This essay focuses on Modern Slavery which covers human trafficking, slavery, forced labour and domestic slavery. It will concentrate on forced labour within the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It will outline what force labour means, review statistics that evidence the extent of the problem, and then make some recommendations to stop forced labour.Accordingto International Labour Organisation (ILO) (2017) forced labour refers to theact of coercing or deceiving someone into working against their will. Victimsof forced labour are often controlled by their ‘employers’ through variousmeans such as threats, physical harm, confiscation of identity documents andthe withholding of wages. Indirect force may be used such as retaining the documentationof the foreign nations to prevent them from returning to their native country. Theygo on to say that forced labour and human trafficking are modern forms of slaveryand require attention. They are not identical within the legal system. Mostsituations of slavery and human trafficking are covered by their definition offorced labour. Children.gov.on.ca commented in a ‘Reviewof the Roots of Youth Violence’ paper that rational choice theory is based onthe original opinions of classical criminology, which enables people to freelychoose their behaviour and is motivated by the avoidance of pain and to searchfor pleasure. In terms ofoffending, rational choice suggests that offenders weigh the potential benefitsand consequences associated with committing an offence. Rational choicefocuses on the opportunity to commit crime and on how criminal choices arestructured by the social environment and situational variables.TheILO reported in 2017, that there is an estimation of 40.3 million people inmodern slavery. This includes 24.9 million in forced labour and 15.4 million whoare in forced marriages. This means there are 5.4 victims of modern slavery to1,000 people in the world. Roughly 10 million children are victims of modernslavery. Of the 24.9 million people who are trapped in forced labour, 16million people are exploited as domestic work, construction or agriculture bythe private sector, 4.8 million people are exploited within the sex world and 4million people are forced labour by the state authorities.Belowthe charts in figure 1 and figure 2 shows the ILO’s Global estimates of modernslavery: including forced labour and forced marriage.The Modern Slavery Act 2015 protectspeople held for slavery or servitude and if they are forced into it orcompulsory labour beyond their will. Also, human trafficking is covered by TheAct, by making it an offence if anyone arranges and enables another person totravel, who is going to be exploited. This person can be either an adult orchild. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 consolidates existing offences of human traffickingand slavery and encompasses trafficking for all forms of exploitation. This Actreplaces offences of human trafficking arising under section 59A SexualOffences Act 2003 and section 4 Asylum and Immigration Act 2004. The Act alsoreplaces the offence of holding another person in slavery or servitude orrequiring another person to perform forced or compulsory labour arising undersection 71 Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (cps.gov.uk). This consolidation ofexisting regulations into a single statue is an important development in the UKbecause hopefully to improve the conviction rates current criminal offences inrelation to slavery and trafficking and by increasing the maximum penalty todeter potential offenders. Tilley (2009) notes the general value of specificdeterrence within a Direct Criminal Justice System (CJS) Approach points outthat offenders are deterred from committing future crimes by the unpleasantnessof punishment, by having harsher penalties and these seeing others beingpunished and will other individuals from committing crimes. The IndependentAnti-Slavery Commissioner Strategic Plan 2015–2017, was produced by thegovernment in line with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The Strategic Planacknowledges the scale of the problem of modern slavery and makes practicalrecommendations to try to address the issues. Within the document the HomeOffice estimates in UK that there were between 10,000 – 13,000 potentialvictims of modern slavery in 2014. There is some improvement to identifypossible victims, so they can be removed from exploitation and protect themfrom further harm and enable them to receive the right help they need. Thosevictims often suffer from varied physical and psychological health issues. Someare classed as serious problems from the direct results of exploitation theymay have suffered. It is important to make the victims feel safe and secure andprotect them from harm by getting them the support and care once they areremoved from those who have been exploiting them. This is so they can be empoweredto increase their long-term healing, strength, and regain into inclusive societyand to rebuild their lives. The way forward for this to be achieved is to workwith the Home Office, border control and health agencies across UK. Appropriateawareness raising, and training should be put in place and promoted regularly.They also need to regularly review the associated material is fit for purpose abouthelping the potential victims to access appropriate support and assistance.Morework is necessary within the immigration, border control, trading standards,police, courts and prosecution. Additionally, training is required to highlightthe potential signs of victims whether they are UK citizens or foreigncitizens. If police and the community should be vigilant and aware that aproperty has barred windows or curtains are permanently drawn, this may bebecause victims of modern slavery are possibly being held there. This is doneto prevent them from climbing out. Other indications could be if the letterboxsealed up, so it cannot be used and is there any sign of electricity attachedto neighbouring properties or directly from power lines. If businesses areusing people for forced labour then they may be wearing inappropriate clothingrequired for the job, have poor hygiene, be fearful or unwilling to engage withthe public or other colleagues.Thereport outlines that modern slavery in the UK is a high profit and low riskcrime. The reason for modern slavery is a high profit and low risk crimebecause human trafficking is one of the fastestgrowing criminal enterprises. Criminal organizations are increasingly attractedto human trafficking because, unlike drugs, humans can be sold repeatedly.Human trafficking not only involves sex and labour, but people are alsotrafficked for organ harvesting. So criminal organisations can distancethemselves easily from the victims by selling them on regularly. In 2014the Home Office estimated that approximately 11,500 potential victims of modernslavery across UK. They also report there were just 2,340 potential victimsreported to the National Referral Mechanism. The NationalReferral Mechanism (NRM) is a framework for identifying victims of humantrafficking or modern slavery and ensuring they receive the appropriatesupport. Very few modern slavery crimes come the attention of the police andcriminal justice agencies and even fewer offenders are caught and convicted. Thereport estimates that 187 prosecutions involving human trafficking offences wereflagged up by the Crown Prosecution Service in 2014-15 and 130 of those casesresulted in a successful conviction. However, data from Ministry of Justice showedonly 39 convictions in 2014 from slavery and human trafficking offences as aprincipal offence. The discrepancy arguably indicates that the CrownProsecution Service and Ministry of Justice are not working togethereffectively.The anti-slavery organisation highlights how the UK can challenge modern slavery. They state there are three areas to focus on. Firstly, in policing. Although modern slavery has become more visual it has been rising considerably over the past few years. Some cases are still turned away by the police because they are not believed, and those who has been forced into crime have been treated as criminals. Secondly, is identification. The referral system in use often only looks at victims of forced labour through their immigration status. This means people from outside the European Union are up to four times less likely to be recognised as victims of trafficking and are often deported rather than protected. Also, visa rules also prevent overseas domestic workers from leaving abusive employers and seeking out new ones. This often leads them to suffer abuse in silence. Lastly, is protection. Protection and support for victims of trafficking is inconsistent, especially after all the government cuts and cost-efficiency savings. The victims of forced labour who have survived and been rescued, have been in a safe house to recover but that is only for a limited time and they do not get long-term support even if they need it, so they can fully recover and get their lives back on track. They also state that the protection of children is also of great concern. A Child Guardianship scheme has been included in the Modern Slavery Act, but the full implementation of it is not scheduled until mid-2019.Tohelp to prevent and reduce modern slavery, it would help to have a multi-agencyteam, which should include the police, health and social services, localauthority, immigration, border control and trading standards. This is to beable to prevent other crimes committed within the modern slavery (forcedlabour) and crimes being committed by the victims of forced labour when tryingto escape captivity.Organisationslike health and social services, local authority, housing departments,voluntary organisations are available to support the police with supportingvictims of modern slavery. Some voluntary organisations which are availableincludes refuge, shelter, NSPCC, Women’s Aid and translation organisations. Theseagencies can help victims to trust authorities that they are there to help andwill not deport them back to their original country. Deportation will not bedone for up to 90 days as the victims have access to ‘move-on’ support, such as ongoingaccommodation, counselling, expert advice and advocacy before the finaldecision is made (Newton, gov.uk). They can then hopefully set up a peer groupto be able to support others with their experiences with agreement to have acouncillor on hand if people need to talk through things as and when needed.Otherrecommendations that possibly need to be in place are to have more borderagency staff at ports and air ports to be able to check all vehicles arrivingto stop illegal immigrants being brought in against their will or have paid thedrivers to do so for a better life. More checks are needed on foreign nationalcoming in with little money to support themselves. To disrupt criminal activityTilley (2009) says there should be intelligence led policing to monitor andtrace criminal organisations, and learn more about the offenders’ behaviourpatterns. Also, when taken to court those drivers caught should be imposed with more severe fines becausethe fines are only £2,000 per migrant (express, 2017). For people who employillegal immigrants’ penalties should be more severe than they are. At thepresent the sentences are imprisonment for 5 yearsand pay a fine of up to £20,000 for each illegal worker (gov.uk). Lastly, it isrecommended that literature is published and advertised in different languagesto help people what they need to do if they are victims or know someone who ispossibly a victim of modern slavery (forced labour).In conclusion thisessay focused on modern slavery and mainly forced labour. It has highlightedthat people are still victims of modern slavery (forced labour) since theModern Slavery Act 2015 came into force. Modern Slavery Act 2015 and theStrategic plan are positive steps, but more is needed to be done to addressmodern slavery, given the extent and complexity of the issue. For example,importantly more public awareness need to be advertised to know what modernslavery and forced labour is about and what signs to look out for and how toreport their fears. Also, the sentencing for people convicted needs to be moresevere, and more convictions are needed to highlight the crime and raiseawareness for the public and make them aware something to there to prevent it. ReferencesAdu, A. 2017. Lorry drivers receiverecord number of fines for bringing illegal immigrants into Britain. Available:www.express.co.uk/news/uk/821265/migrant-crisis-lorry-drivers-fined-immigrants-sneak-UK-vehicles.Last accessed 26 November 2017.antislavery. 2017. What is modern slavery? Available:https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/. Last accessed 4December 2017.CPS. 2017. Human Trafficking,Smuggling and Slavery. Available:http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/h_to_k/human_trafficking_and_smuggling/. Lastaccessed 19 December 2017.gov.uk. 2016. Penalties for employingillegal workers. Available:https://www.gov.uk/penalties-for-employing-illegal-workers. Last accessed 26November 2017Hyland, K. 2015. Independent Anti-Slavery CommissionerStrategic Plan 2015–2017. Available: http://www.antislaverycommissioner.co.uk/media/1075/iasc_strategicplan_2015.pdf.Last accessed 29 November 2017.Hyland, K. 2017. IndependentAnti-Slavery Commissioner: Annual Report 2016 – 2017. Available: http://www.antislaverycommissioner.co.uk/media/1164/iasc_annual-report-16-17-web.pdf.Last accessed 4 December 2017.International Labour Organisation andWalk Free Foundation. 2017. Global estimates of modern slavery: forcedlabour and forced marriage. Available: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575479.pdf.Last accessed 16 December 2017.International Labour Organization(ILO). 2014. The meanings of Forced Labour. Available:http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/news/WCMS_237569/lang–en/index.htm.Last accessed 2 December 2017.Myers, N. 2016. Review of the Roots of Youth Violence:Literature Reviews Volume 5, Chapter 3: Available:http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/professionals/oyap/roots/volume5/chapter03_rational_choice.aspx.Last accessed 6 January 2018.Newton, S. 2016. Modern slaveryvictims to receive longer period of. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/modern-slavery-victims-to-receive-longer-period-of-support.Last accessed 28 December 2017The Modern Slavery Act 2015Get Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!Find out more