Is crime displacement inevitable? Lessons from the enforcement of laws against prostitution-related human trafficking in Cyprus

Author: Constantinou, Angelo

Abstract: This article problematizes the common assertion that policies purported to counter prostitution and prostitution-related human trafficking effectively reduce such crime. The paradigm of Cyprus is employed for illustrating that legal action against prostitution (and sex trafficking), intended to reduce the opportunities for purchasing sex on the island, has given rise to the displacement of crime. To affirm this, police intelligence (n = 1103) gathered over the course of 11 years is analysed. If anything, the findings presented here complement the (small) corpus of quantitative studies that address the effectiveness of anti-trafficking policies.

Keywords: crime policy, police intelligence, quantitative research, sex trafficking, situational prevention