Implicit Bias of White Police Officers: How Training Can Impact Underage Black Female Victims of Sex Trafficking

摘要

"In the United States, human trafficking generates $9.5 billion yearly" (Mendelson, 2005, p.2). Research indicates that youths constitute the most vulnerable group for becoming victims of sex trafficking and that most women in prostitution enter as minors. The average age children are lured into commercial sexual exploitation is between 11 and 14 (Kortla, 2012). In 2010, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) established an eight-person vice team dedicated to slowing the sexual exploitation of children. Until recently, girls on the street were treated as criminals, however, the LAPD Vice believes differently: "They have begun to regard the minors as victims who need to be saved from danger" (Kessler, 2014, p.1). The results of this study show a significance in the attitude of LAPD officers who work in a predominately Black and Hispanic area. A significant percentage of the police officers surveyed by the principle investigator for this study feel that there is no difference between a prostitute and a sex trafficked victim, that sex workers are of below average intelligence and are a danger to society. In 2014, the adoption of a protocol was announced for first responders on how to recognize signs of sexual exploitation among minors and how to talk to adolescents (Kessler, 2014). In a longitudinal study, reduction in implicit racial bias was assessed after participants were given feedback about their implicit racial bias, educated about bias, and trained in how to reduce bias (Devine, Forscher, Austin & Cox, 2012). Study participants showed a decrease in implicit race bias as a result of the intervention. This study explored the effectiveness of educational training, as an intervention strategy, for White LAPD officers on implicit bias and how it can improve the identification (and protection) of Black underage female victims of sex trafficking.