Human Trafficking Research Lab @Millikin

We had Millikin homecoming last weekend and the Human Trafficking Research Lab participated in the Homecoming Makers Market sponsored by Millikin's Women in Business student organization. The market was on the quad and lots of alumni, students, community members and staff stopped by to chat about our work and get some coveted fair trade chocolate. I also sold a bunch of bath bombs, buttons, and keychains and raised money to support student research assistant salaries in the lab. The candles had a lot of competition at the market and it was interesting to see what other sellers had and how they displayed their items. I also got some ideas to make magnets and possibly t-shirts in the future. Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by to support the Human Trafficking Research Lab and learn more about our work!

Since our DOJ grant ended last year I have been looking for more sources to revenue to continue funding student research assistants in the Human Trafficking Research Lab. First, I made bags and then I made key chains and over the weekend I made some glass cabochons buttons. We will have a table at the Millikin Maker's Market on the Saturday of Homecoming from 10:00-2:00 sponsored by the Women in Business student organization.  I also thought it might be a good opportunity to start selling some small items (bath bombs, lotion and candles) from Freedom Studios a small business which helps survivors of human trafficking rehabilitate and heal through meaningful employment. After learning abut them at the Liberator Awards, I wanted to see if the lab could sell some of their products with proceeds going to help my students research human trafficking. Every product that they make is created in their studio and made by a survivor. Their mission is to give survivors the keys to unlock a new...

Today I attended an interesting training webinar from Freedom Network USA on criminal record relief. Many of the students who work in my Human Trafficking Research Lab become lawyers and so I was interested in learning more about how we can do this for survivors in our community! I learned more about older laws on human trafficking that still on the books including The Mann Act (White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910 of its official title An Act to further regulate interstate and foreign commerce by prohibiting the transportation therein for immoral purposes of women and girls, and for other purposes) which criminalizes transporting women for prostitution or immoral purposes, using interstate or foreign commerce (named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois who introduced the bill in the House of Representatives). They also spoke about the differences between vacatur laws, sealing records, and expungement laws. It was interesting to see the differences across the US on Post-Convictio...

Since the Enhanced Collaborative Model (ECM) Task Force to Combat Human Trafficking funding ended in October 2024 there have been questions as to whether the Central Illinois Human Trafficking Task Force would continue. Several key players had people move on to different positions and so I was really debating if we should continue the task force. I met with colleagues at the Legal Aid Society office in Decatur and we agreed to continue the task force with Millikin and the lab organizing the agendas and minutes from the meeting and then Legal Aid Society would run the meetings. Then in early September we sent out a survey to members to ask if they wanted to bring the task force back together and the response was an overwhelming yes. So now we are working on the results and preparing for our next meeting in November. I think there are a lot of expectations on what the task force should do so we are going to have to bring those in line with a largely volunteer task force but I am hoping w...

I am teaching my human trafficking class again and so our first assignment was participating in the Red Sand Project on campus and around town. I first learned about this all the way back in 2015 in Atlanta when I participated in human trafficking workshop geared towards college students at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta The Red Sand Project is a participatory artwork created by Molly Gochman that uses sidewalk interventions and earthwork installations to create opportunities for people to question, connect and take action against vulnerabilities that can lead to human trafficking, modern slavery, and exploitation . Every time I teach my human trafficking I use this project as a starting off point to critically discuss human trafficking awareness projects and what we can do to improve them. So if you see some red sand around campus that is from my students. Here are a few of my favorite photos from students in my class this year from around Millikin!

Big human trafficking policy news in Illinois! Governor Pritzker signed the Illinois Statewide Trauma-Informed Response Human Trafficking Act into law last week with several other bills. This law  focuses on improving prevention and intervention efforts while and establishing standards for survivor support services within several state agencies ( Illinois State Police, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL), Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ), Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board (ILETSB), Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs), the Office of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, the Illinois Secretary of State, and other stakeholders ).  Part of the law requires the development of a single statewide plan to identify and respond to survivors and we have already been working on that all summer as part o...

July 30 is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. It is a day proclaimed in 2013 by the United Nations General Assembly in resolution A/RES/68/192. The day aims to “raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.” We usually post something on the HTRL blog today about our work in recognition of this day but this year with all of the discussions on human traffickers in the media and budget cuts to the trafficking work around the world I have felt nothing but dread and apprehension about the future of the movement. The United States has been the leader in the anti-trafficking movement and has made counter trafficking a policy priority since the bi-partisan adoption of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, devoting resources and chronicling progress and setbacks around the world through the Trafficking in Persons Report. As I wrote about in a previous article the TVPA built the foundation for traffi...

I was asked to present my research project "Identifying Potential Human Trafficking Recruitment during Humanitarian Disasters and Russia’s War in Ukraine" with colleagues from Worcester Polytechnic Institute while I am here in Regensburg as a Visiting Fellow at the The Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS). The event was sponsored by the Leibniz Science Campus Regensburg, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS), Regensburg, University of Regensburg, “Denkraum Ukraine” / “Think Space Ukraine” funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) with funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA). We only had a week to put the event together but I had a great turnout and discussion on our research project. I explored some preliminary findings from our dataset on online recruitment technologies during the first 1.5 years of the war consisting of: 482,000 collected and cleaned online posts from Telegram channels Interview data from Uk...

I found out a few weeks ago that the Illinois State Police (ISP) Division of Criminal Investigation Trafficking Enforcement Bureau was moving to Decatur. This is great news for our city because it means the main labor trafficking organization in the Illinois the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services has an office is located in Decatur, the state's only research entity focused on human trafficking is here (the Human Trafficking Research Lab), and and now the main policing entity will also be based in Decatur. ISP also recently announced that a multiagency task force is being formed to combat human trafficking in Central Illinois and will base its operations in Decatur. The Illinois Trafficking Enforcement Group, will be led by the Illinois State Police and include the Decatur Police Department and the McLean County Sheriff's Office as partnering organizations. This group was approved by the The Decatur City Council sand you can read more about it in this story from t...

Starting my month long visiting fellow residency at IOS at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies/Leibniz-Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (IOS) in Regensburg Germany. I will be working on our NSF funded research project on human trafficking recruitment in Ukraine during Russia's war. The Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) is one of the largest and most traditional non-university research institutions of its kind in Germany—it dates back to 1930. I am looking forward to lots of data analysis, networking, and having the opportunity to use the amazing library here. I found out they only choose 15 fellows a year so it is an honor to be here and the first time I have ever lived in the western part of Europe. 

I attended my first RUTA Association for Central, South-Eastern, and Eastern European, Baltic, Caucasus, Central and Northern Asia Studies in Global Conversation conference in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. It was a wonderful conference focusing on anti-imperialism and the influence of colonialism around the world. I heard speakers from Syria, Palestine, Chechnya, Africa and it was amazing to meet them all in Ukraine and show solidarity with Ukrainians as they continue their battle with Russian imperialism. I presented on the panel "Visions for anti-trafficking, empowering and healing" with other Ukrainian scholars. Here is a picture one of the organizers took of me presenting in the archeology museum of  Uzhhorod National University. I also loved the inclusion of different art mediums at the RUTA Conference. Everyday during lunch they hosted "The Tent of Resilience: A Participatory Art Intervention" immersive installation. I had a wonderful motanka workshop with a master from ...

Summer is usually a slower time at Millikin, when most students and faculty are off campus. A spot opened up on the WSOY Radio with Byers and Co and since Maggie was going to be in town for basketball camps we went and talked about our work on the Joint Human Trafficking Working Group. The main goal of the group was to facilitate legislation to improve and coordinate a response and as a result the Illinois Statewide Trauma-Informed Response to Human Trafficking Act was passed by both the Illinois Senate and House in May and is awaiting Governor Pritzker's signature. As a scholar of human trafficking policy it was interesting to be in the inner circle formulating policy and trying to improve services for victims and survivors. Here is a link to the interview if you would like to listen .  

The Human Trafficking Research Lab at Millikin invited to be a member of the Human Trafficking Working Group sponsored by the Illinois Human Services Department in 2024. This group was tasked with working on legislation SB2323 Illinois Statewide Trauma-Informed Response to Human Trafficking Act. We lobbied and filled out witness slips for the house and senate bills and the Governor will sign this bill into law in summer 2025. We were proud to serve on the statewide working group that wrote this legislation and our research is featured in this WAND News story ! Great news for survivors seeking justice in Illinois!

Continuing my work within the Human Trafficking Research Lab has deepened my understanding of the issue and helped me recognize the essential skills and empathy required for this kind of work. Before joining the lab, I had a limited view of what human trafficking really entailed. Through hands-on research and survivor narratives, I’ve come to understand both the complexity of the crime and the shortcomings in how our legal system identifies and addresses it. Human trafficking might seem easy to define as it typically falls under one or more of three main elements: force, fraud, or coercion but simply knowing a crime occurred and actually proving a crime occurred are two different things. Through the stories shared by survivors and the patterns I studied within the lab, I've learned instances which involved human trafficking. The justice system has often struggled to name and prosecute trafficking for what it is. As a result traffickers are usually charged with a lesser offense that...

As I finish my Criminal Justice practicum in the Human Trafficking Research Lab, I have come to realize that human trafficking labs have a big impact on crime research and development. I realized from analyzing in Champaign County the data is that it can be complicated to identify possible trafficking cases however there where cases from 2017 of different forms of exploitation and solicitation. I also had to make possible conclusions of certain cases of possible trafficking, where these cases had a child unlawfully restrained and sexual abuse in these cases. This demonstrated that children are possible being restrained for exploitation which could be considered human trafficking. I am thankful for the opportunity to do research in the lab this semester. Devin Top

This semester in the Human Trafficking Research Lab has been busy. Earlier in the year, I attended a panel discussion on human trafficking and how police tackle the challenges and developments that they come across. I was representing the lab and informing people about the work that we do at Millikin. There were several police officers present as well as FBI agents who answered questions from Dr. Dean and students who came to watch. They talked about the implications of the new policies put into place by the Trump administration, and spoke on their experiences with fighting human trafficking.  Throughout the semester, we met in the human trafficking lab to discuss our work that we have done with data collection. We also learned from Dr. Dean about students who came before us, and the work that they did with the lab. The meetings were productive, and they taught me more about who supports the work we do. We met once every two weeks, and the meetings were small in size so that we cou...

I was at Cambridge University for the Conference on Baltic Studies in Europe las week and was able to visit a the Fitzwilliam Museum and their special exhibit Rise Up: Resistance, Revolution, and Abolition. The exhibit was really well done and I learned about slavery from the context of the United Kingdom especially in their colonies in the Caribbean and Africa. I also learned about abolitionist Olaudah Equiano who seemed similar to Fedrick Douglas from the American context as a formally enslaved person who write and spoke about their experiences. The exhibit also talked about the museum's connections to slavery which I felt was very appropriate in coming to terms with their colonial past.  I plan to use some of what I learned in my fall Human Trafficking class and am thankful for the opportunity to learn new things about the international abolition movement.

This semester I have been completing my criminal justice practicum at the Human Trafficking Research Lab examining cases from Champaign county in 2018 and 2017 in the court case database Clericus Magnus and in the local media. During my research I have found several cases of grooming which can meet the definition of human trafficking. In 2018 there was a case of a man convicted of both sexual offenses and grooming which means that alleged trafficker was attempting to persuade someone to do things against their will. Groomers commonly use social media and technology. Another case from 2018 that I located I found that the perpetrator was found guilty of soliciting a sexual act, as well as harassment through electronic communication and disorderly conduct. These actions can be classified as grooming and even stalking and have elements of human trafficking but were not charged as trafficking. In this research it is clear that parents need to monitor their children's online activities a...

Dr. Dean, Akeila, and I attended the Liberator Awards in Columbus, Ohio the last weekend in March. The Lab was a finalist in the student organization category. At the ceremony, we were seated next to two survivors and a woman who ran the resource housing for survivors for the HerSong organization. The survivors were very enthusiastic to share some of their stories with us. Currently, they are both pursuing degrees in social work. We asked about their opinion of criminalization of sex work. They both agreed that their arrests and time spent in jail and prison was the leading factor in getting them away from their traffickers. Additionally, there is a program specifically in Ohio that serves in rehabilitation and services for individuals with substance abuse disorder and may be facing trafficking. More information on the program can be found here .  Maggie Schrage

Our new Human Trafficking Research Lab Impact Report for 2025 is here! We updated a lot of the information with over 55,000 visits to our blog (as of today), lots of trainings with local community members, and more money raised to support my students' salaries. We added a section on our research awards and then updated findings from our current research projects. I always enjoy compiling these numbers and updates because it shows just how much we do every year and with small incremental changes it is often difficult to see all of our accomplishments. Thanks to everyone for their support of the HTRL over the years, we couldn't do it without you!  

Human Trafficking Search Aligned with Freedom United picked up my article " USAID Cuts Detrimental to Combatting Human Trafficking Around the World " originally published on SlaveFree Today the blog for the Journal of Modern Slavery. I was able to get permission to repost it on the Human Trafficking Search and I am thankful that more people will read about the impact of these cuts to programs sponsored by USAID, programs which have contributed to and shaped my research in Ukraine immensely. I wrote this article based on my personal experience working with and seeing the effects of these counter trafficking programs in source countries for human trafficking. 

At the Liberator Awards I was able to learn about different products made by survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault. Since we were Liberator finalists we got a VIP goodie bag with lots of different products and a few of those products were made by survivors. The soap pictured above was made by survivors in Columbus. We also spoke with a few survivors that worked at Freedom a la Cart a local cafe and catering company that hired trafficking survivors. The website says the company "aims to empower survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation to build lives of freedom and self-sufficiency." It is difficult for many survivors to get a job after they leave exploitation so this company breaks down "employment barriers is vital for creating a pathway to freedom." We only had one day in Columbus but when I am in the area again I will definitely grad a coffee and lunch at their cafe with an amazing mural of freedom outside. They are located on ...

My students and I drove over to Columbus, Ohio to attend the Liberator Awards sponsored by the SOAP Project. We enjoyed getting dressed up and it was such an honor to be a Liberator Finalist for Student Group of the year! We got to meet many survivors and social service providers combatting human trafficking and it was an inspirational and educational night. We are able to hear from and meet people from around the United States working on human trafficking.  Two of the people at our table worked at the Tim Tebow Foundation. They worked in a Her Song Safehouse in Columbus and it was very interesting to talk to them about their work and the foundation. The foundation supports eight safe houses in four cities in Tennessee, Florida, and Ohio. The safe houses provide "long-term residential care and trauma-informed programming to help survivors heal and become self-sufficient. While Her Song helps survivors coming out of trafficking situations with immediate physical needs like a home,...