Representation of transnational human trafficking in present-day news media, true crime, and fiction

尽管人口贩运被谴责为现代形式的奴役，被国际法定为犯罪，并被归类为侵犯人权，但这种剥削行为现在已成为跨国有组织犯罪的数十亿美元产业。未能从整体上解决这个问题意味着它现在已成为一个紧迫的优先事项。欧洲联盟指令（2011/2014）表明，打击这一“复杂犯罪”需要采取综合和注重人权的办法，包括为受害者提供保护和支持，以及开展更广泛的教育和提高认识运动。与此同时，警察和政府面临着调查和打击犯罪的挑战，因为有组织犯罪可以灵活和相对迅速地调整其跨国行动，通常是通过激活重叠的圈子和网络、互动和专业知识。本研究的主要目的是探讨当代犯罪小说、真实犯罪类型和新闻媒体对跨国人口贩运的刻画。本研究将调查这些关于贩运的陈述是如何一致的，同时假设虚构的和假定的事实陈述以及更广泛的媒体报道（模糊事实和虚构-参见例如Surette 1998）可以塑造公众对此类犯罪的认识和看法，并确实为罪犯/受害者和执法政策提供信息（Mathers, 2004）。具体而言，我们对人口贩运的研究将考虑受害者的相互关联的表现，贩运的调查/警务/预防以及有关跨国治理和全球正义的公众观念的更广泛框架。主要研究领域包括：1。查明人口贩运受害者是复杂的，调查缓慢、艰苦、耗时，而且难度越来越大。然而，在全球市场上，这种复杂性元素可能不适合读者对新闻报道或犯罪小说叙事的感知欲望。我们打算研究人口贩运在多大程度上被过度简化和/或耸人听闻，并评估调查性报道和文献在多大程度上有助于扩大世界对受害者身份、保护和支持的认识、洞察力和公共话语。2. 我们将参与主题和文本的方法，叙事采用调查跨国贩运。这涉及到对文本如何整合现有知识和新知识的考虑，并通过引起对代表性政治的关注，为被剥削主体的经验提供可见性。在格雷维特特别警务咨询公司的协助下，我们还考虑了这些文本在不同规模上应对全球治理和警务挑战的方式。提高公众意识和知识对打击人口贩运十分重要。我们将探讨人口贩运的各种意识形态和政治，与更广泛的关于全球正义的论述相联系。例如，我们在一系列虚构和非虚构的“真实犯罪”媒体中对人口贩运的叙事进行了界定，以探索围绕人口贩运的“道德恐慌”故事是如何在这些来源中构建和使用的，作为提高公众意识的机制，也作为关键参与者政治权宜之计的潜在领域。这些新出现的研究结果将通过文集、政策简报、公共博客和推特以及专题讨论会/外联活动进行传播，从而促进围绕人口贩运的调查、警务和预防以及对受害者的支持的更广泛的学术知识和公众对话。

Despite the fact that human trafficking is condemned as a modern-day form of slavery, criminalized under international law, and categorized as a human rights violation, this exploitative practice now represents a multibillion-dollar industry for transnational organized crime. The failure to address the problem holistically means that it has now become an urgent priority. European Union directives (2011/2014) indicate that an integrated and human-rights oriented approach is needed to combat this "complex crime", including the provision of protection and support for its victims, as well as wider education and awareness-raising campaigns. Meanwhile, police and governments face investigative and crime-fighting challenges, due to the flexibility and relative speed with which organized crime can adapt its transnational operations, often by activating overlapping circles and layers of networks, interaction and expertise. The primary purpose of this research is to investigate the portrayal of transnational human trafficking in contemporary crime fiction, the genre of true crime, and news media. This research will investigate how aligned such representations of trafficking are, whilst assuming that fictional and supposed factual representations as well as wider media coverage (which blurs fact and fiction - see e.g. Surette 1998) can shape public knowledge and perception of such crime, and indeed inform offender/victim and law enforcement policy (Mathers, 2004). Specifically, our research into human trafficking will consider the interrelated representations of victims, the investigation/policing/prevention of trafficking and the wider framing of public perceptions concerning transnational governance and global justice. Key areas of inquiry include:1. Identifying victims of trafficking is complex, and investigations are slow, painstaking, time-consuming, and increasingly difficult. Yet, this element of complexity may not lend itself to the perceived desires of readerships for news reporting or crime fiction narratives in the global marketplace. We intend to examine to what extent trafficking is over-simplified and/or sensationalised, as well as assess to what extent investigative reporting and literature can contribute to expanded world knowledge, insight and public discourse, concerning the identification, protection and support of victims. 2. We will engage with the thematic and textual methods that narratives employ to investigate transnational trafficking. This involves a consideration of how texts incorporate existing and new knowledge, and lend visibility to the experience of exploited subjects by drawing attention to the politics of representation. With the assistance of Gravett's Special Policing Consultancy, we also consider the ways these texts address the challenges for global governance and policing at various scales.3. Greater public awareness and knowledge is important to combat human trafficking. We will explore the varied ideologies and politics of human trafficking, in connection with wider discourses about global in/justice. For instance, we scope the diegetic narratives of trafficking within a range of fictional and non-fictional 'true crime' media, to explore how stories of the 'moral panic' around trafficking are constructed and used within such sources, as mechanisms for raising public awareness, but also as potential areas of political expediency by key actors involved. The emergent research findings will be disseminated through an essay collection, a policy brief, a public blog and twitter feed, as well as a symposium/outreach activities, thus contributing to wider academic knowledge and public dialogue surrounding the investigation, policing and prevention of human trafficking as well as support for its victims.