NCJ Number
199197
Journal
Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: 2002 Pages: 96-111
Date Published
2002
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examined prostitution trafficking by Russian organized crime groups to the Finnish and Swedish Tornio Valley (the border area between the northwest of Finland and the northeast of Sweden).
Abstract
Specific issues explored were the precise role of organized crime in prostitution trafficking and the degree of organization; what has been done about such activities; and the initiatives that governments and international agencies are currently mounting to prevent, control, or mitigate human commodity trafficking. Data for this study were obtained from observations at special "deposit-sites" in Finland and interviews with the authorities involved in addressing this problem (police, customs, social services, Center for Disease Control, etc.) in Sweden. Newspaper articles that have focused on the issue were also reviewed. The study found that approximately 30-100 women who could be assumed to be prostitutes have been arriving every Thursday from across the border. They arrive in minibuses across the border from Ivalo. Evidence indicates the business is planned, and the women know in advance where they are to go to provide their services. Laws against the sex trade in Sweden cannot reach the people behind the trafficking, and the consensual nature of prostitution, as well as possible sanctions against clients, make it difficult to find witnesses willing to provide evidence. To date, there has been very little serious crime related to this trafficking, and no drug trafficking or money laundering has been identified. The Swedish police and customs worry that the business may in time bring additional crime. Further research on this problem should obtain information from the Russian authorities and from the prostitutes themselves. 10 references