A latent class analysis to identify typologies of human trafficking victims: The control-intensity spectrum
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Using latent class analysis on 23,884 trafficking victims from the Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative Global Synthetic Dataset (representing 9.3% of 257,969 total cases after data quality filters), this study identified six distinct victim typologies characterized by varying control intensities. The analysis revealed that 50.3% of victims experienced “low overt control" trafficking with minimal coercive methods, challenging dominant paradigms that equate trafficking with extreme coercion. Classes ranged from high-intensity labor trafficking (9.9% of the sample, with 94.8% experiencing debt bondage) to low-control sexual exploitation (29.2% of the sample, with <5% experiencing traditional control methods). Significant temporal (Cramer's V = 0.213) and geographic (V = 0.342) variation in class distributions suggests context-dependent trafficking patterns rather than universal typologies. These findings support reconceptualizing trafficking along a control intensity spectrum and developing differentiated interventions tailored to distinct victim experiences within identified trafficking populations.
Author: Carlos Alberto Iglesias-Vergara
Institution: Rabdan Academy
Language: English
Topic: Sex work and related issues
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: Ministry of Defense
OpenAlex ID: W4416695232