Literature review on Human Trafficking

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Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is an immensely emotional issue in the 21st century with various scholars attempting to illuminate on the authority of statistics released by different governmental bodies all over the globe. Some of these sources agree that the statistics are minimally relevant due to the nature of constraints in the assemblage and treatment of data on the practice while on the other hand others assume a policy-making approach in identifying the solutions.
Different authors have attempted to ascertain the magnitude of the problem of human trafficking and several agree that the statistics provided by different agents are not credible. “With human trafficking, as with drug and arms trafficking and other illicit global enterprises, “the numbers are often highly suspect but popularized and rarely critically scrutinized” (Weitzer 9). This statement indicates that lack of scrutiny of the figures on human trafficking jeopardizes their reliability; therefore, they can inflate or lower the actual values.
“When examined closely by researchers, most estimates were deemed, at best, approximations and guesstimates or, worse, fictitious” (Timoshkina 411). Here, the author attempts to show that the difference in data collection methodologies on the international scale, results in data that cannot be relied upon to make the needed critical decisions. “The collection of international statistics on crime is challenging due to varying legal definitions, reporting patterns and recording practices”(Vries & Corinne 2).

The authors argue that the different countries and different approaches in gathering and analyzing statistics on human trafficking which negatively affect the authority of global figures.
Differently, Wooditch argues that although it is challenging to come up with a universal and implementable tracking solution to human trafficking, it is possible to provide valuable statistics worldwide that can be used to curb the rate of human trafficking. The inhibition of human trafficking requires that nations to cease from localizing measures to curb the practice, but they should focus on developing globally acceptable policies that can be adopted by other governments (Wooditch 473). “Unless data is collected in proper uniform manner across the regions, countries, locally, nationally, and internationally it cannot be considered to be reliable” (Mishra 278). In this statement, the Mishra echoes the sentiments of the other scholars that the difference in data collection strategies employed by different countries taints the credibility of the ensuing statistics. The authors mutually settle that battling human trafficking rely on reliable data which will aid in establishing the magnitude and the dimensions of this illegal practice.

Works Cited
De Vries, Leke, and Corinne Dettmeijer-Vermeulen. “Extremely Wanted: Human Trafficking Statistics–What To Do With The Hodgepodge Of Numbers?” Forum on Crime & Society. Vol. 8. 2015.
Mishra, Veerendra. Combating human trafficking: Gaps in policy and law. SAGE Publications India, 2015.
Timoshkina, Natalya. “Human Trafficking: Assumptions, Evidence, Responses.” International Journal of Arts & Sciences 7.04 (2014): 409-421.
Weitzer, Ronald. “New directions in research on human trafficking.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 653.1 (2014): 6-24.
Wooditch, Alese. The Efficacy Of The Trafficking In Persons Report: A Review Of The Evidence. 2nd ed., Sagepub.Com, 2014, pp. 470-473, www.researchgate.net/publication/254082773_The_Efficacy_of_the_Trafficking_in_Persons_Report_A_Review_of_the_Evidence/. Accessed 27 Oct 2018.