Colby Valentine, PhD, assistant professor of instruction in the Department of Criminology, and doctoral students Klejdis Bilali, MA and Emily Walker, MA spoke about the research bering done by the USF Trafficking in Persons (TIP) - Risk to Resilience Research Lab as part of the Judy Genshaft Honors College Student Council's Leadership Lecture Series. The team discussed human trafficking awareness, the lab's current projects, and how students can be allies for victims.
Valentine disucsses eradicating human trafficking in local communities and beyond. (Photo Courtesy: Reva Gandhi)
This year's theme for the Honors College is sustainability, and a main goal of the TIP Lab is to determine existing resources as well as create new resources to build effective and sustainable partnerships to eradicate human trafficking in our communities and those surrounding it.
The team first presented some information about human trafficking, generally discussing federal legislation defining human trafficking, indicators and red flags, stages of grooming for sexual exploitation, trauma bonding, and trauma informed approaches for practitioners.
They shared the work of the TIP Lab on campus and highlighted a few of the 15 projects the lab is currently working on in the community. They concluded with sustainability and prevention efforts for USF students as well as the community at large.