“In truth, generating valid, reliable, and current data is challenging. The sex industry in the U.S. is, for the most part, illegal. Those who buy and those who sell their bodies for sexual exploitation are often reluctant to admit to their behavior, and thus difficult to reach with normal research methods such as random sampling surveys. This makes it quite difficult to ascertain answers to even the most basic questions, such as “What is the scope of the sex trade? How many people in this country are trafficked for sexual exploitation?” “How many people are buying sex?”…Utilizing only reputable data, being willing to say “we don’t know” when we don’t, and funding more and better research are the only ways we can overcome this fundamental problem.” — What We Know About Sex Trafficking, Prostitution, and Sexual Exploitation in the U.S. 

As Awaken continues to increase and expand its efforts, seeking funding for additional local research is an organizational priority.

State and Local Statistics

Nevada law allows counties with populations below 700,000 to approve and license houses of prostitution. Prostitution is illegal in Washoe County but it borders four counties — Churchill, Humboldt, Pershing, and Storey — where prostitution is legal. Youth as young as 18 years old can legally work in a brothel as a prostitute. The following data support Awaken’s belief that legalized prostitution increases overall supply and demand for prostituted and sexually exploited people as it crosses county borders and creates a culture that “mainstreams” and readily accepts the commodification of sex.

• A recent study by Creighton University in partnership with Awaken revealed that 1,500 women and children are being sold online for sex at any given time in the Northern Nevada area.
• Surveys in the U.S. have found 73% to 92% of prostituted women have been raped while providing commercial sex and 59% of victims have been raped more than five times.
• In 2016, 136 sex trafficking cases were reported in Nevada to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. In 2018, that number jumped to 313.

Northern Nevada lacks significant local data on this issue. Awaken aims to rectify this problem. Until then, we rely on studies conducted in the most populous part of NV — Clark County.

A recent study by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) and the Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research (ASU STIR) analyzed sex trafficking cases in Las Vegas and discovered the following insights:

Between 1994 and 2014, LVMPD identified 2,449 victims of sex trafficking under age 18. In 2014, LVMPD identified 190 victims of sex trafficking — nearly 65% were minors under the age of 18. Findings from these cases reflect Awaken’s own experiences with this population and include:

• The most common type of sex trafficker in the report was a Romeo-type pimp using romance and promises to convince the victim to enter into prostitution.
• In 22 cases, the Romeo-type pimp turned into a violent, fear-based guerilla pimp once the victim stopped responding to the Romeo technique.
• Social media was used in the recruitment of nearly one out of every three sex trafficking victims.
• Sex traffickers used different types of violence to keep the victims from leaving or reporting including physical violence (56.2%), psychological violence (49.4%), and sexual violence (11.2%).
• Online venues were used by the sex traffickers to advertise the sex trafficking victims in 33 (37.1%) cases. Backpage.com was used in 78.8% (n =26) of the cases that used online platforms.
• 95 (80%) of the known sex traffickers had criminal histories with an average of 12 previous arrests.
• The average age of the known sex trafficker at the time of their first arrest was 17.5 years old.
• Previous charges for traffickers included domestic violence (n=37, 38.9%) and weapons charges (n =43, 45.3%).
• The average age of the minor sex trafficking victims was 16 years old while the average age of the adult sex trafficking victims was 23.8 years old.
• Only 45.5% of the minor victims had a missing persons report filed about them.

Women in Reno Experience Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Mapping Commercial Sex Advertising around Reno, NV

Nevada’s Online Commercial Sex Trade

Adjusted for population, Nevada’s commercial sex market is by far the largest of any state.

• At least 5,016 individuals are sold for sex in an average month in Nevada. Nevada’s number of prostituted persons per capita is 63% larger than the next largest state of New York, and more than twice as many as in California.
• Legalized prostitution appears to have done nothing to stem victimization within the illicit sex trade — the data in the study show that prostituted persons in the illegal trade around licensed brothels are at a similar risk of having been trafficked as those in areas without legal brothels.

More than 13% of Nevada prostituted persons are advertised under the age of 21.

• More than 1 out of every 10 prostituted persons in Nevada is too young to buy alcohol. These young individuals are almost twice as likely to “travel” while being prostituted compared to those who are 21 and older.
• Many prostituted persons are advertised for their youth, regardless of their stated age. For example, phrases like “fresh meat,” “brand new” and “daddy’s little girl” are all used to connote the youth of sex workers.

Youth is an important characteristic sought by sex buyers in Nevada.

• Evidence of the importance of youth to sex buyers in Nevada comes from the advertised prices of young prostituted persons. The data show higher prices are charged for younger females in Nevada.
• The data put Nevada in the top ten states in the country in terms of youth of prostituted persons.

For full report, click here or scroll down.

This study was commissioned by Awaken and research was funded by the Nebraska Women’s Foundation of Omaha. Study design, data collection, and analyses were devised and implemented independently by HTI. Several outside reviewers gave commendations of the report. The research team retained full and exclusive authority in deciding whether and how to respond to comments from outside reviewers, and as such is fully and solely responsible for the report’s findings and interpretations.

UPDATE APRIL 2018

“Backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized as part of an enforcement action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, with analytical assistance from the Joint Regional Intelligence Center.”

Global Statistics

• The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that more than 40 million people around the world were victims of modern slavery in 2016.
• At any given time in 2016, 4.8 million people were victims of forced sexual exploitation. On average, they are held for 23.4 months in their situation before escaping or being freed. The vast majority are women and girls. Children represent more than 20% of the victims.
• ILO estimates that annual profits per victim of sexual exploitation is $21,800.
• The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) notes that children make up almost a third of all human trafficking victims worldwide and women and girls comprise 71 percent of human trafficking victims.
• UNODC estimates the total market value of illicit human trafficking at 32 billion US dollars.

National Statistics

• More than 31,600 total cases of human trafficking have been reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in the last eight years. The Hotline receives an average of 100 calls per day.
• One out of every three adolescents on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home according to the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children.
• The National Runaway Switchboard estimates that on any given night there are approximately 1.3 million homeless youth living unsupervised on the streets, in abandoned buildings, with friends, or with strangers. Homeless youth are at a higher risk for physical abuse, sexual exploitation, mental health disabilities, substance abuse, and death.
• In 2016, an estimated one out of six endangered runaways reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were likely child sex trafficking victims. Of those, 86 percent were in the care of social services or foster care when they ran.
• Several studies have found that 50 to 72 percent of women in street prostitution have experienced severe violence at the hands of buyers, pimps/traffickers, and police officers.
• A report from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Urban Institute found that pimps surveyed from eight major U.S. cities cited making anywhere between $5,000 to $32,833 per week.

To learn more about what CSE and sex trafficking look like in Nevada, please click here.