Office for Victims of Crime – Human Trafficking Capacity Building Center

UNDERSTANDING 

SEX TRAFFICKING

Sex trafficking is a form of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. 

Federal Definition of Sex Trafficking 

In 2000, the passage of the Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act (TVPA) made human 

trafficking a federal crime and defined sex trafficking as— 

• The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the 

purposes of a commercial sex act in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, 

fraud, or coercion or in which the person induced is under 18. 

Realities of Sex Trafficking 

Survivors of sex trafficking include all races, genders, socioeconomic backgrounds, and 

nationalities. Sex trafficking is an underreported crime for many reasons. Victims may 

fear for their safety and well-being or 

have concerns about the criminal justice 

system, legal system, and other social 

services. Traffickers may threaten their 

victims or falsely tell them they will be 

deported or arrested if they talk with law 

enforcement. 

Sex Trafficking Identifiers 

Sex trafficking occurs when an action, 

means, and a purpose are all present, 

except in cases involving minors when 

the means do not need to be 

established. An action may be thought of as the “what”, the means as “how”, and the 

WHO WE ARE

The Human Trafficking Capacity Building Center 

is a coaching and development hub assisting 

organizations and tribes with: (1) building their 

capacity to aid victims of all forms of human 

trafficking, (2) navigating the broad range of 

resources available to support their missions, 

and (3) strengthening human trafficking service 

networks.
Office for Victims of Crime – Human Trafficking Capacity Building Center

purpose as “why”. The Action, Means, Purpose (AMP) Model is an effective tool to use 

to identify survivors of sex trafficking.

Action - What

• Recruiting – proactively targeting an individual’s vulnerabilities and/or grooming, or 

befriending a child with the intention to abuse. 

• Using – supplying alcohol and/or drugs to garner an intimate relationship or support an 

existing habit. 

• Harboring – isolation, confinement, and/or monitoring of another person’s movement. 

• Transporting – the unwanted movement and/or arranging of travel of another person. 

• Providing – the giving of a victim as a commodity to another person. 

• Obtaining – forcibly taking something from someone else; exchanging something for 

the ability to control another person. 

• Soliciting - offering something of value in exchange for sex such as housing, food, clothing, 

travel, etc. 

 

Means - How

• Force - physical assault, sexual assault, isolation, and/or confinement of another person.

• Fraud - false employment offers, sham marriages, lying about work situation, withholding 

wages, and/or taking legal documentation (such as a passport or driver’s license).

• Coercion - threats of violence, threats of arrest/deportation, debt bondage, and/or 

withholding legal documentation.

Purpose - Why

• Commercial sex act - any sex act on account of anything of value given to or received 

by any person.

To learn more about the signs of sex trafficking, access the Understanding Human 

Trafficking online training course available from the Office for Victims of Crime. 

Contact the Center at contact@ovc-htcbc.org or 1-844-682-0411.