A National Assessment of Sex Traficking Demand Reduction Efforts

This research study seeks to assess criminal justice strategies and collaborative programs that have emerged over the past 20 years and that focus on reducing the demand for commercial sex. The grantee recently completed an evaluation of a model demand reduction program in which they assessed the transferability of the program model and its potential for future growth and found little descriptive information to be available about the vast majority of demand reduction strategies, and that few evaluations or case studies had been conducted. They also found that communities attempting to address demand have done so with little guidance from the collective experience of others who have; consequently, many programs have struggled or failed when faced with problems that had been solved elsewhere. To inform those operating, planning, or considering implementing sex trafficking demand reduction initiatives, the grantee has proposed a systematic description and process/formative evaluation of programs and strategies employed throughout the U.S. From a sampling frame of over 435 sites that are known to have engaged in some form of sex trafficking demand reduction, they will survey a sample of 150 sites, create a typology, and conduct intensive case studies of a purposive sample of 20 of these sites.

ca/ncf