Since 1999, NIJ has supported 83 research and evaluation projects through almost $42 million in funding to examine and improve human trafficking awareness and prevention efforts nationwide.
We encourage practitioners in the field, researchers, advocates, and community members to review and share resources from work completed in the last five years. You can find research reports and tools designed for practitioner use in the field here. Collaboration between stakeholders is key to addressing human trafficking in all its forms.
Prevalence Estimation
- Examining the Geography of Illicit Massage Businesses Hosting Commercial Sex and Sex Trafficking in the United States: The Role of Census Tract and City-Level Factors
- Understanding, Preventing, and Responding to Human Trafficking – Podcast Episode
- Gaps in Reporting Human Trafficking Incidents Result in Significant Undercounting
- Human Trafficking Reporting System (BJS)
Indicators and Public Safety Response
- Explaining the Use of Traditional Law Enforcement Responses to Human Trafficking Concerns in Illicit Massage Businesses
- Law Enforcement Guide on Indicators of Sex Trafficking in Online Escort Ads
Labor and Sex Trafficking
- Understanding and Characterizing Labor Trafficking Among U.S. Citizen Victims
- Mechanisms of recruitment into sex trafficking operations: a systematic review
- A transdisciplinary approach for generating synthetic but realistic domestic sex trafficking networks
- The Prevalence and Correlates of Labor and Sex Trafficking in a Community Sample of Youth Experiencing Homelessness in Metro-Atlanta
- Indicators of Sex Trafficking in Online Escort Ads, Final Report
Legal Needs, Investigations and Digital Forensics
- Crime Victim Legal Assistance Networks: Evaluating a New Service Model
- Study Revealed Safe Harbor Laws Increased Protections for Sex-Trafficked Youth, Identified Needs for Agency Support and Judicial Training
- For Human Trafficking Survivors, Justice Is More About Healing and Preventing Future Trafficking
- A Human Trafficking Intervention Court’s Metropolitan Network Service Delivery Model: Program and Evaluation Implementation Guide
- Identifying online risk markers of hard-to-observe crimes through semi-inductive triangulation: The case of human trafficking in the United States
- Notes From the Field: Collaboration Is Key in Human Trafficking Investigations
Victim Services Evaluation and Needs
- Evaluating Victim Services Text and Chat Hotlines: Technology Helps Reach Underserved Populations
- Notes From the Field: Emphasizing a Victim-Centered Approach in Human Trafficking Prosecutions
- “Flexibility and Consistency”: Qualitative Insights on Valuable Skills for Providers Working with Survivors of Child Sex Trafficking
- The Outcomes for Human Trafficking Instrument: Validity and Reliability Testing
Date Published: January 2, 2024