WHAT IS SEX TRAFFICKING?

FACTS AND STATISTICS

 

The United States is one of the top 3 nations in which trafficking originates.

-U.S. Dept. of State Trafficking In Persons Report

 

Top 3 States in the USA where Sex Trafficking is Reported

1. California 2. Texas 3. Florida

-Polaris

 

Studies consistently report that 50-90% of child sex trafficking victims have been involved in the child welfare system.

-Child Welfare Information Gateway

 

The United States is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, transgender individuals, and children—both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals— subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.

-U.S. Dept. of State T.I.P.

 

Every 2 minutes a child is being prepared for sexual exploitation.

-Unicef

 

There are girls as young as 5 and 6 years old in the U.S. that are forced to do sexual acts for economic gain by their pimp.

–U.S. Department of Justice

 

In some cases children may be born into sex trafficking, or be forced into it as a toddler. Sex trafficking of those that are younger than 10 years old when they entered the life is perpetrated almost exclusively by family members, often a father or stepfather.

-THORN.org

 

The average age a girl enters the commercial sex trade is 12-14 years old. For boys, it’s even younger, just 11-13 years old.

-National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

 

4,500,000 are being trafficked for forced labor through sexual exploitation every year; this is in addition to the millions already held captive by trafficking.

–ILO

 

Each year, as many as 100,000-300,000 American children are at risk of being trafficked for commercial sex in the United States.

-U.S. Department of Justice

 

Field research in nine countries concluded that 60-75% of women in prostitution were raped, 70-95% were physically assaulted, and 68% met the criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the same range as treatment-seeking combat veterans.

-Farley, Melissa et al. 2003. "Prostitution and Trafficking in Nine Countries: An Update on Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder." Journal of Trauma Practice

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70% of female trafficking victims are trafficked into the commercial sex industry, including porn, stripping, and legal brothels.

-US Department of Justice, Assessment of US Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons

 

Up to 95% have a history of childhood sexual abuse.

-Melissa Farley, Prostitution and Sexual Violence Psychiatric Times

 

A study published in the scientific Journal of Trauma Practice found that 89% of women in prostitution wanted to escape but had no other means of survival.