Premium
Interpreting the U.S. Human Trafficking Debate Through the Lens of Symbolic Politics
Author(s) -
ANN STOLZ BARBARA
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9930.2007.00257.x
Subject(s) - legislation , politics , criminal justice , perspective (graphical) , through the lens metering , political science , law , economic justice , criminology , the symbolic , criminal law , sociology , law and economics , lens (geology) , psychology , computer science , engineering , artificial intelligence , petroleum engineering , psychoanalysis
By enacting the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, U.S. policymakers acknowledged trafficking in persons as criminal behavior, punishable under federal law. The legislation was developed through the congressional policy‐making process, usually studied from the perspective of who gets what, when, and how. To expand our understanding of criminal justice policymaking, this article analyzes the act from an alternative perspective—symbolic politics. It examines how the act performs symbolic functions identified in the criminal justice literature—reassuring the law abiding/threatening the lawbreaker, communicating a moral message, providing a model for the states, and educating about a problem.