Lessons Learned when Identifying Sex Trafficking Victims in the General Population

• In Event: Innovations in Human Trafficking Research—Part 2: A Focus on Sex Trafficking

Abstract

A challenge of human trafficking research has been to identify those individuals who have been victimized by these crimes. Scholars have historically sought to identify victims in high-risk populations—or individuals who are known to have vulnerability indicators associated with trafficking (e.g., child welfare involvement). However, the field of victimology more generally has administered self-report surveys with behaviorally specific language to the broader population to identify and understand difficult-to-measure crimes. The idea being that not everyone self-identifies as a “victim” even if their experiences can legally be classified as such, which allows self-report surveys to tap into these experiences without relying on formal reporting systems. This presentation expands this line of work by discussing the feasibility of measuring experiences of sex trafficking victimization in the general population without labeling these experiences as “trafficking.” Findings from several recent national-level surveys that applied victimological methods of self-report surveys with behaviorally specific language that aligned with the federal legal definition to measure sex trafficking victimization will be discussed. The methods, survey items, and prevalence will be reviewed in the context of lessons learned when administering these surveys for future scholars to consider.

Authors

• Teresa C. Kulig, University of Nebraska Omaha

• Leah C. Butler, University of Cincinnati

• Amber Krushas, University of Nevada, Las Vegas