What is Sex Trafficking?
According to the Center for Disease Control, 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. It involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to make an individual engage in commercial sex acts
Warning Signs
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Appearing malnourished
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Showing signs of physical injuries and abuse
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Avoiding eye contact, social interaction, and authority figures/law enforcement
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Seeming to adhere to scripted or rehearsed responses in social interaction
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Lacking official identification documents
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Appearing destitute/lacking personal possessions
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Working excessively long hours
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Living at place of employment
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Checking into hotels/motels with older males, and referring to those males as boyfriend or “daddy,” which is often street slang for pimp
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Poor physical or mental health
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Tattoos/ branding on the neck and/or lower back
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Untreated sexually transmitted diseases
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Small children serving in a family restaurant
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Security measures that appear to keep people inside an establishment - barbed wire inside of a fence, bars covering the insides of windows
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Not allowing people to go into public alone, or speak for themselves