More than half of all perpetrators of sexual exploitation start when they are younger than 25 years old. This is the conclusion of the National Rapporteur on Human Trafficking and Sexual Violence against Children published on Wednesday research into the backgrounds of these perpetrators. Moreover, exploiters often have a “broad criminal career”, committing many other crimes in addition to human trafficking. Many of them come into contact with crime when they are still minors.
The National Rapporteur investigated this theme by taking a sample of 630 people who were convicted of sexual exploitation between 2008 and 2017. This specifically concerns so-called domestic exploitation: victims are ‘recruited’ in the same country where they are forced to perform the sexual acts. According to previous estimates, approximately seven hundred to a thousand people in the Netherlands, predominantly women, become victims of domestic sexual exploitation every year.
Although the National Rapporteur states that “the perpetrator” does not exist, the organization does outline a general profile. Many convicts had a difficult childhood. For example, because they grew up in an unstable family situation or because part of the immediate environment, such as brothers, sisters or parents, was involved in crime. Perpetrators are also more often than average poorly educated. Only 30 percent have completed high school. Early intervention among young people with “a high risk profile and maximum commitment to helping perpetrators” could therefore prevent young people from committing human trafficking later in life, the researchers write.