A comparative description of relationships among traffickers and victims: sex trafficking cases in the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida, 2016-2019

Author: Williams, Kaila & Potter, Roberto

Abstract: Our understanding of the crimes associated with human trafficking, including trafficking persons for sex, are hampered by a lack of standardized information. This article reviews selected information, governmental and non-governmental, to develop an overview of major issues in this lack of understanding. We provide a descriptive analysis of official data taken from one of the arguably busiest judicial circuits in the nation to develop a snapshot of alleged traffickers and victims. These analyses seek to examine the relationships among alleged traffickers and victims beyond simple demographics that are often missing in the published literature. We discuss the implications of using similar local jurisdictional data to develop a more representative national mosaic of human trafficking across the United States for both academic and operational purposes.

Keywords: sex trafficking, descriptive analysis, elements of the crime, relationships