Guides: Criminal Justice: Human Trafficking

National Human Trafficking Hotline

Call the 24/7, confidential National Human Trafficking Hotline for help or to report a tip.

1-888-373-7888
TTY: 711
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Statistics and Data

Statistics on human trafficking can be difficult to gather, as victims are often hidden or afraid to come forward. Some data can only be estimated.

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
Human Trafficking Data Collection Activities Annual Reports
International Labour Orgainzation
Child Labour; Global estimates 2020
Polaris
2021 Data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline

Websites

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United States

U.S. Department of Justice: Human Trafficking
Includes information on legislation, including the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, special anti-trafficking programs and initiatives, and resources for victims, training, grants and funding.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center for Countering Human Trafficking
Includes resources focused on identification and screening for human trafficking, victim protection and assistance, investigations and enforcement, and training, outreach and engagement.
International Labour Organization: Forced Labour Observatory
Includes "global and country information, including on international and national legal and institutional frameworks; enforcement, prevention (including fair recruitment and due diligence) and protection measures, as well as information related to access to justice; remedies, and cooperation."
U.S. Department of Labor Affairs: Child Labor and Force Labor Reports
List of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor
List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor
Polaris Project
The Polaris Project is an organization that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, publishes reports, resources and intelligence packages ot disrupt trafficking and support victims, law enforcement , and government policymakers.

International

Interpol: Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling
Describes types of human trafficking and how Interpol is responding.
United Nations: Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling
Includes annual reports, guides and recommendations, and training materials.
Council of Europe - Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings
The Convention has a comprehensive scope of application, encompassing all forms of trafficking and taking in all persons who are victims of trafficking
Anti-Slavery International
Anti-Slavery International, founded in 1839, is the world's oldest international human rights organisation and works to eliminate all forms of slavery around the world.
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
A non-governmental organization that works to end human trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children worldwide. CATW is the world’s first organization to fight human trafficking internationally and is the world’s leading abolitionist organization.
Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women
A network of non-governmental organizations from all regions of the world, who share a deep concern for the women, children and men whose human rights have been violated by the criminal practice of human trafficking.
Human Rights Watch: Smuggling and Trafficking Human Beings
Learn the difference between human smuggling and human trafficking in the Q & A page.

Articles

The Prevalence of Sex Trafficking of Children and Adolescents in the United States: A Scoping Review
Franchino-Olsen, H. (2021). Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 22(1), 99-111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838018821956
Vulnerabilities Relevant for Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children/Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: A Systematic Review of Risk Factors
Franchino-Olsen, H. (2021). Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 22(1), 99-111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838018821956
Migrant Workers and Their Occupational Health and Safety
Moyce, S. C., & Schenker, M. (2018). In Annual Review of Public Health (Vol. 39, pp. 351-365).
Sexual and gender-based violence against refugee women: a hidden aspect of the refugee “crisis”
Freedman, J. (2016). Reproductive Health Matters, 24(47), 18-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhm.2016.05.003
Prevalence and risk of violence and the mental, physical and sexual health problems associated with human trafficking: An updated systematic review
Ottisova, L., Hemmings, S., Howard, L. M., Zimmerman, C., & Oram, S. (2016). Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 25(4), 317-341. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796016000135
Child sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation: Health care needs of victims
Greenbaum, J., Crawford-Jakubiak, J. E., Christian, et al. (2015). . Pediatrics, 135(3), 566-574. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-4138

Books and eBooks

Human Trafficking: Examining the Facts (eBook) by Laura J. Lederer
Deeply researched and scrupulously even-handed, this work provides readers with a clear and accurate understanding of human trafficking and issues related to socioeconomic inequality, human rights, and international law. \
Routledge International Handbook of Human Trafficking (eBook) by Rochelle Dalla (Editor);
Explores how human trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are enslaved, the fasted growing international crime, and one the largest income sources for organized crime
Sex Trafficking by Lenore Walker
Call Number: HQ 281 .H36 2018

This definitive reference assembles the current knowledge base on the scope and phenomena of sex trafficking as well as best practices for treatment of its survivors.
Estimating the Prevalence of Human Trafficking in the United States: (eBook) by National Academies of Sciences
Publication Date: 2020

Provides guidance for identifying and defining human trafficking, and it authorizes legislation and appropriations for subsequent counter-trafficking measures both within and outside of the federal government.
A Transnational Human Rights Approach to Human Trafficking (eBook) by Yoon Jin Shin
Suggests an alternative transnational human rights framework, in which victimized migrants, who have been treated as passive targets, effectively exercise their human, civil and labor rights
Human Trafficking, the Bible, and the Church (eBook) by Marion L. S. Carson;
Examines key biblical material on slavery and prostitution and suggests that the Bible can inform Christian responses to modern-day slavery in all its forms.
The Banality of Good (eBook) by Lieba Faier
Examines why contemporary efforts to curb human trafficking have fallen so spectacularly short of their stated goals despite well-funded campaigns by the UN and its member-state governments.
Human Trafficking: A Treatment Guide for Mental Health Professionals (eBook) by John H. Coverdale
Provides epidemiological data to help clinicians understand the factors that contribute to being trafficked, the associated consequences, and the role of health professionals in combatting it.
Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation by Lara Gerassi
Call Number: HQ 314 .G47 2018

Critical analysis of current research and best practices for working with children, adolescents, and adults involved in sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.
Migration, Agency and Citizenship in Sex Trafficking by Rutvica Andrijasevic
Call Number: HQ 281 .A53 2010

Based on interviews with migrant women in the sex sector, this book brings together issues of migration, labour and political subjectivity in order focus on agency and citizenship rather than sex slavery and organized crime.
Mobile Africa: Human Trafficking and the Digital Divide (eBook) by Van Reisen, Mirjam
Examines the impact of the introduction of new digital information and communication technology (ICT) - as well as lack of access to digital connectivity - on human trafficking
Violence Against Women by True, Jacqui
Call Number: HV 6250.4 .W65 T784 2021

Examines the causes and consequences of violence against women in the home, local community, workplace, public, and transnationally and sets out promising policy and advocacy frameworks to end the violence.
Life Interrupted by Denise Brennan
Call Number: HD 8081 .A5 B74 2014

A riveting account trafficking survivors in and after trafficking and a forceful call for meaningful immigration and labor reform.
Precarious Lives (eBook) by Hannah Lewis; Peter Dwyer
Explores how asylum and forced labour are linked, and enmeshed in a broader picture of modern slavery produced through globalised working conditions.