Situating the Ninety-Nine: A Critique of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act

Abstract

ABSTRACT Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000. Yet of the estimated 50,000 individuals trafficked into the U.S. each year, far fewer than one thousand victims have been identified under this legislative statute. I argue that the TVPA contains narrow definitions of ‘victim’ and ‘victimization’ that select for sexually exploited, passive females. Furthermore, the TVPA conceives coercion only with reference to inter-personal dynamics between traffickers and victims. A more complete and effective redress must include more complex conceptions of victimization, coercion, and harm in order to adequately grasp the socio-political and economic dynamics that structure global human trafficking.