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Trauma Bonding and Interpersonal Violence
Abstract
The psychological phenomenon labeled Stockholm syndrome or trauma bonding has been explained as a product of interpersonal trauma whereby the perpetrator elicits fear in the victim that is experienced as venerating gratitude for being allowed to survive. There is no widely accepted theory to explain how perpetrators of trauma emotionally bind their victims to them; however, the general phenomenon of victims developing emotional attachments to their abusers or captors has been observed in situations of intimate partner violence, child abuse, hostage situations, human trafficking, and cults. Despite repeated observations of trauma bonding in victims of interpersonal violence, little research exists regarding its formation or persistence and even less is known about positive resolution in survivors. The chapter begins by presenting the existing theoretical conceptualizations and research findings on trauma bonding along with complexities of intervention and treatment within several diverse contexts. The chapter features those situations or settings which are primarily characterized by interpersonal violence. Next, the chapter reviews critical concerns regarding methodological weaknesses of previous research focused on trauma bonding and recommends several potential avenues for integrated theory and research. Lastly, implications for policy related to trauma bonding within the field of interpersonal violence are explored.
... When comparing the consequences of coercive control tactics for victims of IPV and human trafficking, numerous researchers have enumerated the cognitive distortions commonly held by victims regardless of the particular exploitive settingwhether IPV, child sexual abuse, or human trafficking (Reid et al. 2013). Similar cognitive distortions, linked to coercive control tactics, have been reported by IPV and human trafficking victims including denial or minimization of abuse, self-blame for the abuse, seeing the abuser as good and themselves as bad, and believing their abuser to be extremely powerful (Herman 1992;Reid et al. 2013). ...
... When comparing the consequences of coercive control tactics for victims of IPV and human trafficking, numerous researchers have enumerated the cognitive distortions commonly held by victims regardless of the particular exploitive settingwhether IPV, child sexual abuse, or human trafficking (Reid et al. 2013). Similar cognitive distortions, linked to coercive control tactics, have been reported by IPV and human trafficking victims including denial or minimization of abuse, self-blame for the abuse, seeing the abuser as good and themselves as bad, and believing their abuser to be extremely powerful (Herman 1992;Reid et al. 2013). Kennedy et al. (2007) highlight the parallels between the trauma responses of women trafficked in prostitution and battered women. ...
... Both types of victims cope with the violence and abuse through self-blame, denial, and emotional numbing. Some have used terms, such as trauma bonding or brainwashing, to label the psychological consequences of continual abuse by an intimate partner or trafficker (Reid et al. 2013). ...
In this chapter, the links between human trafficking and intimate partner violence (IPV) over the life course are reviewed. Exposure to intimate partner violence during childhood increases risk for victimization in sex trafficking during young adulthood. The lasting impacts of exposure to interpersonal violence during childhood affect one’s ability to trust others or to perceive future relationships as supportive, thereby increasing risk for exploitation in human trafficking. Furthermore, IPV and human trafficking share common dynamics. The element of coercive control facilitated by power imbalance and intermittency of abuse has been documented in offender-victim interactions involving IPV and human trafficking. Human trafficking victims are commonly trafficked by an abusive and exploitive intimate partner, and victims may be arrested and prosecuted for human trafficking offenses due to their forced involvement in criminal activities.
... In families permeated by coercive control, it is also possible children avoid contact with the targeted parent as part of a complex strategy to reconcile the dangerous, unpredictable environment by aligning with the perpetrator, and forming a trauma bond (Adorjan et al., 2012). Reid et al. (2013) describe conditions conducive to trauma bonding, such as a perceived threat to one's physical and psychological survival, intermittent perceived kindness from the abuser to the victim, isolation, and inability to escape (Reid et al., 2013). Subsequent or simultaneous acts of parental alienating behavior may create a fertile ground for trauma bonds to grow. ...
... In families permeated by coercive control, it is also possible children avoid contact with the targeted parent as part of a complex strategy to reconcile the dangerous, unpredictable environment by aligning with the perpetrator, and forming a trauma bond (Adorjan et al., 2012). Reid et al. (2013) describe conditions conducive to trauma bonding, such as a perceived threat to one's physical and psychological survival, intermittent perceived kindness from the abuser to the victim, isolation, and inability to escape (Reid et al., 2013). Subsequent or simultaneous acts of parental alienating behavior may create a fertile ground for trauma bonds to grow. ...
Previous studies have demonstrated a connection between intimate partner violence (IPV) and a child’s alienation from the abused parent, but little is known about the relationships between the type of IPV, aspects, and severity of a child’s alienation, and the target parent’s gender. This study assessed the presence of an IPV history (verbal and physical aspects) among parents who identify as targets of their children’s unreasonable rejection. Also investigated were associations between the form of IPV and manifestations of a child’s alienated behavior, parent’s gender and type of IPV, and parents’ gender and degree of the child’s alienation. Self-identified alienated parents ( n = 842) completed an online survey that included an IPV screening measurement (Hurts, Insults, Screams, Threatens screening tool) and a measure of the parent’s perception of their child’s alienated behaviors (Rowlands Parental Alienation Scale). The majority identified as IPV victims and reported a higher level of verbal than physical abuse. More mothers than fathers identified themselves as IPV victims. As a group, IPV victims rated their child as more severely alienated than did non-IPV alienated parents. Mothers were more likely than fathers to report physical aggression by the other parent and more likely than fathers to assess their child’s alienated behaviors as more severe. Victims of physical violence reported their children were less likely to withhold positive affection from them. This knowledge may assist in earlier identification of the alienation process and greater recognition, legitimacy, funding, and opportunities for enhanced collaboration among stakeholders. This, in turn, may lead to improvements in prevention, intervention, and accountability, thus helping to interrupt alienation processes.
... This dysregulation influences their impulse regulation, attention and consciousness, interpersonal relationships, and self-perception and meaning making. The CSEC experience for the adolescent results in boundary confusion about what constitutes kindness, intimacy, safety, and love; and the confusion results in the eventual creation of an emotional bond with their exploitative trafficker known as trauma bonding (Reid, Haskell, Dillahunt-Aspillaga, & Thor, 2013). Researchers are discovering that CSEC may be more complex than other forms of trauma bonding (Hopper, 2017a). ...
... Using intermittent exploitative abuse alternating with positive or neutral interactions help the trafficker obtain complete control of the CSEC victim. In this case, traffickers exploit seductive and/or grooming processes conceptualized in CSA (Reid, 2013;Reid et al., 2013) and DV (Wallace, 2007). The process results in a powerful loyalty to the trafficker where the use of reward and punishment, acceptance and degradation, potentiates a psychological confusion and fear among victims where the CSEC victims question what constitutes kindness, intimacy, and safety (Cole et al., 2016). ...
... This dysregulation influences their impulse regulation, attention and consciousness, interpersonal relationships, and self-perception and meaning making. The CSEC experience for the adolescent results in boundary confusion about what constitutes kindness, intimacy, safety, and love; and the confusion results in the eventual creation of an emotional bond with their exploitative trafficker known as trauma bonding (Reid, Haskell, Dillahunt-Aspillaga, & Thor, 2013). Researchers are discovering that CSEC may be more complex than other forms of trauma bonding (Hopper, 2017a). ...
... Using intermittent exploitative abuse alternating with positive or neutral interactions help the trafficker obtain complete control of the CSEC victim. In this case, traffickers exploit seductive and/or grooming processes conceptualized in CSA (Reid, 2013;Reid et al., 2013) and DV (Wallace, 2007). The process results in a powerful loyalty to the trafficker where the use of reward and punishment, acceptance and degradation, potentiates a psychological confusion and fear among victims where the CSEC victims question what constitutes kindness, intimacy, and safety (Cole et al., 2016). ...
Conceptual Model of Trauma Bonding
... Fawning involves less attunement and is more one sided. In addition, from a polyvagal perspective, fawning may have the opposite effect of appeasement because it could be perceived by the aggressor as a highly vulnerable state, inciting more aggression (Reid et al., 2013). ...
Background: Stockholm syndrome or traumatic bonding (Painter & Dutton, Patterns of emotional bonding in battered women: Traumatic bonding. International Journal of Women’s Studies, 8(4), 363–375, 1985) has been used in mainstream culture, legal, and some clinical settings to describe a hypothetical phenomenon of trauma survivors developing powerful emotional attachments to their abuser. It has frequently been used to explain the reported ‘positive bond’ between some kidnap victims and their captor's, although scarce empirical research has supported this assertion. It has been used in various situations where interpersonal violence and mind control are reported and where clear power differentials exist, such as in child sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and hostage situation scenarios.
Objective: We propose replacing Stockholm syndrome with ‘appeasement,’ a term that can be explained through a biopsychological model (i.e. Polyvagal Theory) to describe how survivors may appear emotionally connected with their perpetrators to effectively adapt to life-threatening situations by calming the perpetrator.
Conclusion: We believe the term appeasement will demystify the reported survivor experiences and will, in the eyes of the public, victims, and survivors, provide a science-based explanation for their narratives of survival that may initially appear to be contradictory. By understanding the potent reflexive neurobiological survival mechanisms embedded in appeasement, individuals and families can operationalise their survival from a perspective that supports resilience, a healthy long-term recovery, and normalises their coping responses as survival techniques.
... Some people have an understandably difficult time making sense of a situation in which the perpetrator treats them with both cruelty and kindness. A phenomenon like 'trauma bonding' (Reid et al. 2013) only makes sense if we recognize the ambivalence caused by the competing interactional and emotional cues that victims experience in light of the care provided to them by the perpetrators. In taking care in the context of crime seriously, we can expand and enrich our knowledge of the interactional and emotional dynamics at play in such crimes, as well as their consequences. ...
Care is not something that we typically associate with crime. In this paper, we challenge this idea by examining the case of ransom kidnappings by Somali pirates. To make this argument, first, we draw on existing social scientific research on care and care work to develop a theoretical account of caring actions that is consistent with an earlier scholarship while broadening its scope. We, then, draw on data from four memoirs written by former hostages to explore the various ways that Somali pirates provide care, as well as the reactions such caring behaviours induce in both the pirates and the hostages. We conclude by suggesting ways in which care may be examined in the context of other crimes.
... A few of the more exigent research questions include: 1) What are best practices for protecting victims from further exploitation given the complicated victim-offender dynamics? (Marcus et al., 2014;Reid, Haskell, Dillahunt-Aspillaga, & Thor, 2013) 2) What are the effects of new policies and legislation prohibiting the arrest of minors for prostitution in certain U.S. states? (Barnert, Abrams, Azzi, Ryan, Brook, & Chung, 2016) 3) Is it possible to reduce occurrences of sexual exploitation and trafficking by addressing demand? ...
The emergence of human trafficking as an international, national, and local crime prompted interest among criminology researchers in human trafficking and its intersections with the criminal justice system. This chapter aims to underscore research strategies employed by criminology researchers to gain greater understanding of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Over the past decade, researchers have conducted community and criminal justice assessments, interviewed hundreds of street youth entangled in criminal environments, and reviewed case records in order to expose the nature of the problem. Advancing beyond descriptive typologies, criminology researchers have employed multivariate analyses to investigate correlates and causes of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Unique contributions of criminology research include challenging societal illusions of the “ideal victim” and exposing complicated victim-offender dynamics that often impede police intervention and hinder prosecutions. Although considered a new subfield, criminology research on sexual exploitation and trafficked has produced research that has informed prevention, legislation, and policy.
... Similar to adults with ID, girls with ID may experience isolation and friendlessness making them easy targets for sex traffickers who befriend them and then exploit them in JST. The belief held by some girls with ID that traffickers were "boyfriends," and the girls' assertions that they were in love with their traffickers despite abusive treatment, reflects a commonly observed phenomena among JST victims that has been compared with trauma bonding that occurs in other types of exploitive and violent relationships (Parker & Skrmetti, 2013;Reid, Haskell, Dillahunt-Aspillaga, & Thor, 2013). ...
Few researchers have examined sex trafficking of girls with intellectual disabilities (IDs). Drawing from 54 juvenile sex trafficking (JST) cases, this exploratory, mixed methods study compared 15 JST cases involving girls with ID with 39 JST cases involving girls without ID. Findings revealed a disproportionate risk for exploitation in JST for girls with ID, endangering circumstances creating vulnerability among this population, as well as the perpetrator–victim dynamics that complicate prevention and intervention. Complicating dynamics included victim lack of awareness of exploitation and its endangerments, inability of victims to self-identify, and the relative ease with which traffickers manipulated these girls. The disproportionate risk faced by girls with ID substantiates the need for enhanced safeguards to prevent sexual exploitation of girls with ID including stiffer penalties for those who exploit and buy sex with youth with disabilities.
... Resemblances to other types of exploiterexploited relationships were noted. Indeed, all types of exploiters prey on vulnerability and disadvantage, asserting that their actions are benefiting their victims; moreover, exploited individuals often are persuaded that exploiters care for them (van der Kolk, McFarlane, and Weisaeth 1996;Reid et al. 2013). Expanded investigations into male victimization and female offending are critical to the continued evolution of theoretical orientations used for examinations of sex trafficking and emergent perspectives regarding power differentials grounded not just in sex differences but also disparities regarding age, race, and class. ...
Within the growing body of scholarly research focused on sex trafficking, the existence of male victims is not often acknowledged. Current understanding of sex trafficking overlooks exploitation of male victims by restricting the phenomenon to a single exploiter-exploited gender pattern, that of males exploiting females. This comparative review aims to broaden this construction by focusing on the small but emerging phenomenon of female sex tourism in Caribbean countries that features a transposed exploiter-exploited gender pattern. Results of the review describe female sex tourists and male sex workers as well as the dynamics of their liaisons and compare these with the more typical and exploitive depictions used by scholarly researchers to describe male sex tourism. In addition, existing theoretical orientations used to understand sex work and sex trafficking, specifically applied to sex tourism, are examined. Lastly, recommendations are presented urging advancement of scholarly research toward understanding the evolving dynamics of sex tourism in regard to gender, race, and class.
... The majority of research regarding risk factors for victimization in JST has underscored the vulnerability of exploited girls, noting that many have experienced child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and abandonment (e.g., Estes & Weiner, 2005; Reid, 2012 Reid, , 2014 Reid & Piquero, 2013; Tyler, Hoyt, Whitbeck, & Cauce, 2001). The colluding effects of a childhood marred by neglect and/or abuse coupled with the calculated exploitative methods of sex traffickers facilitate the creation of an emotional connection, or trauma bonding, between the traumatized minor and the exploitive trafficker (Parker & Skrmetti, 2013; Reid, Haskell, Dillahunt-Aspillaga, & Thor, 2013). Dutton and Painter (1993) hypothesized that two conditions are necessary for victim-abuser trauma bonding to occur: (1) a severe power imbalance causing the victim to feel increasingly helpless and vulnerable and (2) intermittent abuse that alternates with positive or neutral interactions. ...
Emerging research suggests that sex traffickers/pimps control the majority of
trafficked girls in the United States. The youthfulness of these victims and their lack
of psychosocial maturity severely diminish their ability to detect exploitative motives
or withstand manipulation of traffickers. A review of 43 cases of sexually exploited
girls involving non-relative traffickers and 10 semi-structured interviews with social
service providers revealed numerous scripts and schemes used by sex traffickers to
entrap and entangle victims including boyfriend/lover scripts, ruses involving debt
bondage, friendship or faux-family scripts, threats of forced abortion or to take away
children, and coerced co-offending. These findings inform potential prevention efforts
and highlight the need for multi-systemic, victim-centered approaches to intervention.
A violência sexual em contextos religiosos tem sido denunciada de forma mais recorrente, mas subsistem mitos e preconceitos que interferem na prática jurídica e na forma como as vítimas são assistidas, principalmente quando parecem não ter oferecido resistência a seus agressores ou demoram a relatar o estupro. Este artigo foi construído de modo a reunir e discutir dados que demonstrem a legitimidade das dificuldades de reação, sejam imediatas ou tardias, por parte de pessoas abusadas por seus líderes espirituais. São apresentados aspectos contextuais, neurobiológicos, entre outros, que traduzem a vulnerabilidade das fiéis e a improbabilidade de consentirem com o ato sexual nesses cenários. Tais elementos merecem ser cuidadosamente considerados por todos os profissionais que atuam nessa área.
A violência sexual em contextos religiosos tem sido denunciada de forma mais recorrente, mas subsistem mitos e preconceitos que interferem na prática jurídica e na forma como as vítimas são assistidas, principalmente quando parecem não ter oferecido resistência a seus agressores ou demoram a relatar o estupro. Este artigo foi construído de modo a reunir e discutir dados que demonstrem a legitimidade das dificuldades de reação, sejam imediatas ou tardias, por parte de pessoas abusadas por seus líderes espirituais. São apresentados aspectos contextuais, neurobiológicos, entre outros, que traduzem a vulnerabilidade das fiéis e a improbabilidade de consentirem com o ato sexual nesses cenários. Tais elementos merecem ser cuidadosamente considerados por todos os profissionais que atuam nessa área.
A legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, Brazil is home to the largest number of African descendants outside Africa and the greatest number of domestic workers in the world. Drawing on ten years of interviews and ethnographic research, the author examines the lives of marginalized informal domestic workers who are called 'adopted daughters' but who live in slave-like conditions in the homes of their adoptive families. She traces a nuanced and, at times, disturbing account of how adopted daughters, who are trapped in a system of racial, gender, and class oppression, live with the coexistence of extreme forms of exploitation and seemingly loving familial interactions and affective relationships. Highlighting the humanity of her respondents, Hordge-Freeman examines how filhas de criação (raised daughters) navigate the realities of their structural constraints and in the context of pervasive norms of morality, gratitude, and kinship. In all, the author clarifies the link between contemporary and colonial forms of exploitation, while highlighting the resistance and agency of informal domestic workers.
Child sex trafficking has become a pervasive problem across the world, with many of those engaging in sex trafficking using recruitment and maintenance tactics that are analogous to the concept of sexual grooming. In this chapter, we provide an overview of proposed models of the tactics used by sex traffickers to recruit and maintain the compliance of their victims. We then argue that there is significant overlap between these models and what is known about the sexual grooming of those seeking to commit child sexual abuse. The chapter then describes a recent model of sex trafficking—the Sexual Grooming Model-Child Sex Trafficking—that is based on prior models and empirical literature of tactics used by both sex traffickers and those who commit child sexual abuse. We provide concluding remarks about bridging the fields of sex trafficking and child sexual abuse, in order to adequately inform prevention, investigation, and treatment of sex trafficking cases.KeywordsSexual abuseSexual groomingSexual Grooming ModelSexual Grooming Model-Child Sex TraffickingSex traffickingRecruitmentMaintenanceManagementPersuasionEntrapmentCoercive controlEnmeshmentMethods of controlPimpModelVictim selectionGaining accessIsolationTrust developmentDesensitizationPost-abuse maintenance
We interviewed 854 people currently or recently in prostitution in 9 countries (Canada, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United States, and Zambia), inquiring about current and lifetime history of sexual and physical violence. We found that prostitution was multitraumatic: 71% were physically assaulted in prostitution; 63% were raped; 89% of these respondents wanted to escape prostitution, but did not have other options for survival. A total of 75% had been homeless at some point in their lives; 68% met criteria for PTSD. Severity of PTSD symptoms was strongly associated with the number of different types of lifetime sexual and physical violence.Our findings contradict common myths about prostitution: the assumption that street prostitution is the worst type of prostitution, that prostitution of men and boys is different from prostitution of women and girls, that most of those in prostitution freely consent to it, that most people are in prostitution because of drug addiction, that prostitution is qualitatively different from trafficking, and that legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution would decrease its harm.
Relativelyf ew women had extensive contact with additional services during a multisite evaluation of batterer intervention in four cities. At a 30-month follow-up, women were asked why they did not seek additional services (n = 278 of 618). The majority of the women (59%) indicated that they had no need for additional services from a battered women's program. The remaining women did not seek services because of negative views of battered women's programs (16%), practical barriers (12%), and other reasons (11%). More than half (56%) of the women who held negative views of women's programs based those views on prior experiences, as opposed to the remaining half (44%) who based their views on their perceptions only. The women responded in a similar way to a question about other kinds of social services. The most appropriate means and extent of outreach is uncertain, given the need to appreciate women's self-determination versus the possibility of denial.
The present study examines the violence and change in violence experienced by domestically sex trafficked women from their pimps since their recruitment. A total of 100 women who currently had a pimp were interviewed, and 71 indicated that they had been recruited into prostitution, many under conditions meeting the federal definition of trafficking. Violence and coercive control were measured at 2 different points for each woman and compared separately and together. On average, violence had increased since recruitment, and those women who experienced more forms of coercive control generally experienced higher levels of violence from their pimps. The majority of women experienced violence and coercion, thereby meeting federal sex trafficking definitions.
October 2002, 800 plus hostages were held for three days in a Moscow theater by suicide terrorists armed with bombs. The stand-off ended when Russian Special Forces gassed and stormed the theater. One hundred thirty of the hostages died. The authors - an American psychologist and colleagues from the Russian Academy of Sciences - began to collaborate soon after the event. This article reports on interviews with eleven hostages regarding their psychological responses to captivity including their expressions of Stockholm syndrome.
The empirical basis for the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome (CSAAS), a theoretical model that posits that sexually abused children frequently display secrecy, tentative disclosures, and retractions of abuse statements was reviewed. Two data sources were evaluated: retrospective studies of adults' reports of having been abused as children and concurrent or chart-review studies of children undergoing evaluation or treatment for sexual abuse. The evidence indicates that the majority of abused children do not reveal abuse during childhood. However, the evidence fails to support the notion that denials, tentative disclosures, and recantations characterize the disclosure patterns of children with validated histories of sexual abuse. These results are discussed in terms of their implications governing the admissibility of expert testimony on CSAAS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This is the first in a series of Issue Briefs produced under a contract with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), to conduct a study of HHS programs serving human trafficking victims. Funded in fall 2006, the purpose of this 12-month exploratory project is to develop information on how HHS programs are currently addressing the needs of victims of human trafficking, including domestic victims, with a priority focus on domestic youth. This project also consists of reviewing relevant literature, and identifying barriers and promising practices for addressing the needs of victims of human trafficking, with a goal of informing current and future program design and improving services to this extremely vulnerable population.
When The Body Bears the Burden made its debut in 2001, it changed the way people thought about trauma, PTSD, and the treatment of chronic stress disorders. Now in its third edition, this revered text offers a fully updated and revised analysis of the relationship between mind, body, and the processing of trauma. Here, clinicians will find detailed, thorough explorations of some of neurobiology’s fundamental tenets, the connections between mind, brain, and body, and the many and varied ways that symptoms of traumatic stress become visible to those who know to look for them.
While research has documented the harmful effects of domestic violence on women and children, little attention has been paid to the effects on women's ability to parent in this dangerous environment. This paper examines theoretical perspectives on the effects of domestic violence on parenting and proposes an ecologically-based model which can be used to inform research on parenting and treatment of battered mothers. Trauma theory and traumatic bonding are integrated into the ecological model of parenting in battered women.
The Hostage Identification Syndrome (HIS) is often referred to as blindly being in the hostage's favor. In fact, the relationship between captor and captive develops as a two-way interchange. It may be directed toward either of the participants. This article examines seven factors that influence the HIS: face-to-face contact, timing of violence, language, sophistication, cultural value structure, stereotypes, and time. Each factor is considered in terms of its role and contribution toward development or nondevelopment of the syndrome.
1. The Belief in a Just World.- 2. The First Experiment: The Effect of Fortuitous Reward.- 3. The Second Experiment: Observers' Reactions to the "Innocent Victim".- 4. The Third Experiment: The Martyred and Innocent Victims.- 5. Three Experiments That Assess the Effects of Sex and Educational Background of Observers, Experimenter and Observer Influence on One Another, and the Reactions of "Informed" and Nonimplicated Observers.- 6. Reactions to the Belief in a Just World Theory and Findings: The "Nay-Sayers".- 7. Condemning the Victimized.- 8. The Assignment of Blame.- 9. The Response to Victimization: Extreme Tests of the Belief in a Just World.- 10. Who Believes in a Just World: Dimension or Style.- 11. Deserving versus Justice.- References.
Edited by College at Brockport former faculty member Obi N.I. Ebbe, and Dilip K. Das.War, poverty, and famine; political, social, and economic change; and the deep seated views and rituals rooted in a culture's history and traditions all contribute to the widespread and growing trafficking of women and children. The multilayered complexity, myriad contributing factors, enormous amount of money involved, and sheer magnitude of the problem render it impossible to solve with the fractured and isolated measures of individual organizations and countries. Only complete cooperation and collaboration at all levels can establish the most proactive and self-sustaining approach to reduce this global crime. Gathering knowledge and experience from more than 40 countries, this book clearly demonstrates the scale and spread of the problem, providing a powerful analysis of the circumstances that contribute to the abuse and victimization of women and children as well as the international policies and strategies used to combat this crime. Divided into two parts, it begins with an introduction to the definition, nature, and scope of human trafficking. It discusses several social theories as well as evident environmental influences. It also examines measures to control and prevent human trafficking from stricter laws and monetary aid, to global community and law enforcement collaboration. Part 2 consists of case studies, drawing examples from a range of countries involved in every stage in the process, and highlighting the unique characteristics of human trafficking in each. Chapters include the prevalence of child pornography in Japan, child abduction in China, bonded child labor in India, and child soldiering in Congo (Zaire) and other African countries. The final chapters discuss law enforcement in the US and UK, community policing in Australia, and the cooperative national plan in place in Croatia.
I returned to the Minister's starting point that it could hardly be expected that I would agree with the decision not to try to bring about my release earlier but added that there now seemed no point to me in coming along uttering recriminations. I was free now and happy to be so. “But,” I added, “sitting alone in that room in Peking I very often felt very resentful towards yourself and Harold Wilson and in fact everybody who seemed to be doing nothing.” “I bet you did,” said Mr. Stewart quickly, in a manner that suggested he couldn't have agreed more. It was as if the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary was at least relieved that I had said what he might well have been expecting in a less friendly fashion. Anthony Grey
Since the 1973 event which led to the identification of a grouping of signs and symptoms labelled as the Stockholm Syndrome, the label has been used as a cover-all, shorthand device by journalists and (too many academics) seeking to simplify complex human behaviours. The bonding which occurs in some hostage incidents is reduced to friendship and many of the associated symptoms seen in the full syndrome are ignored.This article re-assesses the scientific basis for identification of a syndrome affecting hostages and their captors and provides a definition, based on experimental science, which may readily serve as an aid to hostage rescue teams, negotiators and their managers. Traditional explanations of the effect are based on weak or nonexistent scientific foundations and consequently have little or no predictive power. Using a formulation based on the experimental examinations of human behaviour (principally, but not exclusively, those of social psychology), the aetiology of the condition may be identified in such a way that it may be used by law enforcement and other officials to assess whether a hostage/captor effect is likely to occur. It is concluded that, for the hostage negotiator and associated professionals, knowledge and understanding of the structure of the model is essential in formulating strategy but also is crucial in ensuring the objectivity of law enforcement officials.
Much of the research on prostitution to date has focused on the risks of working on the streets. However, no research has described the recruitment process for street prostitution. This exploratory study describes some of the main techniques that pimps use to recruit children and women into the trade, including the pretense of love, threats of indebtedness, drug addiction, manipulation, and violence. In addition, social situations that leave women feeling that they have few alternatives to working on the streets are described.
There is an epidemic of Aboriginal youth gang violence in some parts of Canada today, and young Aboriginal gang members are killing each other and committing suicide at rates that exceed those of any other group in Canada. This paper provides an overview of the current situation, and describes five major pathways to violent gang involvement for Aboriginal youth. It then goes on to describe and critique the use of approaches that have been proven not to work. It argues for a shift to a public health approach that addresses the pathways to gang violence, and describes some evidence-based models that have been proven to work. The conclusion is that a failure to act now will result in things getting much worse very shortly since the Aboriginal birth rate is exploding and the population at risk in many areas will double within the next decade.
With the approach of the new millennium there was increased activity within many of the new cultic movements. Many of these organizations promise a future paradise on earth, and can be identified as millenarian cults. Others predicted the end of the world with the focus for this event being the new millennium, the beginning of which is mutable, some claiming it for the year 2000 others the year 2001. The date for the end of the world can by quite idiosyncratic. It was, for instance, believed by the Movement for the Restoration of the Twelve Commandments to be due in March 2000, when over 1000 members of this particular Ugandan cult lost their lives, many through strangulation. The death toll was a stark demonstration of what appears to be some form of extreme control exercised within such groups. It has been estimated that there are between 500 and 800 different cults active in the United Kingdom with membership ranging from under ten people to thousands. This activity indicates that counselling psychologists need to be aware of the problem of the psychological damage with which some members or ex-members of cults continue to present and of the techniques of control practised within the cult and the effect that these techniques have on members. These types of techniques and the resultant negative psychological consequences are the focus of this paper. This paper aims to begin to educate counselling psychologists in the techniques used within cults which effect social control. It intends to equip counselling psychologists to work with a group of clients, that they will meet on an increasing basis as the new millennium, whatever date is allocated to it, approaches and passes. That is if heaven on earth or the earth's destruction does not materialize.
This paper reviews the evidence for the existence of a complex form of post-traumatic disorder in survivors of prolonged, repeated trauma. This syndrome is currently under consideration for inclusion in DSM-IV under the name of DESNOS (Disorders of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified). The current diagnostic formulation of PTSD derives primarily from observations of survivors of relatively circumscribed traumatic events. This formulation fails to capture the protean sequelae of prolonged, repeated trauma. In contrast to a single traumatic event, prolonged, repeated trauma can occur only where the victim is in a state of captivity, under the control of the perpetrator. The psychological impact of subordination to coercive control has many common features, whether it occurs within the public sphere of politics or within the private sphere of sexual and domestic relations.
Child soldiers are generally portrayed either as victims of structural forces that are beyond their control and comprehension or as knowing agents of mayhem in search of revolutionary change or personal gain. Yet these singular perspectives are bedevilled by their dialectical limitations, the one overlooking capacities of individual will, the other prone to discounting historical and socioeconomic contexts. In this paper, through the lens of structuration theory that postulates the interconnectedness of structure and agency, we examine how boys were transformed into armed and organized combatants in Sierra Leone's recent civil war. Drawing from a series of interviews with a cohort of boys who fought with the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), we map out their experiences and perspectives in a way that highlights the juxtaposition of profound social forces and the capacity for personal agency that underlay the process of becoming child soldiers. We conclude by ruminating on the challenges of rehabilitating and reintegrating former child soldiers in the impoverished circumstances of post-war Sierra Leone.
This analysis explores the extent and characteristics of human trafficking in Columbus and Toledo, Ohio, including the response to the problem by law enforcement agencies. Through a content analysis of newspaper accounts and interviews with criminal justice officials and social service providers in each city, the authors identified 10 cases of juvenile sex trafficking and forced prostitution in Toledo and 5 cases of trafficking for the forced labor of noncitizens in Columbus. The offenders and victims involved in the sex trafficking cases were largely from the local area, whereas those involved in the labor trafficking cases primarily involved foreign nationals, thereby illustrating at least one role the heartland plays in transnational crime. The authors compare the different responses to human trafficking in the two cities and suggest how to raise awareness about human trafficking and improve the responses of law enforcement agencies to the problem.
Critical psychological, systemic, and legislative barriers to the successful prosecution of child sex traffickers who exploit U.S. citizens were uncovered during a rapid assessment conducted in a U.S. metropolitan region considered a high intensity child prostitution area. Information obtained during 34 face-to-face interviews with criminal justice professionals most likely to encounter child sex trafficking victims was supported by the collection of supplementary quantitative data. Findings revealed complex psychological factors that deter victim participation in prosecutions of traffickers such as child victims’ denial of exploitation, trauma bonding between victims and traffickers, and frequent flight and revictimization. Existing inadequacies within the criminal justice system were found that may contribute to child sex trafficking persisting as a low risk/high reward crime.
The status of research on human trafficking has been characterized as methodologically inadequate and lacking sufficient theoretical framework necessary for solution development. This review of sex trafficking in North America examined prior research regarding victim vulnerabilities through the theoretical lens of life course theory endeavoring to uncover life course dynamics resulting in exploitation in sex trafficking distinguishable by victim type. Shared and distinct life course dynamics emerged based on victim origin and route, gender, and age of onset that corresponded to the key components of Sampson and Laub’s age-graded theory of informal social control. Indicators of harmful informal social control processes during childhood and adolescence were common across internationally and domestically trafficked boys and girls, with a desire for acceptance and love commonly exacerbating initial entrapment. Limited social capital typified victims experiencing initial exploitation during young adulthood, with internationally trafficked victims uniquely isolated due to citizenship status and language or cultural barriers. Through the application of life course theory, a more complete understanding of the dynamics affecting vulnerability to exploitation in sex trafficking can be gained, providing enhanced information regarding plausible strategies for prevention and intervention.
Stockholm Syndrome is a paradoxical psychological experience which both intrigues and often frustrates law enforcement and mental health professionals alike. Much attention has been directed toward understanding and defining the contextual variables associated with the development of Stockholm Syndrome. Since it appears that the formation of Stockholm Syndrome may increase the likelihood of hostage survival, discerning the factors that may encourage its occurrence is a priority for crisis negotiators. The purpose of this paper is to (1) analyze crisis situations using actual case examples in which evidence of Stockholm Syndrome has been reported and (2) examine the variables associated with the development of this phenomenon. Case information was obtained from the Hostage Barricade Database System (HOBAS) of the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit. Results of this analysis conclude that some, but not all, factors previously hypothesized as requisite to the development of Stockholm Syndrome find additional support from this case analysis.
Knowledge about the etiology of chemical dependence is incomplete. This study examined how homeless African American women who have been professionally assessed and who self‐report to be dependent on alcohol and other drugs make sense of their becoming chemically dependent. The data were analyzed using phenomenological analysis procedures. The results show that interviewees perceived childhood physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and neglect to be among the biopsychosocial antecedents to their becoming chemically dependent. Results have implications for theoretical understanding of the origins of chemical dependence within the context of childhood development of women represented in this study.
A general awareness of destructive cults is increasing with a number of groups self-destructing in recent years. What is generally less well known is the phenomenon of smaller, but no less destructive groups that are found in society. From the author's experience, few health professionals are knowledgable about cult dynamics and the variegated approach needed to address the therapeutic concerns of those who leave such groups. This paper will highlight some of the difficulties for the individual who leaves an abusive group, and will offer guidelines for the social worker who attempts to understand the needs of the ex-cultist. It will briefly outline some of the thought reforming processes that an individual can undergo in certain groups, and explore various facets of assessment and intervention.
Presents an animal model of how learned helplessness may manifest itself as depression and anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Presents arguments that the American Counseling Association (ACA) ethical guidelines represents a culturally biased perspective that minimalizes the importance of worldviews of ethnocultural minorities. The author presents examples of cultural encapsulation in the ACA ethical guidelines and explores the dangers of encouraging counselors to depend on their own self-reference criteria in evaluating their own ethical behavior. Ways in which the ethical guidelines favor cultural values of the individualistic dominant culture are documented. Positive recommendations for developing more inclusionary ethical guidelines are discussed on the basis of case examples and the consequences of good or bad ethical practice. The need to make underlying philosophical and cultural assumptions explicit in the Preamble to the code of ethics is clarified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)