| dc.description.abstract | Social network analysis is an analytical tool for studying people, their relationships, and their social networks. The methodology has been used to study criminal enterprises, enabling researchers to understand crime phenomena occurring within criminal networks, and the driving factors of criminal enterprises. Human trafficking is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing criminal enterprises, generating approximately $150 billion in profits from the exploitation millions of men, women, and children annually. The following study evaluates literature on social network analysis and its application to organized crimes, and specifically human trafficking. This study seeks to understand the challenges, application, and feasibility of applying social network analysis to organized crime and human trafficking networks. Research from the fields of criminology, sociology, computer science, and communication studies are drawn on to provide a more holistic view of the methodology and its application to criminal networks. Ultimately, this research seeks to deepen our understanding of the challenges and practicality of using social network analysis to study and disrupt human trafficking networks. The findings support using social network analysis to disrupt and target key figures in human trafficking networks. Additionally, the findings illuminate gaps in research on online trafficking through social media and the structures of online human trafficking networks, calling for further exploration. | |
