Preventing criminal exploitation: evidence summary

Methodology and the evidence base

Methodology

A rapid literature review was conducted over 3-4 months in 2024 (alongside other reviews^[1] undertaken during the same period). It was guided by the following research question: “what is the current understanding of prevention strategies and interventions aimed at addressing human trafficking and criminal exploitation in the UK?”

A total of 42 sources were reviewed for this paper, including academic papers and grey literature^[2]. The literature search was undertaken via the Scottish Government’s Knowledge and Evidence library and the Government Social Research’s EBSCO databases, as well as key websites e.g. WHO, Council of Europe, UNODC^[3], GRETA^[4], Modern Slavery & Human Rights Policy & Evidence Centre. Key word searches included: labour exploitation, exploitation, domestic servitude, worker exploitation, child labour exploitation, prevention strategies, interventions. The review included literature written in English, published since 2017, when the first Scottish Government Human Trafficking and Exploitation strategy was published. Whilst it focuses on UK based literature, it does include evidence where human trafficking is discussed in an international or global context or covers the UK alongside other countries.

Given the time constraints, this summary does not include an exhaustive coverage of the available literature but instead describes and summarises the evidence sourced in the time available. In line with literature review methodology, the review did not include a critical appraisal of the evidence.^[5] This means that there may be variations in the relevancy and robustness of included studies/sources that have not been considered. The findings should therefore be treated as indicative.

The evidence base

The evidence review aimed to include literature across all levels of prevention – primary (before harm occurs), secondary (early intervention), and tertiary (after harm occurs) - in line with a public health approach. The majority of evidence, however, tends to focus on interventions addressing the harmful impacts of trafficking and exploitation (i.e. at the tertiary end); there appears to be limited evidence with a primary prevention focus. Research and evidence on prevention of human trafficking and exploitation is a relatively new field of inquiry and is generally underdeveloped.

Evaluations of human trafficking interventions are limited in quantity and methodological quality, and so concrete evidence and answers to ‘what works’ is lacking (Walk free, 2020; Such et al., 2022; Bryant and Landman 2020; Van Dyke and Brachou, 2021; Felner and DuBois, 2017). This scarcity is reflected in the criminal exploitation literature on prevention. Most of the UK evidence reviewed for this paper focuses on drug related criminal exploitation of children and county lines. The criminal exploitation of adults, and other forms of criminal exploitation, appear to be less well understood and documented (CSJ, 2024).