Human Trafficking, Corruption and Corporate Complicity

This book focuses on human trafficking as a form of transnational crime within a framework informed by the criminological literature on crimes of the powerful and using case studies of a human trafficking network from Albania to the UK and within the Middle East. The critical socio-legal study explores the key themes of the demands of corporations, the operation of illegal networks and involvement of corrupt officials which can affect criminal justice policy and practice in the response to the victims of human trafficking. It provides a systematic analysis of interactions between the world of criminality and the world of ‎legitimate business and labour mobility in the process of human trafficking. Drawing on transnational law scholarship as well as the literature on corporate and state crime, the book seeks to understand crimes of the powerful and their regulation in terms of the intersection of different forms of power, situating its analysis in its political, legal, and economic contexts. The existing legal response to human trafficking has focussed much more on prosecution than on prevention. It is argued here, however, that preventive strategies involving international and domestic cooperation and the ‘responsibilisation’ of businesses and consumers are more likely to counter human trafficking effectively. The book will be essential reading for academics, researchers and policy-makers in the areas of transnational criminal law, international criminal law, criminology and criminal justice, security and human rights.