Exploring the Physical, Mental, and Social Health Issues of Sex Trafficking Victims by Stage of Exploitation

• In Event: Roundtable: Victims & Offenders Special Issue on “Reforming the Criminal Justice Response to Human Trafficking"

Abstract

Although health outcomes are recognized as being an important consideration in the response to victims, little is known about how these effects might vary depending on when victims were exploited or how they compare to individuals who have not experienced trafficking. Thus, the current study seeks to fill this gap by examining the physical, mental, and social health issues of sex trafficking victims by the stage of exploitation they experienced (and to non-sex trafficking victims). Note that exploitation status is defined here as including four categories : (1) did not experience sex trafficking (ST) victimization, (2) adolescent ST only, (3) adult ST only, (4) both adolescent and adulthood ST victimization. The ultimate goal is to determine whether discrepancies in health issues are unique to individuals who have experienced exploitation at a certain stage in life or whether these effects are general across groups after controlling for other theoretically relevant factors.

Authors

• Amber E. Krushas, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Teresa C. Kulig, University of Nebraska at Omaha