Welcome! I’m Dr. Lauren Moton, an Assistant Professor at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a joint appointment in the Department of Criminal Justice and the International Criminal Justice Program. Prior to joining John Jay, I served as a Senior Research Associate with the Human Exploitation and Resilience Program at NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management. My research examines the intersections of exploitation, victimization, organized crime, technology, and systems of governance across both U.S. and transnational contexts.

​

My scholarship focuses broadly on human trafficking, labor exploitation, digital technologies, and the ways institutional systems construct, regulate, and respond to “victimhood.” Much of my work explores how marginalized communities navigate harm, surveillance, resilience, and resistance within criminal legal, immigration, and social service systems. Across projects, I am particularly interested in how digital technologies simultaneously facilitate exploitation, shape anti-trafficking interventions, and create new opportunities for community-building, information sharing, and survival.

​

This research agenda is reflected in my dissertation and ongoing book project, which examines the construction of victim identity within Human Trafficking Intervention Courts (HTICs) across New York City, Columbus, and Nashville through more than a year of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with defendants, judges, attorneys, and service providers. My current research also examines the role of mobile messaging applications and digital communication technologies in the lives of migrant domestic workers from Tanzania working abroad, with particular attention to digital kinship, labor precarity, and transnational survival strategies. In parallel, I study how sex workers and other marginalized populations use information and communication technologies to mitigate violence, share safety information, and resist victimization in increasingly digital environments.

​

In addition to my academic research, I have extensive experience managing federally funded and international research initiatives focused on trafficking, exploitation, migration, gender-based violence, and community resilience. My methodological expertise includes qualitative and mixed methods research, participatory and community-based approaches, intervention development, and program evaluation. My work has spanned multiple global contexts, including the United States, Tanzania, India, Thailand, Ethiopia, and Costa Rica.

​

My research has been recognized by organizations including the American Society of Criminology, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing, and has been supported through grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the Darald and Julie Libby Foundation, The Graduate Center, CUNY, and the Vera Institute of Justice.

I earned my B.S. in Criminal Justice from University of Cincinnati, my M.S. in Criminal Justice from Bowling Green State University, and my M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from The Graduate Center, CUNY.