ABSTRACT
Introduction Human trafficking is perceived to be a serious and growing problem worldwide. Despite public concern, reliable estimates of the scope of human trafficking victimization in the USA are elusive. The International Labor Organization (ILO 2012) estimates that worldwide, 20.9 million people are victims of at least one form of forced labor and roughly 1.5 million of those victims are in the USA, Canada, and Western Europe. Commonly cited estimates suggest that at least 100,000 US children are victims of domestic minor sex trafficking each year (Smith, Varadaman, and Snow 2009) and between 244,000 and 300,000 children in the USA are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation, which includes sex trafficking annually (Estes and Weiner 2001).
