Reframing Human Trafficking: From a Criminal Justice Problem to a Social Justice Issue

Laws addressing human trafficking have been passed in all 50 U.S. states as well as at the federal level. Although laws serve an important function in establishing social norms against a behavior, they can also create a belief that it is the responsibility of law enforcement to curb that behavior. Law enforcement and other actors in the criminal justice system have a critical role to play in addressing the problem of human trafficking, but this is not a problem that they can solve alone. A multipronged strategy engaging the fields of public health, medicine, social work, and criminal justice as well as the general public would be more effective in successfully identifying and responding to instances of human trafficking. Implications of the misperception that human trafficking is a criminal justice issue are discussed

Introduction to the Issue on Organizational Partnerships

Issue editors Russell Wolff, M.S. and Rebecca Pfeffer, Ph.D. introduce volume 16, Issue 2: Organizational Partnerships: How Collaboration Strengthens Families and Communities

Voices from the Field: From “Lesbian Activist” to Beloved Mayor of Houston: A Conversation with Annise Parker

Rebecca Pfeffer and Robert Sanborn interview former Houston Mayor Annise Parker

Women and men receive different punishments for their involvement in the same crime: prostitution

In a new study of nearly 23,000 people who had been arrested only once, and for prostitution, Rebecca Pfeffer finds significant disparities in how men and women had been treated. Men, who tend to be the buyers, were less likely to be arrested compared to women, and were also less likely to be given a jail sentence. The way in which prostitution laws are enforced, she writes, disproportionately harms women and raises questions about the concept of all being equal before the law

Risk and Protective Factors for the Safety of Children with Autism: A Qualitative Study of Caregivers’ Perspectives

As of 2014, it is estimated that 1 in 68 children born in the United States will be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research finds that children with ASDs are victimized at disproportionately high rates compared to their typically-developing peers. Utilizing survey data from a national sample of parents of children with ASDs (n=262) and in-depth semi-structured follow up interviews with a fraction of these participants (n=40), this study indicates that there are potential risk and protective factors in a range of dimensions that may impact the likelihood of victimization among children with autism. Many factors reflected what has been found in the broader literature examining the vulnerability of people with disabilities to interpersonal crime (i.e. reliance on caretakers). However, this study also identifies factors that may be specific to individuals with autism, such as deficits in social understanding and verbal barriers that may prohibit the self-reporting of victimization

Hidden but not Forgotten: The Importance of Including Understudied Populations in Research

This volume focuses on the importance of including understudied or underserved populations in empirical research.For many reasons, there are groups of people whose experiences are systematically excluded from contemporary research in many fields; including education, criminal justice, public health, medicine, and the social sciences, to name but a few. Explanations abound as to why these groups are not represented in empirical research and range from individual to institutional barriers

Developing Understandings of Collaborative Partnerships Between University and Community

University faculty define collaborative partnerships with the community and examine how collaborative partnerships engender community-based research and the learning process of students in the College of Public Service. Considerations include how students are acculturated, specific benefits to learning, unanticipated benefits, and the unexpected challenges of collaborative partnerships between a university and a community

Si Votan: Texas Latino Politicians Perspectives on Engaging Latino Voters in the Electoral Process

Drs. Pfeffer and Sanborn (JFS) conducted interviews with Texas politicians Adrian Garcia, former Houston City Councilmember and Sheriff of Harris County, Texas, and Texas State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr., to discuss the role that Latino voters play in the electoral process on both the state and national scale. Interviews have been edited for clarity

Supermassive black holes in UCDs formed from the nuclei of disrupted galaxies

We use the hydrodynamic EAGLE simulation to predict the numbers and masses of supermassive black holes in stripped nuclei and compare these to confirmed measurements of black holes in observed UCDs. We find that black holes in stripped nuclei are consistent with the numbers and masses of those in observed UCDs. Approximately 50 per cent of stripped nuclei with $M > 2 \times 10^6 M_\odot$ should contain supermassive black holes. We further calculate a mass elevation ratio, $\Psi$ of the population of simulated stripped nuclei of $\Psi_{sim} = 1.51^{+0.06}_{-0.04}$ for $M > 10^7 M_\odot$ stripped nuclei, consistent with that of observed UCDs which have $\Psi_{obs} = 1.7 \pm 0.2$ above $M > 10^7 M_\odot$. We also find that the mass elevation ratios of stripped nuclei with supermassive black holes can explain the observed number of UCDs with elevated mass-to-light ratios. Finally, we predict the relative number of massive black holes in stripped nuclei and galaxy nuclei and find that stripped nuclei should increase the number of black holes in galaxy clusters by 30-100 per cent, depending on the black hole occupation fraction of low-mass galaxies. We conclude that the population of supermassive black holes in UCDs represents a large and unaccounted-for portion of supermassive black holes in galaxy clusters.Comment: 14 pages, Submitted to MNRA

Understanding the Organization, Operation, and Victimization Process of Labor Trafficking in the United States

This study examines the organization, operation, and victimization process of labor trafficking across multiple industries in the United States. It examines labor trafficking victim abuse and exploitation along a continuum, from victims' recruitment for work in the United States; through their migration experiences (if any), employment victimization experiences, and efforts to seek help; to their ultimate escape and receipt of services. Data for this study came from a sample of 122 closed labor trafficking victim service records from service providers in four US cities. In addition, interviews were conducted with labor trafficking survivors, local and federal law enforcement officials, legal advocates, and service providers in each site to better understand the labor trafficking victimization experience, the networks involved in labor trafficking and the escape and removal process, and the barriers to investigation and prosecution of labor trafficking cases