Estimating the Prevalence of Human Trafficking: Progress Made and Future Directions

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) 2019-10, Vol.109 (10), p.1318-1319
• Main Authors: Nemeth, Julianna M, Rizo, Cynthia Fraga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child welfare; Correctional institutions; Counties; Crime; Criminal justice; Detention; Drug use; Editorials; Emergency medical services; Enforcement; Epidemiology; Estimation; Forecasting; Fraud; Homeless people; Homelessness; Human Rights; Human Trafficking; Humans; Identity; Infrastructure; Inventory; Judicial system; Juvenile courts; Juvenile justice; Law enforcement; Legislation; Medical research; Ohio; Other Statistics/Evaluation/Research; Post traumatic stress disorder; Prevalence; Prisons; Public health; Research methodology; Researchers; Screening; Subpopulations; Substance use; Victims
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305258

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (Pub L No. 106-386)-a US policy developed to combat human trafficking-defines human trafficking as "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery." "Human trafficking," the term commonly used to refer to both labor and sex trafficking, is associated with negative physical, mental, and social outcomes (e.g., pain, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance use). Therefore, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers have been increasingly interested in understanding, preventing, and respondingto this hidden epidemic. A critical first step in addressing any problem is determining its presence. In their 2017 editorial for AJPH, Rothman et al. identified key priorities for public health researchers to advance the field of antihuman trafficking, with the first priority being the more precise estimation of human trafficking. In the past few years, laudable efforts have been undertaken to develop innovative tools and methods to estimate human trafficking and to determine the prevalence and incidence of human trafficking across the United States as well as specific states, counties, and subpopulations (e.g., immigrant laborers, homeless youths, child welfare-involved youths).