NCJ Number
305205
Date Published
October 2022
Length
6 pages
Abstract
This report describes BJS’s activities during 2021 and 2022 to collect data and report on human trafficking as required by the Combat Human Trafficking Act of 2015 (34 U.S.C. § 20709(e)). It details ongoing and completed efforts to measure and analyze the nationwide incidence of human trafficking, to describe characteristics of human trafficking victims and offenders, and to describe criminal justice responses to human trafficking offenses. Additionally, it provides information on human trafficking suspects referred to and prosecuted by U.S. attorneys, human trafficking defendants convicted in U.S. district court, and admissions to state prison for human trafficking.
Highlights:
- A total of 2,198 persons were referred to U.S. Attorneys for human trafficking offenses in fiscal year 2020, a 62% increase from the 1,360 persons referred in 2011.
- The number of persons prosecuted for human trafficking increased from 729 in 2011 to 1,343 in 2020, an 84% increase.
- The number of persons convicted of a federal human trafficking offense increased from 2011 (464 persons) to 2019 (837 persons), before falling in 2020 (658 persons).
- Of the 1,169 defendants charged in U.S. district court with human trafficking offenses in fiscal year 2020—
- 92% were male
- 63% were white
- 18% were black
- 17% were Hispanic
- 95% were U.S. citizens
- 66% had no prior convictions.
- At yearend 2020, for the 47 states that reported data, 1,564 persons were in the custody of a state prison serving a sentence for a human trafficking offense.