Factors that predict the referral of adult Modern Day Slavery cases to the UK's National Referral Mechanism
| Author | Freya O’Brien,Sasha Palmer,Victoria Blinkhorn |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14613557221074989 |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Original Research Articles |
Factors that predict the referral of adult
Modern Day Slavery cases to the UK’s
National Referral Mechanism
Freya O’Brien
University of Liverpool, UK
Sasha Palmer
University of Liverpool, UK
Victoria Blinkhorn
University of Liverpool, UK
Abstract
There is a high drop-out or attrition rate of Modern Day Slavery (MDS) cases in the Criminal Justice System although
there has been a paucity of academic research examining the factors that could be related to this attrition. Similar
work has been carried out examining attrition in rape cases (Feist A, Ashe J, Lawrence J et al. (2007) Investigating and
detecting recorded offences of rape. Home Office Online Research Report, 18/07. London: Home Office). The aim of
this study was to examine whether factors of MDS cases were associated with and could predict referral to the
National Referral Mechanism (NRM) (either by the police or other agencies). Two hundred and sixteen suspected
cases of MDS were examined, 29 of which had been referred to the NRM. Content analysis was used to extract variables
from the cases. These pertained to aspects of the offence (e.g. types of exploitation, offender strategies), the victim (e.g.
gender, ability to speak English), and the offender (e.g. details on any recruiter, transporter and exploiter). Cases were
more likely to be referred when the victim was locked, controlled or had their movement restricted, not recruited in
the UK, when the trafficking flow was non-domestic, when debt bondage had occurred and when the recruiter was
not in the UK when they recruited the victim. Cases were less likely to be referred when sexual exploitation was sus-
pected, there was more than one victim and when the exploitation was thought to be occurring/have occurred in a
brothel, massage parlour and or via a website. These findings may indicate that certain victims are more likely to
come forward and/or that the cases are more likely to be considered MDS by those investigating the cases.
Recommendations for practice include a consideration of the best way to handle suspected cases of sexual exploitation,
considering adopting investigative strategies from domestic violence investigations, proactively addressing the gaps in the
data and better linking of data. Limitations and future research ideas are discussed.
Keywords
Modern Day Slavery, exploitation, trafficking, attrition, National Referral Mechanism
Submitted 20 Mar 2021, Revise received 20 Dec 2021, accepted 23 Dec 2021
Modern Day Slavery (MDS) offences include slavery, ser-
vitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking;
the latter is when a ‘person commits an offence if the person
arranges or facilitates the travel of another person with the
view to the victim being exploited’(Modern Day Slavery
Act, 2015: 2). Exploitation within MDS could include
Corresponding author:
Freya O’Brien, University of Liverpool, Department of Psychological
Sciences, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool L69
7ZA, UK.
Email: F.Obrien@liverpool.ac.uk
Original Research Article
International Journal of
Police Science & Management
2022, Vol. 24(3) 273–284
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/14613557221074989
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