Human trafficking is a $150 billion industry annually worldwide, with at least $99 billion in profits in commercial and sexual exploitation alone. An estimated 70% of women involved in prostitution are first exploited under the age of eighteen, and estimates put the average age of entry into exploitation between eleven and fourteen. At least one-third of sexual exploitation cases in the United States involve minors. In the United States alone, an estimated 244,000 to 325,000 youth are at risk for sexual exploitation, with nearly 200,000 incidents of sexual exploitation of minors occurring each year. Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), “sex trafficking” is defined as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.” A “commercial sex act” is defined as “any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person.” Importantly, under the TVPRA, if the victim is under eighteen, the element of “force, fraud, or coercion” required for cases involving adult victims is not necessary, and status as a minor under eighteen is sufficient to prove victimization. The commercial and sexual exploitation of children (CSEC)—defined as “a range of crimes and activities involving the sexual abuse or exploitation of a child for the financial benefit of any person or in exchange for anything of value (including monetary and non-monetary benefits) given or received by any person”—is an umbrella term commonly used to describe sex trafficking involving children, also known as domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST).

The full extent of CSEC is unknown due to (1) a lack of training of law enforcement, child welfare agencies, and service providers; (2) law enforcement, child welfare agencies, and service providers failing to identify victims; and (3) victims being hesitant to come forward due to fear of incarceration, shame, lack of self-identification as victims, and fear of and loyalty to their traffickers. Survivors of CSEC are too often treated like criminals rather than victims of trafficking, which contributes to state and federal agencies’ inability to capture the actual extent of CSEC. Instead of being identified as victims and receiving therapeutic and other rehabilitative services, survivors are often arrested on status crimes or for behaviors directly related to their exploitation and are treated as prostitutes taking part in their own exploitation. Creating additional barriers to identifying victims, the language often used to refer to CSEC survivors reinforces stereotypes and may designate a survivor’s status as a criminal rather than victim. For example, a common misconception about CSEC is that victims are more likely to be non-U.S. citizens, and so “‘U.S. child victims may be referred to as “prostitutes” [while] foreign national child victims may be referred to as “sex trafficking victims.”’” However, most victims of CSEC in the United States are U.S. citizens, not immigrant children. Referring to victims of CSEC as “prostitutes” increases the likelihood that victims will face delinquency or criminal charges rather than be provided with protection and rehabilitative services.

Despite the holes in identifying victims of CSEC, researchers and experts have been able to pinpoint common characteristics and risk factors for this population. Children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems are at a high risk of CSEC victimization. Multiple studies have found a correlation between CSEC and poverty, substance abuse, a history of abuse and neglect, a history of homelessness, a history of running away from home, and other social, economic, community, and familial factors. While girls are often identified as the most common CSEC victims, boys are victims as well. Children who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, or asexual (LGBTQIA) are victimized at a higher rate than their cisgender peers, as are children of racial or ethnic minorities, particularly Black and American Indian children. This disproportionality is commonly due to racial bias against children of color, who are more likely to be seen as participants in their own exploitation rather than as victims in need of services. LGBTQIA youth, children of racial or ethnic minorities, African American children, and American Indian children are also disproportionately represented in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, and thus are at an even greater risk of exploitation once they have entered those systems.

However, a child’s status as LGBTQIA or as a racial or ethnic minority does not innately make them more likely to be victims. Importantly, any child can be a victim of CSEC. There is no single profile of a trafficking victim. Victims of human trafficking can be anyone—regardless of race, color, national origin, disability, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, education level, or citizenship status. However, data indicates that traditionally underserved populations are highly represented; traffickers frequently prey on individuals who are impoverished, vulnerable, living in an unsafe situation, or are in search of a better life.

Survivors of CSEC are at risk of negative mental health, medical, social, educational, and other outcomes that will affect them throughout their lives. For example, survivors of CSEC are more likely to experience posttraumatic stress disorder, suicidal ideations, high blood pressure, obesity and eating disorders, substance abuse, and teen pregnancy. Survivors of CSEC are also more likely to engage in behavior that can lead to child welfare and juvenile justice involvement, such as running away and truancy, and to display behaviors that are associated with delinquency, such as alcohol and drug use and aggression. Research has shown that the behavioral reactions seen in survivors of CSEC are common responses to trauma, which are likely to worsen absent therapeutic interventions, thus leading to a greater likelihood of systems involvement.