A Comparison of Methodologies Used to Enumerate Human Trafficking Statistics

• In Event: Special Topics Using Data from the Federal Justice Statistics Program

Abstract

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) publishes the annual Human Trafficking Data Collection Activities, which shares statistics from the Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP) on defendants charged with a human trafficking offense across the federal justice system. The Human Trafficking Institute (HTI) also publishes annual statistics in the Federal Human Trafficking Report. Notably, the number of new cases related to human trafficking in U.S. District Court differ. This analysis explores differences in the methodologies used by BJS and HTI to measure human trafficking cases. HTI’s selection criteria are applied to data from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to identify gaps between reports. Preliminary findings indicate differences in: (1) the scope of cases, (2) data sources used to identify cases, (3) federal statutes used to identify cases, and (4) definition of a ‘year’ (e.g., calendar or fiscal). Implications for improved reporting of human trafficking statistics are discussed.

Authors

• Vanessa Masick, Abt Global

• Pearl Zheng, Abt Global

• Shelby Hickman, Abt Global

• Mark Motivans, Bureau of Justice Statistics

• Rachel Seo-Park, Bureau of Justice Statistics