By Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

In the digital age, technology serves as both a powerful tool for empowerment and a potential instrument for criminal activities, particularly in human trafficking. Traffickers exploit technological advancements for purposes such as online recruitment, victim control, and transferring illicit proceeds. However, these same technologies present opportunities for law enforcement and civil society to combat trafficking and protect victims. This report summarizes a set of policy recommendations discussed and made by anti-trafficking stakeholders from OSCE participating States during a series of sub-regional workshops organized in 2023 by the Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.These policy recommendations aim at leveraging technology effectively to counter trafficking.

Vienna: OSCE, 2024. 22p.

By J. Russo ; M. Planty; J. Shaffer; M.N. Parsons; J.D. Roper-Miller

Detecting drug contraband smuggled into correctional facilities through the mail is challenging, because drugs can be sprayed onto paper, incorporated into ink, hidden under stamps, and concealed within a piece of correspondence. The methods used to hide the drugs, coupled with the high volume of mail received daily by inmates, increase the difficulty in detecting all drugs by using physical screening. In attempting to address this threat, some correctional facilities are using strategies that replace physical mail with electronic communication or reproductions of originals. Under this technique, all inmate mail is diverted to an offsite mail-processing vendor, who converts the mail to a digital form and transmits the documents to correctional facilities for distribution to inmates via tablets or kiosks. Adopting such a system is most effective when it is part of a “bundled” approach with other inmate services, such as telephone, messaging, video visitation, and electronic books, which are delivered through kiosks or tablets. In most cases, the digitized mail services can be provided at no cost to the agency as part of a comprehensive inmate services platform. 

Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2021. 7p.