Do many traffickers get caught and convicted?
The number of convictions is increasing, but unfortunately not proportionately to the growing awareness and extent of the problem. There are several likely reasons for the low number of convictions of human traffickers. One of the reasons is the absence of anti-trafficking legislation in some countries. Alternatively, there may be legislation addressing human trafficking but law enforcement officials and prosecutors might not be properly trained to utilize it. Sometimes situations of human trafficking are mistaken for situations of migrant smuggling; this can result in inappropriate and inadequate sentences applied to crimes. Another potential obstacle to securing convictions may also be corruption. Further to this, sometimes prosecutions are not successful because of the unwillingness of victims to cooperate with the criminal justice system where they have been threatened and intimidated by traffickers.
