ICJ 730 Human Trafficking in the Digital Age
3 hours
This course examines human trafficking in an international context, with a special focus on technology in facilitating and combating trafficking. It examines the definitions of human trafficking and the various socio-legal instruments, including digital tools used to identify, measure, and combat it. Students will analyze the methodological challenges in gathering data on this phenomenon, including the use of artificial intelligence, data analytics, and digital forensics in detecting trafficking networks. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the course explores human trafficking as a criminal justice issue, an organized crime challenge, and its relations with immigration and migration, and as well as the frameworks of poverty, gender inequality, and international human rights. Students will explore social media, encrypted communications, the darknet, and other digital platforms in the trafficking ecosystem and how law enforcement, NGOs, and tech companies utilize technology for prevention and intervention. Additionally, students will assess digital strategies for prevention and protection and the cultural and political contexts of this issue.
Prerequisite
Matriculated in the International Crime & Justice-MA or the Human Rights-MA, or the Advanced Certificate in Transnational Organized Crime Studies