Frequently Asked Questions about Sex Trafficking in America

Sex trafficking is a sub-category of human trafficking and is “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.” It involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to make someone engage in commercial sex acts. Any commercial sexual activity with a minor, even without force, fraud, or coercion, is considered a severe form of trafficking. It is a high profit and low risk business where the commodity—the human being’s body—can be sold repeatedly. Those trafficked can be young children, teenagers, men and women. (The Administration for Children and Families – HHS.gov; ATrainCeu.com; Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000).

A commercial sex act includes prostitution, pornography, or sexual performance done in exchange for any item of value, such as money, drugs, shelter, food, clothing, protection. Who is Sex Trafficked? Survivors of sex trafficking have been identified in cities, suburbs, and rural areas in all 50 states. Sex traffickers frequently prey on individuals who are young, poor, vulnerable, living in an unsafe or unstable situation, and/ or in search of a better life. Sex trafficking victims are often deceived by false promises of love, a good job, or a stable life. Who is most vulnerable to trafficking? Although sex trafficking victims include both children and adults, children are among the most vulnerable populations in the United States, making them ideal targets for traffickers.

• The average age of induction into the sex trade in the US is 12-14 years old. (www.dosomething.org)
• There are more than 42 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America (RAIIN, 2018)
• 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys experience sexual abuse before the age of 18. (CDC, 2009)
• 94% of sex trafficking survivors were survivors of childhood sexual abuse (The Samaritan Women, 2018)
• Every nine minutes a child is sexually assaulted in the U.S., and 93 percent know the perpetrator. Many perpetrators of sexual abuse are in a position of trust or responsible for the child’s care such as a family member, teacher, clergy member, coach, or other children such as older siblings. (raiin.org)
• 60% of child trafficking survivors nationwide have a history in the child welfare system (National Foster Youth Institute, 2019)
• Some survivors keep the abuse a secret for many years. They may have tried to tell an adult and met with resistance or felt there was no one they could trust. For these reasons and many others, the effects of sexual abuse can occur many years after the abuse has ended. There is no set timeline for dealing with and recovering from this experience. (raiin.org)

Traffickers can be family members, partners, acquaintances, and strangers. They can act alone or as part of an organized criminal enterprise. People often incorrectly assume that all traffickers are males; however, the United States has prosecuted cases against women traffickers. Polaris Project (2019) reports that the #1 recruitment is from an intimate relationship and #2 is at the hand of a family member. A recent report on familial trafficking estimates 25-50% of child trafficking cases nationally are by a family member (Allert, 2021).

It is widely perceived that child sex trafficking is primarily initiated through kidnapping and transporting to different states or countries. This is not common. In most cases, minors become victimized through processes of targeting, grooming, and recruitment within their own community and sometimes within their own family. Top recruitment tactics for sex trafficking: Intimate partner and familial. (Dept of HHS, 2019).

It is difficult to put a number on how many individuals are being commercially sexually exploited as a majority of incidents go unreported. Estimated numbers of sex trafficking survivors vary from 100,000 to 400,000 nationally, yet one Texas study reports 313,000 survivors of human trafficking at any given moment, and approximately 79,000 minor survivors of sex trafficking in that state alone. (University of Texas School of Social Work, 2017).

Top four forms of sex trafficking: escort services, illicit massage, health and beauty, and pornography (Polaris, 2019).

Safe housing remains the #1 need of survivors. Today, there are only 211 shelters in the U.S. dedicated to serving survivors of domestic sex trafficking. This equates to approximately 2,500 beds. 

There are 10 States with no shelter programs at all.

There are 7 States with only one.

Of all states, Texas has the greatest number of shelter programs.

67 programs serve minors. 

49 programs serve women and children.

36 programs serving boys or men. 

Women with children make up the demographic with the greatest need for shelter care.

Source: The Samaritan Women – Institute for Shelter Care Shelter Landscape Map (December 6, 2021)