Responding to Human Trafficking

Peters organises her analysis of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) (2000) into three sections: the law ‘on the books,’ ‘in the mind,’ and ‘in action.’ By arranging her research in this way, she is able to effectively tease out the difficulties faced by individuals involved in both the prosecution of traffickers and the support and protection of victims―difficulties which have arisen in part due to conflicts of interest that occurred during the drafting of the laws. The TVPA, she shows, has a tiered structure involving three dichotomous elements. The challenges created by these three elements underpin her arguments throughout the book.