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Trafficked Women in Prison: The Problem of Double Victimisation

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Abstract

The international policy currently adopted to combat the growing phenomenon of trafficking in human beings (THB) is victim centred. The policy intends to fully address this phenomenon, focusing on victim protection as well as preventing and criminalising such conduct. In Spain, efforts are underway to achieve internationally established standards. However, the research we present here shows how much work remains to be done, particularly in trafficking cases that are less well known, such as trafficking for exploiting victims in criminal activities. Our research aimed to better understand the processes of trafficking for criminal exploitation and to determine whether the criminal justice system is prepared to detect and protect victims of such processes. The qualitative study we developed investigates cases of 45 migrant women held in two Spanish prisons and evidences that there are individuals victimised in the highest degree. At least ten respondents had been victims of trafficking, and not only were they not identified as such by legal authorities, they were also imprisoned for a crime that their traffickers forced them to commit.

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Notes

  1. The latter integrates the mens rea of trafficking itself, as the effective exploitation of the victim is not required in order to understand that the trafficking act is perfected

  2. Referring to the prosecution of the conduct of trafficking, the offence of trafficking in human beings is included in the 2010 Spanish Penal Code, in Art. 177 bis CP, with a minimum sentence of 5–8 years in prison. Immigration regulations were also amended in 2009, including, besides the need to identify victims, a recovery and reflection period of up to 30 days for victims of trafficking and the possibility of granting a residence permit for exceptional circumstances of up to 5 years. Politically speaking, the former socialist government adopted some mechanisms to protect victims of trafficking. Thus, a comprehensive plan was adopted to combat human trafficking for the 2009–2011 period, which was aimed solely at victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation. On 25 October 2011, the Protocol Framework to Protect Victims of Human Trafficking was adopted, protecting victims of any type of trafficking, which emphasised the need for identification.

  3. In fact, application of these mitigating circumstances would fulfil the function that is currently entrusted to the personal clause for lifting the penalty in Article 177 bis.11 of the Spanish Penal Code for crimes committed by the victim as a result of the exploitation suffered. This clause was introduced in the Reform of the Spanish Criminal Code in 2011 and can therefore be applied to cases tried after its entry into force.

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Correspondence to Carolina Villacampa.

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Villacampa, C., Torres, N. Trafficked Women in Prison: The Problem of Double Victimisation. Eur J Crim Policy Res 21, 99–115 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-014-9240-z

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