Human Adult/Child Sex Trafficking

Top 15 States In The U.S. For Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is far from being a curable disease of human society, even in developed and first world countries. This is also the case with the US, of course. Human trafficking in the US involves both inflow of foreign people in the country and the local population. According to the statistics of the National Human Trafficking Hotline and Polaris BFree Textline, more than 49,000 trafficking cases were reported during the last decade in the US.

Of all types of human trafficking, sexual exploitation is number one also in the US. More precisely – out of more than 10,000 reported human trafficking cases in 2017, around 7,200 were for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

But today we are not focusing on the type of human trafficking, but on the general statistics countrywide. We have done the research for the last year on the same issue, where we included some of the worst stats for human trafficking in 2018, which you can check out in our article on 12 Top States for Human Trafficking in 2018. Getting into more detail, concerning the top cities for human trafficking in 2018, there was no any reliable information on a worldwide level, but we did research which concerns US cities, and you can read more about this in 16 Top US Cities for Human Trafficking in 2019. Concerning the previous years, on the matter of the top US cities for human trafficking in 2017, there is a nice visual representation made by Polaris, showing the map of the cities and areas with the highest density of human trafficking for this year.

As we can see, situations in the top 10 states for human trafficking in 2017, or already mentioned top states for human trafficking in 2018 do not differ dramatically, which also stands for this year’s situation. This fact shows that the local government does not take enough effort in preventing human trafficking cases and that this is a very hard thing to fight since human trafficking is a very developed industry. International Labour Organization estimates that human trafficking is a $150 billion industry, of which $99 billion belongs to sexual exploitation.

We used some statistics provided for the last year since there is still not enough relevant data for 2019. However, it seems that trends remain more or less the same concerning the issues of the top states for human trafficking. So, we used the statistic provided by the National Human Trafficking Hotline, where reported cases were counted. Unfortunately, the number of unreported ones is unknown, so the situation might look a bit different than what we currently know.

As the top 10 states for human trafficking have kept their positions over years, the same situation was to be expected for 2019 and on. But, let’s see if there have been any oscillations in the number of reported human trafficking cases recently between them, and which the new incomers are in the 15 top states for human trafficking in 2019:

15. Arizona - No. of reported cases: 96
Arizona is fighting against human trafficking actively. In September 2018, 24 people were arrested for being involved in the serious crime of child sex trafficking.

14. Virginia - No. of reported cases: 98
Being among the top states for human trafficking, Virginia takes this problem seriously – it is the 6th state in the country when it comes to solving human trafficking cases.

13. New Jersey - No. of reported cases: 98
Even though New Jersey now takes the 13th place compared to the 12th place last year, the number of human trafficking victims has actually risen from 83 to 98 reported cases. This is because of the alarming fact that human trafficking is on the rise in the US as well as in the world.

12. Washington - No. of reported cases: 99
Despite Washington being the first state to sign the law that criminalizes human trafficking, this state, unfortunately still has an alarming number of human trafficking cases.

11. North Carolina - No. of reported cases: 126
Human trafficking in North Carolina falls from the 8th to 11th position from 2018 to 2019. That is a good thing, even though it is still among the states which have a very developed human trafficking industry.

10. Pennsylvania - No. of reported cases: 127
Although the rate of human trafficking in Pennsylvania is slowly decreasing, it is still among the top 10 states for human trafficking in 2019.

9. Illinois - No. of reported cases: 135
Illinois has risen one place higher comparing to 2018 when it was number ten, and still being among the top states for human trafficking in 2019.

8. Georgia - No. of reported cases: 157
It seems that human trafficking in Georgia has decreased, from the 6th place in 2018, it takes the 8th now. We hope it will continue to follow this path.

7. Nevada - No. of reported cases: 169
In Nevada, as in other states, sex trafficking is at the top. And it usually concerns girls younger than 18 years of age!

6. Michigan - No. of reported cases: 176
Good news came from Michigan the last October when 120 children who were victims of human trafficking were rescued. But this also shows the alarming fact that children are most endangered when it comes to human trafficking in the US.

5. New York - No. of reported cases: 206
It seems that the number of human trafficking (and especially sex trafficking) cases in New York is dramatically increasing. The number of 206 cases is more than double than during 2016, so we might expect that New York gets even a higher position if we are to conduct the research about the top states for human trafficking in 2019, again at the end of this year.

4. Ohio - No. of reported cases: 219
In Ohio,  the most trafficking take place in hotels and motels, Commercial-Front Brothels and online ad. venues, and it is mostly concentrated in the central part of the state.

3. Florida - No. of reported cases: 367
The government of Florida seems to be working hard on preventing human trafficking, even though the state is one among those that have the most human trafficking reported cases. Namely, during 2018, 277 people were arrested for sex trafficking during an undercover operation called “Operation No Trick, No Treats”.

2. Texas - No. of reported cases: 455
Human trafficking is crawling into every sphere of society it seems. News from Texas reported that an eighth-grade teacher was arrested in an attempt to traffic a child to Morocco.

1. California - No. of reported cases: 760
California seems to keep the first place in 15 top states for human trafficking in 2019 as well. Not only it precedes every other country but the number of reported cases is quite higher compared to the second top trafficking state, Texas, as we have seen. One of the main risk factors for human trafficking in California include migration and relocation, where Latinos and Asians are the main target groups.

The Connection Between Foster Care and Human Trafficking

The child welfare system is an important and necessary institution that protects children whose parents are unable to care for them. The overwhelming majority of children and youth in foster care placements and group homes are healthy and safe. However, it is undeniable that most children and youth who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation have been involved with the foster care system at one point in their lives.

Commercially Sexually Exploited Children by State
Minimally half of the commercially sexually exploited children on the streets today were at one time living in foster care or a group home run by the state. While most of reports place this number above 50 percent, the statistics widely vary. At the high end, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, the Honorable Joette Katz, stated in her testimony to the state that in Connecticut, 98 percent of children who are identified as survivors of sex trafficking had previous involvement with child welfare services, and many were legally in the care and custody of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families while they were being prostituted by traffickers. Another study found that at least 85 percent of all CSEC in New York State had a child welfare background. On the statistical low end is the state of California that reported 50 percent of children sold in California are foster care children. While the statistics may vary by report, state and city, the overwhelming evidence suggests that the foster care system is a breeding ground for CSEC.

Connection Between Foster Care Children and Commercially Sexually Exploited Children
There are three childhood experiences that victims of CSE commonly share: prior sexual abuse by a family member or family friend; parental neglect or abandonment; or time spent as runaways or throwaways. Sexual abuse in particular is cited as a leading cause for entry into CSE, an estimated 65-95 percent of sex trafficking victims were sexually assaulted as children and 75 percent of all sex trafficking victims were at one point homeless.

Children and youth are put in foster care placements or group homes when their parents are absent or can no longer adequately take care of them, leaving them prone to feelings of abandonment. There are a variety of reasons why the child welfare system takes children into custody, but the most common are parental substance abuse, alcohol abuse, domestic violence or neglect. A childhood of abuse and neglect greatly increases the chances for children to be lured into commercial sexual exploitation. It is also what runaway, throwaway and foster care children have in common. When asked, “What is the typical victim [of CSE] you come across?” FBI Agent and leader of the Tampa Area Crimes Against Children task force Gregory Christopher said, “A lot of these kids are foster kids, runaway kids… I’d say about 70 percent or so are foster kids. We work closely with DCF (Department of Children and Families).” Children and youth in the foster care system and those that run away from child protective services are more likely to become victims of CSE. The themes of childhood trauma, abandonment, and disruption are central to the stories of adolescents trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. Without families to work on their behalf, it’s much more difficult to rescue foster youths from sex trafficking and keep them out of the cycle.

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