
accessibility ofthe
Internetto advertise their
victims via classified
websites.
Close quotes
Law enforcementofficers can impactthe lives ofsextrafficking victims byadopting a victim-centered approach in their
investigations. Byfocusing on victims' needs and concerns and notcriminalizing their actions,officers make victims more
receptive to the efforts ofagencies and NGOs and better prepare them to breakfrom the cycle ofabuse,violence,and
manipulation.Coupled with this approach,law enforcementorganizations should applyavailable resources and emerging
technologies to think outside the boxfor solutions to sextrafficking networks and rising trends in the sextrade.The results
can lead vulnerable,desperate victims toward a road to recoveryand rewarding,productive lives.
Endnotes
Detective Alvarez is an adjunctprofessorofcriminaljustice atCollege ofthe Canyonsin
Santa Clarita, California.He can be contacted atlarryjalvarez@yahoo.com.
Ms.Canas-Moreira studiessociologyand criminologyatCalifornia State University,
Northridge.
[1]Chuck Neubauer,Sex Trafficking in the U.S.Called 'Epidemic,- The Washington Times,April 23,2011,accessed
August4,2015,http://www.washingtontimes.cominews/2011/apr/23/sex-tralficking-us-called-epidemic/?page=all;and
CharitySub,SexTrafficking in the U.S.,July2012,accessed August13,2015,https://www.charitysub.org/sex-trafficking-in-
the-us.
[2]New Jersey Division ofCriminal Justice,Standards for Providing Services to Survivors ofSexual Assault,The State of
New Jersey,DepartmentofLaw and Public Safety,August1998,accessed August4,2015,
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6. 11/10/2015 FBI — A Victim-Centered Approach to SexTraffickng Cases
[3]California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training(POST),POSTGuidelines on LawEnforcement
Response to Human Trafficking,POST2007BTB-0394(November2014),accessed August4,2015,
http://lib postca.gov/Publications/human_trafficking.pdf
[4]Steven Hassan's Human Trafficking BITE Model, Freedom of Mind Resource Center,accessed August4,2015,
https://freedomofmind.com/Services/HumanTraffickingBITE.php,
[5]Ibid.
[6]Traffic Jam:Addressing the Epidemic ofChild Sexual Exploitation in the United States,Carnegie Mellon University,
Auton Lab,November6,2012,accessed August4,2015,http://wwwautonlab.org/autonweb/21097.html.
Close
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