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Human trafficking for forced begging, panhandling, pickpocketing, and shoplifting represents some of the most visible forms of exploitation, yet they are often poorly understood categories and remain underresearched in academia and policy/legal proposals. Unlike many other forms of trafficking, this exploitation happens in public spaces, and scholars often point out that it is difficult to discern choice versus coercion. The two major forms we are examining in this section are forced begging, also known as panhandling, where individuals ask strangers for money or charitable donations while surrendering all of their earnings to their traffickers; forced criminality, via pickpocketing and shoplifting, is when victims are compelled to commit petty (or even more serious) crimes. Both depend on coercion, fraud, deception, and force and exploitation of often young individuals and migrants experiencing poverty. The current legal frameworks in place often do not address the structural issues at hand, including poverty, limited access to education, and lack of support for migrants, often criminalizing beggars and those forced to commit crimes.
Photo Credits: Pexels
Often referred to as the “most visible form of trafficking,” forced begging/panhandling is when a victim is forced to beg by others and has to hand over earnings to the person who is forcing them to beg; money attained is not going to the person begging. Victims often beg for hours in public spaces, including streets or parks. Though begging/panhandling is highly visible, it is hard to distinguish between forced begging and panhandling made as a choice. Still, there is coercion, deception, force, and threats made to beg in public. Force includes, but is not limited to, physical harm, threat of violence, and psychological pressure.
Profile of Vulnerable Groups:
Profile of Vulnerable Groups:
Children (under the age of 10)
School dropouts
Individuals with disabilities
Sometimes deliberately injured
Migrant Populations:
Roma and Egyptian children
Migrants from impoverished & racially marginalized background
Traffickers: Who's Complicit?
Traffickers: Who's Complicit?
Parents/Family Members (Most common)
Third parties (informal networks/criminal gangs)
Religious institutions and schools (Daaras in Senegal)
Forced begging tends to be focused in Southeast Asia and Southeastern Europe, rather than the United States, for example. A multitude of research shows that Roma and Egyptian children are most affected by forced begging in Europe. Additionally, tourism is often linked to begging. For example, in Tirana, Albania, there are around 150 exploited kids on the streets, and that number grows during the tourist season.
Forced Begging Data
Forced Begging Data
Very little quantitative data exists contextualizing forced begging and forced criminality because both are underground, illegal markets. Beyond that, because existing remedies for this issue will often criminalize the victims (beggars, shoplifters, and pickpocketers), many victims do not come forward, and, thus, these cases remain underreported.
Detected Cases/Growth of Forced Begging:
Despite the extreme seriousness and reported widespread nature of the trafficking of often children into forced begging, there is limited existing research about its prevalence, its victims, and the perpetrators. The limited research shows that forced begging is a problem in Southeastern Europe. In a UNICEF study of 31 child victims of trafficking in South Eastern Europe, four out of 31 victims were trafficked for the purpose of begging (which was 13% of all victims). In Southeast Asia, it is estimated that between 1997 and 1998, the number of children caught begging in Bangkok, Thailand (95% of them Cambodian) more than doubled to 1,060, demonstrating the precarious situation of migrant minors involved. However, the high mobility of workers who move around often, even daily, makes it even more difficult to track precise issues.
Global perspectives
Global perspectives
In Senegal, an estimated 100,000 talibés, students who are sent to boarding schools (daaras) to learn the Quran from religious leaders, are forced to beg daily for hours. They are as young as five or six years old, earn just about 60 to 70 cents per day, and hand over most or all of this money to their marabout. A marabout (teacher) might earn $770 per month from forcing children to beg. Human Rights Watch reports neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and imprisonment of children at daaras; they suffer from malnutrition and dangerous street conditions. Further, Human Rights Watch reporter notes that out of 15 traditional daaras visited in 2018, 13 required students to beg. Trafficking victims are also often from neighboring regions or nearby countries (like Guinea or Mali). Thus what is being posed as a school meant for religious studies, is just a guise to conduct human trafficking.
In Albania, around ⅓ of the 53 current child beggars who took part in Anti-Slavery International interviews reported being forced to beg by their parents through violence or coercion. In Albania and Greece, 15 children interviewed said they spend over six hours each day begging. Often, family members exploit children’s labor, as earnings from begging can make a substantial difference to family incomes, with children earning about $2.50-6.45 from begging daily. In the capital city, Tirana, it could be as much as $25 per day.
Statistic via Anti-Slavery International
Structural Issues:
Poverty is given as a main cause of trafficking for begging. In Senegal, for example, poverty is frequently claimed to be behind parents’ decisions to send boys to daaras and the marabouts’ justification for making talibés go out to beg. Many parents felt that begging was the only option available to them in the face of economic hardship. Additionally, in India, COVID-19 and the subsequent closure of schools, unemployment of parents, immigration from rural areas, and poverty have increased the demand for young children aged 6-12 years in the begging market.
One parent interviewed said,
“If they do not want to starve, they have to go [out begging].”
Migration is another high-risk factor for forced begging. In Albania, many children had migrated with their families from villages to larger towns in search of higher incomes. Similarly, in Delhi, the majority of the 52 child beggars said in interviews with Anti-Slavery International that they were not born in the city, but had come from other parts of India. In Senegal, the research also suggests that talibés migrate to or are trafficked from outside Senegal. Several boys came from countries nearby, including Gambia, Mali, and Guinea-Bissau. Compounded with these root problems is the issue of education, or lack thereof. Anti-Slavery International found that children without access to education were more vulnerable to being forced to beg.
Broadly, forced criminality can be understood as trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploitation of victims through forcing or otherwise compelling them to commit criminal acts for economic or other gains of traffickers or exploiters. Shoplifting is taking goods from a store without paying for them, while pickpocketing is understood as the act of stealing from someone’s “pockets.” Similarly to forced begging, force, fraud, or coercion act as powerful tools of control. Examples include growing or transporting drugs, shoplifting, theft/petty crime, pickpocketing, credit card fraud, or other crimes carried out for the trafficker’s benefit.
Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons
Forced Pickpocketing/Shoplifting Data
Forced Pickpocketing/Shoplifting Data
Between 2016 and 2022, detected cases of trafficking for forced criminality increased by 800%, rising from 1% to 8% of all human trafficking cases globally.
In the United Kingdom, where the most common form of trafficking is forced criminality, BBC identified a gang with 154 shoplifters stealing high-value items in bulk to sell or ship abroad, and Retailers Against Crime (RAC), a nonprofit group, said it was tracking 56 shoplifting groups that are funding organised crime. A managing director at RAC said one of the gangs has a number of children (about 15) who have been trafficked to the UK specifically to shoplift, between 12 and 14 years old. Though statistics on forced shoplifting are extremely limited, what we do know is that it is a lucrative economy, with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) estimating that shoplifting costs retailers 1.2 million dollars and a 25% increase in reported incidence. Incidents of theft have increased by 27% in the UK's ten largest cities. Some cities note a 68% increase in shoplifting. Finally, police recorded approximately 342,343 shoplifting incidents in England and Wales in 2022 and 2023 (though shoplifting reports are often underreported). However, it is extremely difficult, or nearly impossible, to glean from the data available what is forced shoplifting versus what is not.
Photo Credits: International Rescue Committee (2025)
Statistic via International Rescue Committee (2025)
Law and policy
Law and policy
International Frameworks:
International Frameworks:
The problem is that there is no exact framework for forced begging/criminality, but these are international standards for forced labor and trafficking, especially regarding children, under which begging/criminality may fall. Under these trafficking frameworks, forced begging and criminality need to meet 5 standards: action, means, purpose of exploitation, transnational nature, and organized criminal group. Note that “means” does not exist for children (because they cannot consent), but it is often hard to prove organized criminals.
Counters forced begging by outlining forced labor and asserting that the worker and not anyone else should receive wages. (Articles 2 & 14)
*Still, it should be noted that there is no international legal definition of begging, nor of trafficking in persons for the purpose of begging.
At this convention it was decided that in the eyes of the UN; A child is defined as 18 years or younger, member states must take all measures so the child is protected against all forms of discrimination and that the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
The act of using a child for purpose of begging can be designated as the worst form of child labour.
The Palermo protocol sought to combat trafficking, defining it as recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion” for exploitation. Past this, it establishes that children cannot give consent.
*Still, it should be noted that there is no international legal definition of begging, nor of trafficking in persons for the purpose of begging.
U.S. Frameworks:
U.S. Frameworks:
These laws deal with general trafficking legal frameworks, panhandling, and federal shoplifting policies. Ultimately, it is up to the states and localities to make decisions
The purposes of this division are to combat trafficking in persons, a contemporary manifestation of slavery whose victims are predominantly women and children. Forced begging/criminality is not explicitly stated here as well
The c-ase established that content based speech restriction is unlawful. Many panhandling ordinances challenged in court since 2015 have been struck down or repealed with this as the basis.
Laws restricting solicitation must pass intermediate scrutiny, meaning they must be neutral, narrow, and must serve a significant government interest
Shoplifting is illegal under one of the three legal frameworks, while Pickpocketing is usually only illegal under the first:
Larceny = taking property away from someone and intending to deprive them of it
Bulgarly = entering a structure with intent to commit a crime
Robbery = Stealing something by force or threat
States have different penalties and legal categorizations for shoplifting and pickpocketing.
Regional Frameworks:
Regional Frameworks:
Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons
Europe
Europe
Lacatus vs Switzerland was brought forward after a Roma woman was convicted and fined under Geneva’s criminal code for begging. This ruling protects the right to express distress through begging; the European Human Rights Court found that Geneva violated this Roma woman’s respect for private and family life as protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
According to this directive, EU Law enforcement should cooperate to fight against trafficking and specifically defines “exploitation of criminal activities” as the exploitation of a person to commit, inter alia, pick-pocketing, shoplifting, and drug trafficking. However, victims of trafficking are directed to be protected from being prosecuted. The directive recognizes children having a greater risk of being trafficked than adults; thus, children should have extra support from the state
India
India
Protects children through guaranteed rights (Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles). Children receive free and compulsory education to all children from six to 14 years old, and begging of forced labor using children is illegal
*Section 363A: Crime to kidnap or maim a minor for the purpose of begging
Begging | The Bombay Prevention of Begging Act (1959)
Acts as basis for 22 states' anti-begging laws in India. Responses by the state to punish begging, even victims, as a result of European Vagrancy laws.
Section 5(9): Beggar is a child under the age of five, the Court shall send the child to court; Section 11: Person in care of child who allows or encourage child to beg shall be punished via imprisonment
Also allows for authorized authority to detain, arrest, and rehabilitate individuals found begging (without warrant). First time offenders get detained, while repeat offenders can be held for 10 years
Bhopal district announced a BAN on begging
Begging | The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (2015)
Whoever employs a child for the purpose of begging or causes any child to beg can be punished up to 5 years; children who beg need care and protection. Children found begging can be sent to a child welfare committee or homes (though these groups face a lack of funding)
Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons
California
California
Criminalizes solicitation in public spaces and aggressiveness; “It requires harassment, intimidation, threats, or other similar types of behavior”
States can regulate conduct, not speech
Public space is defined as streets, parks, sidewalks, parking, government buildings, public transportation. Considered misdemeanor in CA, up to one year in county jail or 1,000 in fines
Legally defines “shoplifting” = entering a commercial establishment during regular business hours with the intent to steal merchandise valued at $950 or less. Misdemeanor offense punishable by up to six months in jail and/or $1,000 in fines
Now that Proposition 36 has passed, a third-time theft offense can be a felony carrying up to three years of incarceration. Felony charges for repeat offenders (rather than misdemeanors) & smaller threshold (950$) & additional prison time/increased penalties
*The current international legal frameworks, while seemingly sound in theory, fail to solve forced begging and criminality on an international or regional level. At the state and regional level, there are clear punitive responses to punish begging. However, this criminalization affects even the victims of forced begging. There is still work to be done; however, by examining India’s recent legislative proposals, there are lessons to be learned on how to protect the most vulnerable groups from exploitative practices
Photo Credits: Pixy
Policy guidance
Policy guidance
While we were unable to find a truly successful global comparative model, recent pushback in India against the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act and subsequent remedial measures by the state to protect, rather than punish, victims of forced begging demonstrate the possibilities for change in international and regional policies and laws.
In August 2018, in the case Harsh Mander v. Union of India, the Delhi High Court struck down certain sections of the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act that criminalized begging. The court ruled that the definition of begging was “arbitrary” and that the act failed to address the root causes of begging, which were attributed to poverty, lack of education, need for social protection, and discrimination based on caste and ethnicity. Thus, it is the state’s responsibility to provide all necessities for survival to all its citizens, including children. Additionally, in 2022, the Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise (SMILE) Plan, overseen by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, created safety measures for those who beg in India and recognized the need for extra support of this community, specifically children who are forced to beg. This initiative includes state-sponsored rehabilitation, healthcare, counselling, education, skill development, and economic integration. Its cited goal is to help individuals transform into wage earners or enter self-employment. It is thus clear that policies moving forward must turn away from punitive approaches towards rights-based, rehabilitative models that address structural issues, like poverty. States must be equipped with the tools to identify victims, provide long-term support, and prevent the risk factors of exploitation.
Pros/Cons on law and policy
Pros/Cons on law and policy
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