On June 10th the Vera Institute of Justice released the first ever validated tool to identify victims of Human Trafficking, called “Out of the Shadows”. This tool was created and tested over several years through collaboration with 11 victim services organizations in New York, California, Colorado, Texas, and Washington state and seeks to make identifying victims easier.
From the Vera Website:
The landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act made trafficking in persons a federal crime in 2000, but the greatest obstacle to rescuing victims of human trafficking is identifying them. To make identifying these people easier—and subsequently, getting them the services and support they need while also generating evidence against their traffickers—Vera created a screening tool to be used by victim service providers and law enforcement when faced with someone who may be a victim of human trafficking. The tool, a 30-topic questionnaire that was tested by service providers and validated by Vera researchers, is the result of a two-year study funded by the National Institute of Justice.
The tool is both reliable and valid, allowing the user to not only distinguish victims of trafficking from those of other crimes, but also tell the difference between victims of labor trafficking and those of sex trafficking. In addition to a long and short version of the tool, Vera also released an extensive users guide that walks the user through pre interview steps, frequently asked questions about the tool, interview considerations, tool use, post interview assessment, and further opportunities for training and education.
For the research summary, full report, and access to the tools and users guide please visit the following website:
http://www.vera.org/pubs/special/human-trafficking-identification-tool
Hopefully this tool can indeed fill the gap that currently limits our ability to identify victims of human trafficking and make it easier to identify and support those at risk.
Written By Georgianna Dolan-Reilly, LMSW
Staff Writer
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I am a Social Works Major with Technology in Trafficking as my Thesis. Why in 2014 with all the tech around us to make this an APP for a phone/tablet that feeds a database so that the data can be analyzed at any time did it come out on paper? Help could be given directly to the user if it was an app, but the user now has to use a booklet to see if there is help answering a question if something is not understood. Just my penny’s worth. Just asking, I guess.
Shaun, That is a brilliant question! I would suggest reaching out to Vera itself to inquire about this. Perhaps they’ll even partner with you to create such an APP!
This isn’t the first tool to identify victims of forced labor, and what is the benefit of breaking out labor from sex?
How will the people questioning determine who will be asked what questions or will all potential victims get asked every question and then be told that they’re a sex and/or labor trafficking victim?
Good questions Carol. Please note that we did not develop the tool, but from our review of the tool it would appear that the purpose behind determining which of the two types of trafficking a person falls into is to provide them with the best type of services and supports needed to get them out of the situation and gather evidence against their trafficker. The research summary and technical report do a great job of discussing which questions help determine if they are a part of labor or sex trafficking, and the user guidelines explain use more in depth, specifically using the short version versus the long version.
You’re claiming it’s the FIRST EVER VALIDATED TOOL – what is that based on and where is your proof of this?
Why is it the service provider that decides what type of victim the person is and what service is best? Shouldn’t a victim of forced labor (human trafficking) be given as many options as possible so that they can choose what’s best for them?
From the first page of the Research Summary of the tool itself:
There may be other sources, guides, and questionnaires used to determine if someone is a victim of trafficking but this, according to the developer, is the first validated tool backed by research.
I can agree with your second set of questions though, a victim should be made aware of as many services as possible so they can be a part in the decision making. But, some services will apply to only those who are a victim of sex trafficking or labor trafficking or vice versa. For example, if the answers to questions indicate that an individual might be a victim of sex trafficking it might be more important to do testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. It is one of those catch 22s in social work and research, we want evidence based tools that help us streamline and facilitate better services but those also place people in particular categories which aren’t always clear cut.
The most guilty are shadow government under the luciferian/satanic/witchcraft groups which also are responsible for the new world order. If you could actually expose all of them as impossible as that seems, since they have been around since the fall of mankind, you would realize then ALL the trafficking would cease since all the guilty would be taken out of the picture