This report builds upon the methodology and knowledge base of the first National Assessment of Demand Reduction Efforts with the objective of keeping the field informed of innovations and evolving responses to buyer behaviors and to continue to provide support for practice and policy.
To combat prostitution and sex trafficking, criminal justice strategies and collaborative programs have emerged that focus on divesting these illicit markets of their sole revenue source: consumer-level demand. From 2008 to 2012, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) sponsored a study entitled “National Assessment of Prostitution and Sex Trafficking Demand Reduction Efforts,” that featured the systematic collection of information to determine the types and distribution of demand reduction tactics implemented throughout the United States. These efforts gave rise to a typology of law enforcement and community-based tactics identifying 12 different methods for deterring people (mostly men) from buying sex or which sanction those individuals who solicit sex acts. The essential product of that study was the Demand Forum website, launched in January 2013. While Demand Forum continued to be a useful tool, much has changed since its launch in 2013 (and conception years before). The most significant development has been the advent of new tactics using information technology (IT) to deter buyers and develop evidence to apprehend those actively seeking to purchase sex. The current study builds upon the methodology and knowledge base of the first National Assessment with the objective of keeping the field informed of innovations and evolving responses to buyer behaviors and to continue to provide support for practice and policy. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), which now maintains Demand Forum, proposed a systematic assessment of current demand reduction tactics and an expanded tactic typology to reflect recent innovations intended to reduce the demand that drives sex trafficking markets. The project also aimed to provide updated information and resources that could be used by practitioners.