"Victim is such a touchy word": Rethinking victimhood among human trafficking intervention court defendants in the US

Abstract

Globally, legal and policy frameworks around the sex industry often impose a victim narrative onto sex workers, excluding their voices and lived experiences. In the United States, Human Trafficking Intervention Courts (HTICs) increasingly categorize sex workers as trafficking victims to provide exit-oriented services. However, these frameworks often define victimhood externally, which can be disempowering. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 35 HTIC defendants across three US cities, this study centers sex workers' own conceptualizations of victimhood—perspectives historically marginalized in legal discourse. Using ideal victim theory, findings reveal three distinct understandings of victimhood: alignment with "ideal victim" narratives, definitions rooted in personal experience, and resistance to the victim label. These results highlight the complexity of victim identification among system-involved sex workers and underscore the importance of integrating sex workers’ voices into policymaking. The study further advocates for decriminalization to promote empowerment-centered, rights-based legal approaches.