D-ISN: TRACK 2: Building a Multifaceted Research Team to Examine the Use of Information Technology in the Creation and Disruption of Domestic Sex Trafficking Supply Networks

这项规划拨款将通过建立一个由学者和专业人士组成的多方面研究团队来促进国家福利和利益，以(1)评估罪犯如何利用信息技术支持其国内性交易供应网络，(2)探索刑事司法系统如何成功地使用或努力使用信息技术来检测、破坏和拆除非法供应网络，(3)根据从审查贩运者和刑事司法系统专业人员使用信息技术中获得的知识，制定干预措施，破坏国内性贩运供应网络。贩运者对信息技术的使用使非法供应网络更难被破坏，但信息技术的使用创造了数字足迹，使刑事司法专业人员能够识别贩运者并获得逮捕和起诉所需的证据。虽然已经开发了许多信息技术来支持刑事司法系统在侦查和破坏非法供应网络方面的努力，但由于各机构内部的资源限制，这些技术往往无法达到预期的效果。该项目创建了一个由学者和专业人士组成的多方面研究团队，以检查刑事司法系统内有效使用信息技术的不同水平，并确定可以制定哪些政策、做法或培训来解决这一问题。这项研究将为刑事司法系统专业人员制定新的国内性贩运供应网络培训方案；传播针对国内性贩运供应网络的新见解；鼓励采取新的政策或做法，以发现或破坏国内性贩运供应网络，这将为改善人类状况带来社会效益。通过研讨会和网上合作，该项目将汇集学者和专业人士，作为一个多方面研究小组的一部分，就犯罪分子如何利用信息技术发展供应网络以及如何利用（或不利用）信息技术拦截国内性贩运供应网络进行合作和建立共识。研究小组成员是刑事司法系统的专业人士将提供他们的实践知识，以告知当前的研究。来自工程、商业和社会科学学科的学术研究团队成员将提供供应网络、网络分析、人口贩运和信息技术方面的专业知识，以激发有关如何有效破坏有弹性的非法供应网络的创造性想法。由于国内性贩运供应网络往往与其他类型的非法供应网络，如劳工贩运、毒品贩运和洗钱有关，这项研究工作将加强审查其他类型的非法供应网络的发现和破坏的研究。该研究小组的合作努力将为今后关于破坏国内性贩运的研究提供一个框架，因为这个多方面的研究小组的成员通过会议、期刊文章、报告和小组讨论向各自的学科传播见解。此外，将根据研究小组的发现制定新的培训计划，并向刑事司法系统专业人员提供。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This planning grant award will contribute to the advancement of national welfare and interests by building a multifaceted research team comprised of academics and professionals to (1) assess how criminals use information technology to support their domestic sex trafficking supply networks, (2) explore how the criminal justice system has successfully used or struggled to use information technology to detect, disrupt, and dismantle illicit supply networks, and (3) create interventions to disrupt domestic sex trafficking supply networks based on the knowledge gained from examining the use of information technology by traffickers and criminal justice system professionals. Trafficker’s use of information technology makes illicit supply networks more difficult to disrupt, but this use of information technology creates digital footprints that can enable criminal justice professionals to identify traffickers and obtain evidence necessary for arrest and prosecution. Although many information technologies have been developed to support the criminal justice system’s efforts in detecting and disrupting illicit supply networks, these technologies often fail to achieve the intended impacts due to resource constraints within various agencies. This project creates a multifaceted research team of academics and professionals to examine the varying levels of effective use of information technology within the criminal justice system and to determine what policies, practices, or training can be instituted to solve this problem. This research will develop new training programs on domestic sex trafficking supply networks for criminal justice system professionals; disseminate new insights to target domestic sex trafficking supply networks; and encourage new policies or practices to detect or disrupt domestic sex trafficking supply networks, which will provide societal benefits to improve the human condition. Through workshops and online collaborations, the project will bring together academics and professionals as part of a multifaceted research team to collaborate and develop a shared understanding of how criminals use information technology to develop supply networks and how information technology is used (or not used) for interdiction in domestic sex trafficking supply networks. Research team members that are criminal justice system professionals will offer their practical knowledge to inform current research. The academic research team members from engineering, business, and social science disciplines will provide expertise in supply networks, network analysis, human trafficking, and information technology to stimulate creative ideas regarding how to effectively disrupt resilient illicit supply networks. Since domestic sex trafficking supply networks are often connected to other types of illicit supply networks, such as labor trafficking, drug trafficking and money laundering, this research effort will augment research examining the detection and disruption of other types of illicit supply networks. The research team’s collaboration efforts will provide a framework for future research on the disruption of domestic sex trafficking as members of this multifaceted research team disseminate insights to their own discipline through conferences, journal articles, reports, and panel discussions. Additionally, new training programs based on the research team’s findings will be developed and offered to criminal justice system professionals.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.