Policing Sex Trafficking in the ‘Virtual Red-Light District’: A Research Note

Xavier L’Hoiry; Alessandro Moretti; Georgios A. Antonopoulos

doi:10.3390/socsci11080319

Social Sciences (Jul 2022)

Policing Sex Trafficking in the ‘Virtual Red-Light District’: A Research Note

Xavier L’Hoiry,
Alessandro Moretti,
Georgios A. Antonopoulos

Affiliations

Xavier L’Hoiry: Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TU, UK
Alessandro Moretti: Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, 13153 Copenhagen, Denmark
Georgios A. Antonopoulos: Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle NE1 8ST, UK

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11080319
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 11, no. 8
p. 319

Abstract

Read online

Working alongside a police force in the United Kingdom, the study briefly presented in this note, sought to create an analytical tool (the Sexual Trafficking Identification Matrix—STIM) with which policing actors could distinguish between Adult Services Website (ASW) profiles posted by independent sex workers and profiles created by traffickers. Distinguishing between these will potentially allow law enforcement agencies to prioritise their investigatory efforts more efficiently.

Published in Social Sciences

ISSN: 2076-0760 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Social Sciences
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/socsci

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords