DOI: 10.3886/icpsr39039
title: Identify, Respond, Prevent: Addressing Human Trafficking Among Youth Involved in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems, Florida, 1993-2020
title: Archival Version

description: This study extended the understanding of human trafficking among youth involved in child welfare and juvenile justice systems by examining relationships among trafficking victimization, youth characteristics, and experiences in the juvenile justice, child welfare, and criminal justice systems. Using de-identified linked administrative data provided by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), and the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), researchers:

informed identification of trafficking victimization by assessing the predictive utility of Florida's Human Trafficking Screening Tool, using ordered multinomial regressions and factor analysis;
informed response to trafficked youth by describing characteristics of those who experience trafficking during juvenile justice or child welfare supervision, or who enter juvenile justice supervision with prior human trafficking allegations, using descriptive statistics and linear and logistic regression;
informed secondary prevention for at-risk youth by identifying those at greatest risk of human trafficking throughout adolescence, and informed tertiary prevention among trafficked youth by identifying those at greatest risk of subsequent victimization following an initial trafficking allegation;
investigated the longitudinal association between human trafficking allegations and subsequent juvenile and adult criminal charges. Data collection included all youth served by DCF who were born in or after 1993, and whose records included at least one maltreatment allegation before February 29th, 2020.
description: This study's purpose was to identify trafficked and at-risk youth within existing data on system-involved youth to accomplish the following:

Improve identification of trafficking victimization within the juvenile justice population.
Inform response to at-risk and trafficked youth in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
Identify children most at risk for initial and subsequent trafficking allegations in both populations.
Understand juvenile justice and adult criminal legal system involvement among persons who have had prior human trafficking allegations.
description: The study team conducted the following analyses using administrative data from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), and the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF): (1) Assessed the predictive validity of the DCF/DJJ's Human Trafficking Screening Tool (HTST) in identifying trafficking risk and victimization among system-involved youth; (2) Examined characteristics and experiences among children who have experienced an human trafficking allegation (HTA); (3) Investigated initial and subsequent HTAs among crossover children; (4) Examined subsequent DJJ involvement after experiencing a human trafficking victimization allegation; (5) Examined the effects of childhood human trafficking victimization on early-adult criminal legal system involvement.
Deidentified DCF administrative data were provided to RTI directly from DCF for all children born on or after January 1, 1993. DCF data with personal identifiable information (PII) was sent to DJJ, where staff reviewed the data and matched it with DJJ administrative data using PII including the child's name, date of birth, Social Security number, race, and sex. FDLE administrative data were reviewed and matched using the same process. Linking IDs were created to connect data from all three organizations, and de-identified data from both DJJ and FDLE were sent to RTI by DJJ. The final datasets include all children born on or after January 1, 1993 with at least one maltreatment allegation before February 29, 2020. All DCF, DJJ, and FDLE information from 1993 through February 29, 2020 was retained in the analysis files. The study time period was limited to February 2020 to minimize the impacts of COVID-19 on child welfare and juvenile justice reporting and practices.
description: The data includes variables about youth human trafficking including the most serious finding of maltreatment; general demographic information such as gender and race; dates of critical events including when an individual went missing, entered an out-of-home placement, was removed from the home, was arrested, was referred for prosecution, and was admitted to a program or service; and additional variables adding context to each aforementioned event. In addition, the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Human Trafficking Screening Tool Data (DS8) includes survey data from system-involved youth describing human trafficking experiences and victimization.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Department of Children and Families (DCF) Allegations Data
DS2: Demographics Data
DS3: Department of Children and Families (DCF) Missing Child Events Data
DS4: Department of Children and Families (DCF) Placement Data
DS5: Department of Children and Families (DCF) Removal Data
DS6: Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Referrals Data
DS7: Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Services Data
DS8: Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Human Trafficking Screening Tool Data
DS9: Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Arrests Data
description: All youth served by DCF who were born in or after 1993, and whose records included at least one maltreatment allegation before February 29th, 2020.