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                            Funding & Awards
 Indicators of Sex Trafficking in Online Escort Ads
Award Information
Awardee
              JUSTICE RESEARCH AND STATISTICS ASSOCIATION, INC.
Award #
              2017-MU-CX-0005
Funding Category
              Competitive Discretionary
Location
                    WASHINGTON, DC
Congressional District
              98
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2017
Total funding (to date)
              $597,532
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY17 Research and Evaluation on Trafficking in Persons
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2017, $597,532)
The goal of this project is to improve sex victim identification and investigations. In order to accomplish this goal the applicant plans to: 1) investigate whether there are indicators that differentiate online escort ads related to sex trafficking with non-trafficking sex work ads; and 2) to determine which specific indicators or combination of indicators are most likely to predict whether the ad represents a case of sex trafficking, broken down by age (minor vs. adult), region, and type of sex trafficking.
Recommendations will be made about how and when escort ads are most useful in identifying trafficking cases, and which indicators or combination of indicators are most likely to identify a case of human trafficking if present in an ad.
Tested indicators will be determined by previous research and focus groups results (law enforcement; victim advocates; trafficking survivors; and non-trafficked sex workers), research will be conducted through case data on closed cases involving escort ads. The ultimate goal of this research is create a practical guide for police and prosecutors that use escort ads as evidence to refer to in analyzing these advertisements more efficiently, and as a basis for jury instructions regarding ads as evidence during prosecution of internet-facilitated sex trafficking cases.
This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law, and complies with Part 200, Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR, 200.210 (a) (14). CA/NCF



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Debunking Conventional Wisdom: Using Online Escort Ads in Sex Trafficking Investigations
                  Indicators of Sex Trafficking in Online Escort Ads, Final Report
                  Law Enforcement Guide on Indicators of Sex Trafficking in Online Escort Ads




  
Grant-Funded Datasets
        
                      https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38328.v1

  
Date Created: September 6, 2017
    
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