Characteristics of Victims of Trafficking in Persons and Determinants of Police Reports of Victims in ASEAN Countries

Trafficking in persons is a complicated crime with various characteristics of criminals, victims, and law enforcement. Scholars and practitioners addressing the subject of trafficking in persons must consider specific characteristics of traffickers, vulnerability of victims, and their unique relationships with authority. Additionally, there is an urgent necessity to investigate determinants of police reports of victims because most victims of trafficking are fearful of filing a report. This article explores and analyses characteristics of victims of trafficking in persons and willingness of filing a police report about their victimization in ASEAN countries. By using 128 trafficking data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), this study examines which characteristics of victims have increased their vulnerability to trafficking and how key elements of trafficking including protective factors and risk factors are associated with attitudes of police filing reports of victims in ASEAN countries. Results based on descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis demonstrated that approximately 50% percent of victims were younger than age 20 and there is a statistical relationship between family recognition of initial contact with traffickers and police report behaviour. Logistic regression analysis revealed that family awareness was a statistically significant factor associated with police report behaviour. Further policy implications concerning effective strategies for encouraging victims to report their criminal victimization of trafficking will be discussed.

Keywords –ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations), Police reports, Protective factors, Risk factors, Trafficking in person