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Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2008-2010

NCJ Number
233732
Author(s)
Duren Banks; Tracey Kyckelhahn
Date Published
April 2011
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This report - the second in a Bureau of Justice Statistics series on the characteristics of human trafficking investigations, suspects, and victims - focuses on case outcomes, including suspect arrests and the visa status of confirmed victims; and it describes the characteristics of incidents entered into the Human Trafficking Reporting System (HTRS) by the federally funded task force beginning in 2008.
Abstract

Describes the characteristics of human trafficking investigations, suspects, and victims in cases opened by federally funded task forces between January 2008 and June 2010. This report provides information about investigations, persons involved in suspected and confirmed incidents of human trafficking, and case outcomes. Data are from the Human Trafficking Reporting System (HTRS), which was created in response to a congressional mandate in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 for biennial reporting on the scope and characteristics of human trafficking. HTRS is currently the only system that captures information on human trafficking investigations conducted by state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States. The report also describes HTRS data collection procedures and data quality issues.

  • Federally funded task forces opened 2,515 suspected incidents of human trafficking for investigation between January 2008 and June 2010.
  • About 8 in 10 of the suspected incidents of human trafficking were classified as sex trafficking, and about 1 in 10 incidents were classified as labor trafficking.
  • The confirmed human trafficking incidents open for at least a year led to 144 known arrests.