Human Trafficking Research Lab @Millikin

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.