From Complaint to Conviction: Strengthening Multi-Agency Coordination in Child Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking Cases
Abstract
Background: Child sexual exploitation (CSE) and trafficking cases commonly traverse police, child protection, health, forensic, prosecution, courts and specialist services. Each transfer can preserve or degrade evidence, safety and trust. Although multidisciplinary teams, Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs), trafficking task forces and child-friendly justice models are widely promoted, the literature often evaluates collaboration, victim support and prosecution as separate outcomes.
Objective: To synthesize evidence on how multi-agency coordination influences case progression from identification and complaint through investigation, charging and adjudication; identify recurrent handoff failures; compare established coordination models; and develop a measurable, rights-consistent framework for complaint-to-conviction continuity.
Methods: A structured integrative review was undertaken using peer-reviewed empirical studies and evidence syntheses, supplemented by authoritative legal and policy instruments published through 31 December 2024. Twenty-eight core studies were included across child sexual abuse/CAC, CSE and trafficking literatures. Data were coded for coordination mechanisms, evidentiary processes, victim-protection functions, prosecutorial relevance and implementation barriers.
Results: Five mechanisms recurred across successful responses: shared child-victim identification standards, named case ownership, lawful and timely information exchange, early prosecutorial integration, and uninterrupted trauma-informed service support. Conversely, role ambiguity, inconsistent definitions, duplicate interviewing, evidentiary fragmentation, delayed prosecutor engagement, weak referral tracking, poor family communication and dependence on sustained child cooperation were associated with attrition risks. The review proposes the Complaint-to-Conviction Evidence Continuity Framework (C2C-ECF), which reconceptualizes coordination as preservation of evidentiary, protective and accountability continuity across seven case stages.
Contribution: The C2C-ECF is novel in linking multi-agency process quality to both justice outcomes and child-protection safeguards through measurable handoff indicators rather than treating collaboration as meeting frequency or organizational co-location.
Conclusion: Stronger criminal-justice responses require coordinated evidence development and survivor support without lowering evidentiary thresholds, compromising due process or making conviction the sole measure of success.
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