Evaluation of the Enhanced Collaborative Model to Combat Human Trafficking

Both the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) provide funding for the Enhanced Collaborative Model (ECM); the ECM include task forces responsible for identifying and assisting victims of sex and labor trafficking, and investigating and prosecuting of human trafficking cases in the communities that they serve. The study will examine differences across task forces in terms of their size, scope, organization, leadership structure, specialized investigative units, and other characteristics to determine which features contribute to task force effectiveness and lead to successful outcomes. The goals of this project include: employ a multi-method approach to assess the impact of the ECM in identifying and assisting human trafficking victims and investigating and prosecuting those crimes; the second goal of the project is to analyze differences in various task force implementation models to understand which model and which particular features contribute to the most successful outcomes. There are three main research questions that will guide this study: 1) what is the impact of the ECM on addressing human trafficking (in terms of sex and labor trafficking victims identified and assisted, and cases investigated and prosecuted); 2) what types of ECMs perform well and why; which elements are associated with effective and well-functioning task forces; 3) what characteristics of human trafficking predict successful case outcomes?

“Note: this project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law, “ and complies with Part 200, Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR, 200.210 (a) (14). CA/NCF