The AntiTrafficking Monitoring Group Assignment

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY
Criminology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

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Introduction
There exist a very popular and old phrase, such as ‘the rich get richer and the poor get
jail’. This phrase has a vast meaning in today’s society. Victimization is increasing day by day in
our society and people belong to the specific caste, creed, religion, age, race, sex, color and other
social divisions are targeted mainly. It has been observed that human trafficking is a very
complicated and problematic issue all over the world and in order to stop this malpractice, the
government of several countries take necessary steps and enacted various laws. The Anti-
Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG) carry on its exclusive duty of observing and assessing
the act of the United Kingdom in the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on
Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and EU Directive 2011/36/EU in order to prevent
and fight against human trafficking. This Group also performs several duties in order to protect
the victims of human trafficking. Additionally, this Group published reports periodically which
explores the success of trafficking inquiries and convictions in regulation, strategy and practice
through the Criminal Justice System of the UK. From the reports published by ATMG it has
been observed that the Group is pleased with the good work of the police department,
prosecuting attorney and adjudicators of the UK which directed to trafficking convictions
(Robinson and Stroshine 2005). It also has been found that fruitful trafficking examinations are
usually connected to areas where expertise is formed among police and other stakeholders in
criminal justice or where multi-agency and international collaborations have been created.
However, there exists certain matters for which ATMG is very much concerned (Spalek 2016).
This paper mainly focuses on the unequal sharing of victimization, the dynamics and existence
of risk, the perceptions of victims of crime as a group and as individuals, and the communal,
political and criminal reply to victims of crime as well as victimization. It also shows that in

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which way the key social division of England and Wales’s provide a valuable beginning point
for considerate the difficult and vigorous existence of unfair treatment in society regarding caste,
creed, religion, age, race, sex, color and other social divisions. Finally, this paper investigates the
regular tensions between communal divisions, ill-treatment, social damage and state policies and
practices by analyzing critically the impact of a landmark case on human trafficking in the UK.
Discussion
Before starting the discussion, it is important to elaborate the term victim. The term
victim means:
 A natural individual who has suffered mental, physical or emotional injury or financial
loss and the reason of which is criminal offence (Karstedt, Loader and Strang 2011);
 A close relative of an individual whose death was caused by a crime.
It must be kept in mind that the term victim does not include legal persons or businesses
(Shapland 2010). Previously the criminal justice system did not provide punishment to any
offender. After the nineteenth century the aim of criminal justice system has been changed from
compensation to prevention and punishment. Not only that, a difference is also made between the
crimes and civil wrongs. Crimes includes the offences against the society such as murder, rape
and human trafficking. On the other hand civil wrongs include the offences against an individual
such as trespass, libel and slander. Previously various powers and duties were given to the
victims of a case regarding filing of a case, what types of charges need to be given. Nowadays,
those powers have shifted from victims to the public prosecutors. Public prosecutors now decide
whether any charges will be filed or not, if filed then what charges will be filed. Now the victims
have no control over their cases (Messmer and Otto 2013). Today, victims in the criminal cases
play the role of a testifier for the prosecution. The reason behind it is that most of the cases are

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disposed without a proper trial. For this, many victims did not get a chance to tell their stories on
the witness box. Victims participate in the criminal justice system informally and provide
information related with the case to the prosecutors. In fact, it seems very unusual that, the
victims are asked by the court to disclose their views on what types of actions should be taken
against the offender. Moreover than that, previously victims were informed about the updates of
their cases. Presently. No information is given to the victims regarding the development of their
cases. Many authors are of the view that, presently the victims not played a vital role and they
has been characterized appropriately as the forgotten person in the criminal procedure (Wilson
and Ross 2015).
May be in the criminal justice system, the victims are presently treated as the forgotten
person but it cannot be ignored that they are considered to be the most important person of a
criminal proceedings. The nominated officials if the criminal justice system maintain a good
relationship with the public and victims of criminal case. Many authors are of the view that it is
the duty of the officials to maintain good relation with the victims because if the victims refused
to cooperate with the official regarding a case then they might lose cases (Hohl and Stanko
2015).
Some authors stated that there are some valid reasons for which the officials do not
consult with the victims of a criminal case. It is a fact that prosecutors are concerned with the
political, legal and administrative aspects of a case which lead them to maintain the secrecy of a
case. The court officials of a criminal case are of the view that the participation of the victims in
the decision making process of a case may decrease the predictability of result and threaten their
interest.