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POLICY BRIEF
CHILD EXPLOITATION IN ORANGE COUNTY: NEW THREATS DEMAND URGENT ACTION Despite growing awareness of human trafficking and exploitation across the U.S., the number of victims, including those under 18, continues to increase. Analysis of data from Orange County, California–a trafficking hub due to its population density, freeway access, and tourism–offers much-needed insight into ways of addressing the increase. These involve crucial updates to prevention and intervention efforts that address exploitation and sextortion, which are rapidly surpassing trafficking and train wider ranges of professionals on identification and interventions.
EMERGING VICTIM CHARACTERISTICS Reports of commercial sexual exploitation of minors (victims under 18) increased by 700% over the past decade, signaling a rapidly expanding crisis (Fig. 1) Victims age is declining: Non-trafficking exploitation victims now are middle-school age on average while trafficking victims are high school age (Fig. 2) Non-trafficking exploitation comprises a majority of cases Technology-facilitated exploitation (e.g., with smart phones, social media apps, gaming) dominates and continues to rise sharply More girls than boys are victims; when boys are victims, it is typically due to non-trafficking exploitation The range of children at risk of exploitation has expanded beyond traditional high-risk groups Fig. 2. Average Case Age of Exploited Minors (2015-2025)
Fig. 1. Trafficking vs Exploitation Cases (2015-2025)
CHALLENGES TO IDENTIFICATION Public and professional attention and training continue to focus mostly on trafficking rather than on the more prevalent forms of non-trafficking exploitation A majority of victims seek health services while being trafficked, meaning health practitioners, who are highly trusted, could help with identification and intervention Health practitioners lack protocols for responding to trafficking; some do not see doing so as their responsibility Awareness campaigns, training, and prevention efforts must address non-trafficking exploitation and sextortion to ensure all victims are being captured Ongoing integration of victim data across the county is essential to ongoing successful identification efforts Fig. 3. Trends in Federal Sex Trafficking Cases and Convictions
CHALLENGES TO LEGAL RESPONSES Federal prosecutions of sex trafficking have been dropping since 2017; conviction rates have dropped slightly (Fig. 3), suggesting ongoing challenges to effective legal responding Local law enforcement and justice professionals, if knowledgeable of emerging victim characteristics, could help improve legal responses and prosecutions Using specialized interviewing techniques modified from best practices for child victims can enhance trafficking victims’ cooperation and disclosure Law enforcement needs training in best practice questioning for child victims to reduce reliance on interrogative practices for suspects Prevention and intervention programs exist in the county, but many have yet to be formally evaluated, so their precise benefits and for which children are not clear
AUTHORS Jodi Quas, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, UC Irvine Nan Xiao, Ph.D., Research Scientist, UC Irvine (jquas@uci.edu, nxiao5@uci.edu)
We thank the County of Orange Social Service Agency for sharing data and County Board of Supervisor Vice Chair Katrina Foley for her support. The ideas here are solely those of the authors.