Understanding The Issue
Tools To Fight Sex Trafficking
Stats and Resources
If you see something, say something! Call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-3737-888 or contact Selah Freedom's intake line at 1-888-8-FREE-ME.
Top Indicators of Sex Trafficking/Exploitation
- Signs of or history of emotional, sexual, or other physical abuse, sexually transmitted diseases
- Unexplainable appearance of expensive gifts, clothing, or other costly items
- Presence of an older boy/girlfriend
- Minor in the company of a controlling third party
- Lack of knowledge about a given community or whereabouts
- Bruising and injuries, signs of branding/tattoos
- Runaway/homeless
- Lying about age, giving false ID and/or no ID
- Well-rehearsed and/or inconsistent stories
Top Statistics of Sex Trafficking/Exploitation*
- 1 in 10 children are sexually abused. At Selah Freedom, most survivors report being sexually abused as children
- Many of the survivors at Selah Freedom report sexual abuse beginning between 3-4 years old
- 2 million children are sold each year through sex trafficking
- Child sex trafficking has been reported in all 50 states
- Statistically, the average age of children running away and entering into sex trafficking is 15-17 years old. At Selah Freedom, many survivors report entering sex trafficking between the ages of 12-14 years old
- Within 48 hours of running away, 1 out of 3 children are solicited for sex
- Victims can be sold 15-40 times every 24 hours
- It takes 7-8 touchpoints with a victim before she is ready to step into care
- Pornography gets more visitors each month than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined
- 1 in 9 children receive online sexual solicitation
- Traffickers recruit children into sex trafficking through close relationships (“friending”)
- Traffickers have made up to $1.6 million per year off their victims
- Sex Trafficking is a $99 billion dollar industry
- Florida is in the top three states in the nation for sex trafficking
- Chicago is in the top five cities in the nation for sex trafficking
Sources:
Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018. United Nations Publication, Dec. 2018, www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2018/GLOTiP_2018_BOOK_web_small.pdf.
The Issues: Child Sex Trafficking. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, www.missingkids.com/theissues/trafficking.
Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage. International Labour Organization, Walk Free Foundation, 2017.
Fisher, Nicole. Human Trafficking Is In Plain Sight. Are You Supporting It Without Knowing?Forbes, 28 Sept. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2017/04/24/human-trafficking-in-plain-sight/#720b59ec51f8.
Kessler, G. (2015, May 28). The bogus claim that 300,000 U.S. children are ‘at risk’ of sexual exploitation. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/05/28/the-bogus-claim-that-300000-u-s-children-are-at-risk-of-sexual-exploitation/?utm_term=.6ed3932e1d93
Townsend, Catherine. Estimating a Child Sexual Abuse Prevalance Rates for Practitioners. Darkness 2 Light, Aug. 2013, www.d2l.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PREVALENCE-RATE-WHITE-PAPER-D2L.pdf.
Bouche, Vanessa. A Report on the Use of Technology to Recruit, Groom and Sell Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Victims. THORN, Jan. 2015, www.thorn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Survivor_Survey_r5.pdf.
UNICEF Unite: Fast Facts. UNICEF, www.unicefusa.org/sites/default/files/Fast Facts UNICEF USA.pdf.
Dank, Meredith, et al. Estimating the Size and and Structure of the Underground Commercial Sex Economy in Eight Major US Cities. Urban Institute, 12 Mar. 2014, www.urban.org/research/publication/estimating-size-and-structure-underground-commercial-sex-economy-eight-major-us-cities.
Madigan, Sheri, et al. The Prevalence of Unwanted Online Sexual Exposure and Solicitation Among Youth: A Meta-Analysis. Elsevier Inc. , Aug. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29921546.
Monto, Martin, and Nick McRee. “A Comparison of the Male Customers of Female Street Prostitutes with National Samples of Men.” Vol. 49, no. 5, Oct. 2005, pp. 505–29., journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306624X04272975.
Can You Guess 2018’s Most Viewed Categories on the Largest Porn Site? Fight the New Drug, 9 July 2019, fightthenewdrug.org/pornhub-visitors-in-2018-and-review-of-top-searches/.
Kleinman, Alexis. Porn Sites Get More Visitors Each Month Than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter Combined. HuffPost, 4 May 2013, www.huffpost.com/entry/internet-porn-stats_n_3187682.
Common Sense Media, https://www.commonsensemedia.org/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens-infographic
Farley, Melissa. “Renting an Organ for Ten Minutes: What Tricks Tell Us about Prostitution, Pornography, and Trafficking.” Pornography: Driving the Demand in International Sex Trafficking, edited by David E. Guinn and Julie DiCaro, Xlibris, 2007, 145.
https://www.thorn.org/child-trafficking-statistics
CPYU’s Digital Kid’s Initiative https://digitalkidsinitiative.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Children_and_Pornography_Factsheet-Revised-August-2014.pdf
