Lauren N.
Moton
CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY
Ph.D., Criminal Justice - February 2024
M.Phil., Criminal Justice - September 2021
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
M.S., Criminal Justice - December 2017
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
B.S., Criminal Justice - April 2014
Dr. Lauren N. Moton is an Assistant Professor at CUNY John Jay College, jointly appointed in the Department of Criminal Justice and the International Criminal Justice Program. Her research examines human trafficking, labor exploitation, organized crime, and digital-age vulnerabilities through feminist, community-based, and global justice frameworks. Drawing on domestic and international fieldwork, her work explores how technology, migration, and inequality shape both risk and resistance within contexts of forced labor and illicit economies.
Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the American Society of Criminology, and The Graduate Center, CUNY. She has published in leading journals including Anti-Trafficking Review, Journal of Human Trafficking, and the International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice. Across her projects, Dr. Moton employs participatory, multi-method designs that center survivor expertise and promote rights-affirming, evidence-based interventions.
At John Jay, she teaches Human Trafficking in the Digital Age, fostering critical engagement with global exploitation, organized crime, and ethical response. She earned her Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Criminal Justice from the CUNY Graduate Center, M.S. from Bowling Green State University, and B.S. from the University of Cincinnati.
Graduate:
Human Trafficking in the Digital Age (ICJ730) - Fall 2025
Statistical Software in Criminal Justice (CRJ 716) - Spring 2022
Research Design and Methods (CRJ 715) - Fall 2021
Undergraduate:
Introduction to International Criminal Justice (ICJ 101) - Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2025
Research Methods in Behavioral Science (SSC 325) - Spring 2021
Race & Ethnic Relations (SOC 213) - Fall 2020
American Society of Criminology
Division of Feminist Criminology; Division of Queer Criminology; Division of Victimology; Division on People of Color and Crime; Division of Critical Criminology; Division of Convict Criminology; Division of Policing, Division of Qualitative Research
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
The People of Color and Women Section
The Society for the Study of Social Problems
Select Publications:
Moton, L. (2025). “Victim is such a touchy word”: Rethinking victimhood among human trafficking intervention court defendants in the US. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 82, 100763.
Moton, L., Abeyta, S., Dank, M., Mulugeta, T. (2025). Ethiopian Domestic Workers and Exploitative Work in the Middle East: The Role of Familial and Community-Based Social Networks. Anti-trafficking Review.
Abeyta, S. & Moton, L. (2025). Employers as Occupational Deviants: Child Labor Violations in the U.S. Deviant Behavior. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2025.2551218
Moton, L. Merken, S., Slakoff, D., Aujla, W. (2024). Trans-Neutrality in Intimate Partner Violence Service Provision in the USA and Canada. Critical Criminology, 31(4), 1007-1023. doi.org/10.1007/s10612-024-09748-6
Moton, L., Dank, M., Yu-Hsuan, L., Hughes, A. (2023). Forced Begging and Selling among Children in Kampala: An Exploration of Lived Experience. Journal of Human Trafficking. DOI: 10.1080/23322705.2023.2247922