The Organization of Modern Slavery

Modern slavery and the trafficking of human beings are complex and adaptive patterns of exploitation and abuse of children and adults. They emerge from the interactions between people and their environments over time. Considerable academic and political energy has been exerted to define these exploitations and associated organized crimes. However, much of this work has focused on victims, less on the perpetrators of modern slavery. Perpetrators include first- and second-order beneficiaries—respectively, those responsible for servitude and forced or compulsory labor, and those who gain indirectly. The latter may be witting or unwitting facilitators who provide accommodation or other services, and those that create the demand for cheap products, cheap labor and illicit products and services. Drawing from the literature on organized crime may offer insights into the patterns of modern slavery. Three factors are considered—conceptual insights, business models, and social embeddedness. Models of gang hierarchies and structures of organized crime groups, membership, power, and control are discussed to understand the degrees of organization in modern slavery. Using complex systems theory, the chapter draws on recent UK cases to argue that modern slavery is a serious and violent crime, involving degrees of organization dependent on the context of the exploitation.