Law Commons^™

Trafficking In Narratives: Conceptualizing And Recasting Victims, Offenders, And Rescuers In The War On Human Trafficking, Sabrina Balmgamwalla

Law Faculty Research Publications

Anti-trafficking laws emerge from a complex historical context, shaped in no small part by public perception of this highly complex problem. This Article explores and questions the headlines and examples that drove anti-trafficking reforms over the past century. These "trafficking narratives" have stimulated and shaped the response to trafficking both globally and domestically and have powerful implications for the evolving framework of protection and punishment. Specifically, this Article argues that the roles of "victims," "offenders," and "rescuers" serve as proxies for racialized and gendered assumptions about trafficking, which in turn are reflected in anti-trafficking law and enforcement. This Article builds …