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Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2007-08

NCJ Number
224526
Date Published
January 2009
Annotation

Presents preliminary findings from the Human Trafficking Reporting System (HTRS) on alleged incidents of human trafficking reported by 38 federally funded task forces.

Abstract

Presents findings from the Human Trafficking Reporting System (HTRS). The HTRS was developed in 2007 to collect data on alleged human trafficking incidents from state and local law enforcement agencies. As of September 30, 2008, it had collected information on incident, suspect, and victim characteristics from 38 human trafficking task forces, funded by the Department of Justice. Incident data include the number of suspects and victims, number of agencies involved in the incident, confirmation of incident as human trafficking, and type of lead agency. Victim data include demographic characteristics such as age, race, gender, and citizenship status. In addition to demographic characteristics, suspect data include available arrest, adjudication, and sentencing information. This report covers incidents reported by task forces from January 1, 2007, to September 30, 2008.

Highlights
  • 1,229 alleged incidents of human trafficking were reported to the task forces from January 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008.
  • Most (83%) of the reported incidents involved allegations of sex trafficking. Labor trafficking accounted for 12% of incidents, and other or unknown forms of human trafficking made up 5%.
  • Information on the number of suspects was available for 475 alleged human trafficking incidents. Among these, task forces reported 871 known suspects and arrest data on 216 suspects.

Date Published: January 15, 2009