Cari Herthel, Consultant, Ron Kalemba, Consultant, Jenna Bruce, Cast, Nagwa Ibrahim, Cast, and Ethan Levine, Cast. Cast Practitioner Resource. (2024)
Forced criminality, also referred to as criminal exploitation, occurs when traffickers force survivors to engage in illegal activities. This includes, but is not limited to, circumstances in which survivors are forced to use, cultivate, transport, or sell illegal drugs; to commit theft; to commit identity theft; to commit assault or battery; or to engage in criminalized forms of sex work. Although the U.S. Department of State has recognized that “victims of trafficking should not be held liable for their involvement in unlawful activities that are a direct consequence of their victimization,” trafficking survivors who experience forced criminality are nonetheless often misidentified and treated as offenders within the criminal legal system.
