EXTENT OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Statistics
The true prevalence of human trafficking in the United States is unknown because of the concealed nature of the crime. The unofficial estimate is hundreds of thousands when cases among adults, minors, sex, and labor trafficking are combined.
It is believed that more women and children are victims of sex trafficking and domestic servitude and that more boys and men are trafficked for other forms of labor, but it is not possible to present dependable statistics. Some researchers use reports of missing children to estimate statistics of trafficked children.
REPORTED CASES
Nationally, in fiscal year 2021, there was a 49% increase in the number of persons who were referred to U.S. attorneys for human trafficking. The number of referrals increased from 1,360 in 2011 to 2,027 in 2021, and the number of prosecutions more than doubled, rising from 729 to 1,672 over the same time period.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline gathers data from calls made to their hotline. Recent statistics for the state of Florida are described in the tables below.
Type | Number |
---|---|
*Total number of victims was 1,253 because cases may have multiple victims. (NHTH, 2023b) |
|
Sex | 574 |
Labor | 99 |
Sex and labor | 37 |
Total cases | 781* |
Gender | Number |
---|---|
(NHTH, 2023b) | |
Female | 638 |
Male | 115 |
Gender minorities | 8 |
Age | Number |
---|---|
(NHTH, 2023b) | |
Adult | 579 |
Minor | 151 |
MALE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS
Although most published statistics portray victims of trafficking as predominantly female, that information is misleading because labor trafficking of males occurs in almost every type of work, from mining and construction to fishing, hospitality, and healthcare. Sex trafficking of men and boys is underreported, and the sex trafficking industry may have nearly equal numbers of male and female victims. Boys who become sexually exploited often have certain vulnerabilities. These include substance dependency, child abuse, poor English-language skills, refugee status, homelessness, and identification as gay/bisexual/transgender.
Male survivors of trafficking face unique barriers. Initially, male survivors may not self-identify as victims. This is because society continues to view males as less vulnerable than females and offers a common portrayal of men as the perpetrators and females as the victims. Often males are fearful that they may be perceived as gay and then judged as “wanting it” because of societal stigma. Exiting a trafficking situation is likely to be more difficult for males than females because there are fewer resources for recovering male trafficking survivors, such as housing, therapy, legal aid, and medical care (Bykerk, 2022).