Focused on contemporary slave labor, this book highlights the people directly involved in it, based on the investigation of labor relations in the state of São Paulo, between 1991 and 2010. In Brazil, the Penal Code started to penalize work analogous to slavery in 2003. The research contributes to a new approach to the theme with an analysis of extensive documentation produced by the Public Labour Prosecution Office and a solid review of the bibliography. After presenting the process of defining the current Penal Code, seen as relatively advanced, the author analyzes the point of view of the agents involved in the cases, showing how employers understand slave labor, the perspective of the workers and of the public agents responsible for enforcing public policies and mediating conflicts.