Bureau of Justice Statistics

Data Brief

October 2006, NCJ 215248

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Federal Prosecution of Human 

Trafficking, 2001-2005 

Mark Motivans 

Tracey Kyckelhahn

BJS Statisticians

Between 2001 and 2005, U.S. attorneys investigated 555 suspects in matters involving violations of Federal 

human trafficking statutes. Over half of 

the matters (58%) opened during this 

period were for offenses created under 

the Trafficking in Victims Protection Act 

(TVPA) of 2000. 

This report used data from the Federal 

Justice Statistics Program (FJSP) to 

describe violations of Federal human 

trafficking statutes from 2001 to 2005. 

(See Notes for specific statutes). 

Annual data sets from the Executive 

Office (EO) for U.S. Attorneys' National 

LIONS system and the Administrative 

Office of the United States Courts (AO) 

were combined to report on four distinct case processing stages: matters 

opened by U.S. attorneys, matters 

closed by U.S. attorneys, cases filed in 

U.S. district court, and cases terminated in U.S. district court. 

This report describes persons processed at each stage for the 5-year 

period. It does not track persons or 

cases through the entire case process. 

(See Notes). The groups at each stage 

should not be compared. 

In matters opened, U.S. attorneys 

investigated 58% of suspects for 

violating TVPA offenses

Of the 555 human trafficking suspects 

in matters opened by U.S. attorneys 

between 2001 and 2005, more than 

half (58%) were investigated for 

offenses created by TVPA:

• forced labor (24%)

• sex trafficking of children (23%)

• trafficking slaves (9%)

• unlawful conduct or general provisions (2%) (table 1).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation 

referred 61% of the human trafficking 

matters investigated by U.S. attorneys. 

Agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) referred 22% of 

matters.

Almost half of the human trafficking 

matters opened by U.S. attorneys 

(48%) were in Federal judicial districts 

in four States: California (17%), Florida 

(14%), Texas (9%), and New York 

(8%). (See map on page 2). Thirtyseven percent of sex trafficking of children matters were referred by U.S. 

attorneys in California.

146 suspects prosecuted in matters 

closed by U.S. attorneys

From 2001 to 2005, a total of 377 matters where human trafficking was the 

lead charge were closed by U.S. attorneys. In the closed matters, U.S. attorneys prosecuted 146 suspects (39%) 

in U.S. district courts. 

Seventy-three percent of suspects with 

sex trafficking of children as the lead 

charge and 52% of suspects referred 

for forced labor were prosecuted. The 

median time from receipt of matter to 

decision to prosecute was 1.8 months 

(not shown in table).

U.S. attorneys declined to prosecute 

suspects in 222 matters or 59% of the 

matters closed during this period, due 

to —

• lack of evidence of criminal intent 

(29%)

• weak or insufficient admissible evidence (28%) 

Table 1. Supects in matters referred to 

U.S. attorneys with human trafficking 

offenses as lead charge, 2001-2005

Suspects

Lead charge Number Percent

Total 555 100.0%

Peonage/involuntary 

 servitude 63 11.4%

Sale into involuntary 

 servitude 155 27.9

Transportation for slaverya 16 2.9

Forced laborb 134 24.1

Trafficking slavesb 49 8.8

Sex trafficking of childrenb 129 23.2

Otherb,c 9 1.6

aIncludes vessels for the slave trade, enticement, and transport of slaves from the U.S.

bOffenses added to the human trafficking 

statute by the TVPA.

cIncludes misuse of documents and general 

provisions.

Source: Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, 

National LIONS database, fiscal year.
2 Federal Prosecution of Human Trafficking, 2001-2005

• prosecution by other authorities or 

facing other charges in federal court 

(14%)

• no federal offense evident (9%)

• and other (20%) reasons. 

The median time from receipt of matter 

by a U.S. attorney to the decision to 

decline a matter was 9.9 months. 

2 in 3 human trafficking defendants 

had sex transportation or alien 

smuggling offenses

The Administrative Office of the United 

States Courts (AO) provided data on 

cases filed that show a total of 131 

defendants with a human trafficking 

offense. Two in three of these human 

trafficking defendants were also 

charged with one or more sex transportation offenses (33%), one or more 

alien smuggling offenses (27%), or 

both sex transportation and alien 

smuggling offenses (5%) (not shown in 

table).* 

75 human trafficking defendants 

convicted; 57 pleaded guilty

The AO also provided data on cases 

terminated between 2001 and 2005. A 

total of 75 of the 78 defendants in 

cases terminated were convicted 

under human trafficking statutes (table 

2). Of convicted defendants, 57 

pleaded guilty and 18 were found guilty 

at trial.

Convicted defendants received —

• prison sentences, 85% 

• probation only sentences, 7%, or

• other sanctions (fines, suspended 

sentence), 8%.

Forty-two percent of human trafficking 

defendants had private counsel, followed by Criminal Justice Act 

appointed counsel (41%) and public 

defender (17%) (not shown in table). 

The median processing time from case 

filing to disposition was 10 months. 

The median prison sentence was 70 

months.

*Sex transportation offenses include Title 18 

U.S.C. §§ 2421-2427. Alien smuggling offenses 

include Title 8 U.S.C. §§ 1322-1328

Notes

This report defined human trafficking 

according to Title 18 U.S.C.§§ 1581-

1594. The TVPA of 2000 created: 

forced labor (18:1589), trafficking 

slaves (18:1590), sex trafficking of children (18:1591), and misuse of documents for trafficking persons 

(18:1592). 

Data from the EO LIONS system and 

the AO criminal master file were used 

in this report (available at <http://fjsrc. 

urban. org>). In the EO data "lead 

charge" is the basis for investigation 

and for which at least 1 hour of investigation time is spent. Differences exist 

in the numbers reported by each 

agency, in part due to the case processing time, case filing definitions in 

agency databases, and the details on 

case statutory information. (See Reconciling Federal Criminal Case Processing Statistics, BJS, <http://

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ bjs/abstract/rfccps.htm>.

In this report, 44% of the 555 human 

trafficking matters opened by U.S. 

attorneys from 2001 to 2005 occurred 

in 2005. A significant portion of these 

matters will not be reported in subsequent stages until after 2005. 

Additional resources

Trafficking in Persons Report, June 

2006. U.S. State Department at <http://

www.state.gov/g/tip/ris/tiprpt/2006/>.

Report on Activities to Combat Human 

Trafficking, 2001-2005. Civil Division, 

U.S. Department of Justice at <http://

www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim.trafficking_ 

report_2006.pdf>. 

This report in portable document 

format and in ASCII and its related 

statistical data and tables are 

available at the BJS World Wide 

Web Internet site: <http://www.ojp. 

usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/fpht05.htm>.

Office of Justice Programs

Partnerships for Safer 

Communities

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov

The Bureau of Justice Statistics is 

the statistical agency of the U.S. 

Department of Justice. Jeffrey L. 

Sedgwick is director.

This Data Brief was written by Mark 

Motivans and Tracey Kyckelhahn, 

under the supervision of Steven K. 

Smith. Thomas H. Cohen verified the 

report. Carolyn C. Williams edited the 

report and Jayne Robinson prepared 

the report for final printing under the 

supervision of Doris J. James.

October 2006, NCJ 215248

Table 2. Defendants adjudicated in 

Federal courts for a human trafficking 

offense as any charge filed, 2001-2005 

Number of defendants

Cases 

concluded

Total 78

Disposition

Convicted 75

Guilty plea 57

Jury trial 18

Not convicted 3

Dismissed 2

Acquitted 1

Type of sentence imposeda

Prison 64

Probation 5

Otherb 6

Median prison sentence imposed 70 mos

Median case processing time 10 mos

aIncludes convicted defendants only.

bIncludes fines and suspended sentences.

Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. 

Courts, criminal master file, 2005.

Almost half of the human trafficking 

suspects referred to U.S. attorneys 

were in four states, 2001-2005 

Percent of human trafficking suspects referred to 

U.S. attorneys, by Federal districts, 2001-2005

<1%

1-2.9%

3-5%

>5%