This study addresses gaps in knowledge about how survivors and stakeholders perceive justice in cases of human trafficking and the potential of alternative models of justice, including procedural, restorative, and transitional justice, to enhance survivors’ experiences and the outcomes of their trafficking cases. Most survivors did not endorse traditional forms of retributive justice for their traffickers, such as incarceration, and instead felt justice could be best achieved through prevention. Survivors’ perceptions of justice for themselves included the ability to move on from the trafficking experience and find autonomy and empowerment through achieving self-defined goals. Survivors and stakeholders both expressed concern with the justice system’s ability to help survivors achieve their desired outcomes; however, survivors and social service providers did find promise in alternative forms of justice to achieve individualized goals. This study relies on semi- structured interview data collected with 80 survivors and 100 social service and criminal justice stakeholders across eight diverse sites in the United States. Findings offer the most comprehensive understanding of survivor experiences with social service providers and criminal justice stakeholders and criminal justice processes to date.
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